At the State Department of Education’s Student of the Year event were (left to right):  Grandmother Joan Kador, Baton Rouge Magnet High School Principal Nanette McCann, mother Carolyn Holmes, 2011 State High School Student of the Year David Holmes, father Herman Holmes, East Baton Rouge Parish School System Superintendent John Dilworth and School Board member Jill C. Dyason.

At a special ceremony held last night, Thursday, March 3, at the Louisiana State Museum, Baton Rouge Magnet High School senior David Holmes was stunned to hear his name announced as the State Department of Education’s 2011 Louisiana Student of the Year at the High School Level.

“I was really excited.  It (the award) caught me by surprise a little bit,” Holmes said.  “It is a great honor and very humbling to have that sort of recognition bestowed on me.”

The 17-year-old student just learned in mid-February that he was a Region 2 Student of the Year winner after winning the high school level title in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System in January.  He was one of 13 candidates in the regional and six in the state competitions at the high school level. 

According to Baton Rouge High Assistant Principal Diane Talbot, who attended last night’s ceremony, Holmes was “a bit frazzled” when he arrived for the event.  He had a busy day, beginning with announcements and pledges over the PA system at the school that morning, moving on to the state student Interact Club conference and competition in Zachary, meeting with state officials for the Student of the Year interview that afternoon, returning to his conference and then arriving at the state event just as it was beginning. 

“He was overwhelmed, appreciative and elated all at the same time,” Talbot said.  Even with all that going on, Holmes helped his Interact team win first place in a skit competition and third place in both the lip sync and Olympic competitions.

Holmes received a $200 U.S. Savings Bond and a Lucite obelisk engraved trophy from the state.  He moves on the national Student of the Year competition this summer.

“What an honor to have the best and brightest of the state’s high school students represented at Baton Rouge Magnet High School,” said Nanette McCann, the school’s principal.  “We are all so proud of David and what he has accomplished.”

Holmes attended several East Baton Rouge Parish School System schools, including the Baton Rouge Center for Visual & Performing Arts, Glasgow Middle School and now Baton Rouge Magnet High School.  He is president of the Student Government Association and a member of the Interact Club, as well as a member of the National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta and the Beta Club. He also is past-president of the Louisiana Senate Youth Advisory Council and was voted Mr. Baton Rouge High by his peers.  Holmes is a National Merit Scholarship Finalist and earned a 34 on the ACT college entrance exam. In addition, he is a gifted musician and plays the viola in the school orchestra and would like to learn how to play the saxophone. In his spare time, he is a member of an intramural basketball team, and he volunteers with his church and in nursing homes.

Holmes plans on becoming a lawyer someday.  He already has been accepted for four of seven colleges in which he has applied, although he is still waiting on replies from Duke, Harvard and Vanderbilt.  His parents are Carolyn, a teacher at Highland Elementary School, and Herman Holmes, an attorney.  Carolyn Holmes also attended Baton Rouge High.