CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) – A longtime Lowcountry radio personality gets listeners through the day by playing their favorite music.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh yeah, what\u2019s happening, everybody. Throwback Thursday edition of the Geno Jones Show,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
But over the years, fans of Geno Jones on Star 99.7 have come to enjoy his show for another reason.<\/p>\n
\u201cBig shout out to my students. Yes, that means Geno\u2019s Academic All-Stars. Year 20, can you believe 20 years?\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
For two decades, he\u2019s been highlighting high achievers in the classroom within the black community. <\/p>\n
\u201cPrimarily parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or teachers and sometimes the students themselves would just send me a report card,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
Every nine weeks, he\u2019d have a stack of report cards with A-averages. He would randomly choose a different one to read on the air weekdays.<\/p>\n
Jones has folders that are filled with the names of his academic all-stars. He handwrites the announcement that he makes on the air every day for them. And those Academic All-Stars come from all over the Lowcountry. There\u2019s Laurel from Academic Magnet in 2007, Jamia from Beaufort High School in 2009 and Christian from Carvers Bay Middle School in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo right now I\u2019m currently a sophomore in political science, and now I\u2019m about to double major in agribusiness at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and right now I\u2019m at band camp. I play the alto saxophone,\u201d Peter Smith, III said.<\/p>\n
As a kid growing up in the small town of Dorchester in Dorchester County, Smith remembers the thrill of hearing his name on the radio.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething like a childhood dream that people have. And the fact that I was that young and really able to be on a radio station as popular as his was really just an amazing experience,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
We caught up with another former Academic All-Star now living in Houston, pediatric anesthesiologist Dr. Christina Brown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just finished up my PD fellowship on July 31. So I\u2019ll be starting as an attending at Texas Children\u2019s in September,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
She attended Buist Academy, Academic Magnet and the University of South Carolina. She says hearing her name on the radio was a huge thrill.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very exciting. Definitely gave me, like, a boost of confidence, and it just felt good to know that your hard work is not going unseen or unrecognized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones came up with the idea during one of his long commutes to Charleston, when he lived in Atlanta for the first four years of his tenure at Star 99.7. He figured he couldn\u2019t go wrong saluting academic excellence.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd people really embraced it. The community embraced it, and it really is the most rewarding thing that I have done,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
Jones estimates he has recognized around 3,000 students over the 20-year run of the program. In addition to a shout-out on the air, the students also receive prizes, everything from tickets to local sporting events to laptops.<\/p>\n