Five Upper Columbia Academy (UCA) seniors were presented with medallions to add to their graduation regalia at the annual Spokane Scholars banquet held by local business people to encourage academic excellence.

Each of the two-dozen area high schools sent outstanding seniors to the banquet and, from those, the top three in each of six categories received college scholarships. Every year, a special speaker is invited to speak to the honored seniors, their sponsors, parents and guests. Past speakers have included the secretary of the Smithsonian and the head of NASA. For the last two years, the speakers have been presidents of area universities.

Twenty-three percent of this year’s UCA seniors rank in the top 10 percent of Washington State seniors.