Columbia County newsmakers

Evans Raider Team takes first place

For the ninth consecutive time, the Evans High School Knight Raider Team retained the Columbia County Rogers Cup. The cup is a rotating trophy that goes to the JROTC team that wins a grueling raider competition involving an obstacle course, map test, Army Physical Fitness Test, stream crossing and a search and rescue event among others.

The competition sponsored by the Evans and Lakeside High School JROTC departments, took place at both school with Evans winning four of the seven events and the highest score. Lakeside won second place; Hephzibah and the Academy of Richmond County tied for third place.

Seasoned hairstylist becomes educator

Nancy Bales, of Shapers Hair and Nail Salon, has been a hairstylist for 30 years and a certified Farouk Systems Educator.

Bales recently returned from a Farouk Systems conference in Cancun, Mexico, where she received a silver medal for the class levels she has taught and hair shows she participated in.

DOT meets with concerned citizens over traffic light

Philip Allen, of the Department of Transportation Safety Projects division, reviewed plans for a new traffic light at the intersection of Gibbs and Washington roads at Gibbs Library on Sept. 23. The meeting was coordinated by state senator Joey Brush and the Walnut Hill Association, Daryl Huff, president, and ther surrounding subdivisions, churches and businesses.

Plans for the new signal were reviewed at the meeting at Gibbs Library.

AP Scholars

Eleven Augusta Preparatory Day School students have been named Advanced Placement Scholars by the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college-level AP examinations.

The award of AP Scholar was granted to Danielle Brudi, Sarah Gerstein, Jordan Miller, Caroline Osborne, Ashwin Rajendra, Ted Samaddar, Viji Thomas and Paul Trotter. These students received grades of a 3.0 or higher on three or more AP exams on full-year courses or the equivalent.

AP Scholar with Honor was granted to Peter Kinnaird, who received an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams on full-year courses or the equivalent.

Kevin Brown and Kenan Yount were granted the award of AP Scholar with Distinction for earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams on full-year courses or the equivalent.

Augusta Preparatory Day School currently offers 14 Advanced Placement courses.

National Merit Scholarship

Eight Columbia County students have been named semi-finalists in the 2003 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Semi-finalists include: from Evans High School, Rajib Bhattacharjea, Cane Bonnette and Daniel Caldwell; from Greenbrier High School, Lesley Graybeal; and from Lakeside High School, Aditya Mandawat, Kelly Newman, Violet Pu, and David Tian.

They are among about 16,000 students or approximately a third of the 50,000 high scorers on the 2001 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Semifinalists must apply to advance to finalist standing in the competition to be considered for a Merit Scholarship award. In February, semifinalists who meet academic and all other requirements will be notified if they have advanced to finalist standing. All winners of Merit Scholarships will be chosen from the finalist group, based on their abilities, skills and accomplishments.

Fifteen Columbia County students have been named Commended Students in the 2003 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Commended students placed among the top five percent of more than one million students who entered the 2003 competition. They are among about 34,000 of the approximately 50,000 high scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT tests. A letter of commendation in recognition will be presented to them by their principal.

Commended students include: from Evans High School, Robert Beaulieu, Ashley Dieterich, Christopher Holland, Lindsay Moore, Nichole Rosamilia and Ashley Sisco; from Harlem High School, Chris Cottingham and Tiffany Umlauf; from Greenbrier High School, Joshua Inouye and Allison Leonard; and from Lakeside High School, David Balcer, Peter Caruana, Osman Chaudhry, Disha Chhabra and Mary Mattmann.

Commended students will not continue in the competition for Merit Scholarship awards, but some will be candidates for special scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses.