51.   Ellison, left, with her mother Jean, who has sat in classrooms with her since eighth grade.

52.   Ellison, right, and her mother Jean, who has sat in classrooms with her since eighth grade, laugh during a stroll through campus.

53.   Epps enrolled in eighth grade in Edinburg, his athletic ability and his black skin separating him from his classmates in the totally Hispanic town.

54.   Enough to hold back its most promising players at the end of eighth grade so they can play an extra year in high school.

55.   Even though he was only in eighth grade when Kennedy was assassinated, Ochoa still remembers hearing the news during a Friday afternoon choir practice.

56.   Everybody in the eighth grade seems to have one.

57.   Eve is eligible to return as a national contestant through the eighth grade if she wins regional bees.

58.   Even though the schools offer interscholastic athletics beginning in eighth grade, they understandably tend to serve the most athletically gifted youngsters.

59.   Finally, in the eighth grade, King got past his mother.

60.   Five years later, seeing a need to make those standards more concrete, the state put out a new math curriculum for kindergarten through eighth grade.