Top Seniors at 50: Celebrating high school scholars

CALVIN FERGUSON | THE CHARLOTTE POST

James Cuthbertson, a Post reporter in the 1970s and ‘80s, conceived the idea of recognizing academic achievement among Mecklenburg County’s Black high school seniors in 1975, which became Top Seniors.

In the mid-1970s, public acknowledgment of Black high school students’ achievement didn’t exist in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

That led to the Top Seniors initiative.

In 1975, Charlotte Post reporter James Cuthbertson had an idea: recognize public school seniors of outstanding academic credentials. He presented the idea to publisher Bill Johnson, who’d bought The Post a year earlier as a vehicle to honor students previously overlooked for their achievements.

“I kind of exposed upon him the idea that we needed to honor the Black outstanding top seniors because they were not being honored in the paper,” Cuthbertson said in a 2014 interview. “He agreed with that, and we went with it.”

Top Seniors filled a need. It was a response to mainstream media’s lack of attention to Black communities during state-sanctioned segregation and later when racial separation fell.

“The [Charlotte] Observer had an outstanding display of outstanding seniors in Mecklenburg County by school, and if you were not [No.] 1 or 2 in your class, you probably wouldn’t make that,” Cuthbertson said. “Consequently, they didn’t have a wide array of students – students who had outstanding characteristics were not recognized. Student body presidents, head cheerleaders, club presidents – they were not recognized because they just didn't fall into one or two of the top seniors.”

The inaugural Top Seniors class – 1975 – was a simple honor roll of 10 students from eight schools in the print publication, but the recognition quickly gained traction and was a highlight of the school year Garinger High alumnus Jocelyn M. Pyles-Elo M.D. recalled in 2014.

“I was just honored to be named in that first group,” the Houston, Texas, physician and pharmacist said. … “It was like icing on the cake for me at the time.”

Over the next 49 years, grade point standards were established, extracurricular activities were included in determining the senior of the year and runner-up; expanded to private schools and ultimately awarded college scholarships based on those criteria as well as a written essay.

“In the times that Charlotte has changed, and the schools have all been integrating everything,” said Cuthbertson, who graduated eighth in Olympic High’s Class of 1968. “We’ve had several Top Seniors that have been No. 1. A lot of Top Seniors have come through.”

Today, Top Seniors acknowledges more than 150 students from Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s public schools with profiles in a glossy magazine as well as an awards program and formal recognition at the annual Charlotte Post Best gala. Looking back, Cuthbertson admitted he didn’t anticipate the program’s growth from a simple pitch to the publisher three-quarters into the 20th century into an established academic and social event in the 21st.

“I really didn’t know how long it would last,” said Cuthbertson, who died in 2019. “I wanted to take it year by year in honoring these outstanding students and then we got into 20 and 25 and 40 and I’m glad that it still exists. The format has changed somewhat. format has changed somewhat…as far as the way they are presented, but the fact that they’re being presented and honored is an outstanding characteristic.”

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