Select With Drop Down with validate required form not working

Hello, firstly thanks for your great support and excellent template

I am trying to build a search box with http://themes.semicolonweb.com/html/canvas/component-select-box.php "Select With Drop Down"

I have included "required" for the filter and later added the javascript code

<script>
jQuery("#search-top-bar").validate();
</script>

The front-end is working well in the sense that if nothing is written in the form the form cannot be submitted. That is fine. However, I do not get the red box highlighted to explain the user that an input is needed. Could you help? How could I combine the "Select With Drop Down" with the validate front-end action?

Thanks and have a nice day
Juan