When she was a freshman, Taryn Barnett made a “B” in a math class at Lenoir County Early College High School. While she knew the less-than-best grade wasn’t the end of the world, it did steel her resolve to do better. And that, in a nutshell, is why Taryn, now a few months away from graduation at both Early College and Lenoir Community College, was named by LCC as this year’s winner of the college’s Academic Excellence Award.