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Wednesday, November 21, 2007 The Braselton News Page 11 School MCHS students attend national journalism convention ATTENDS JOURNALISM CONVENTION Nine Mill Creek students and three advisors attended the 2007 National High School Journalism Fall Convention in Philadelphia. Andrew Ricks, Savannah Kennedy, Lindsey Moore, Sarah Hamilton, Andie Tuggle, Megan O’Keefe, Tess Crowder, Tatum O’Keefe and Linda Tai are shown awaiting their train at City Hall station. Four MCHS students named National Merit Semifinalists BY KRISTI REED Nine Mill Creek students and three advisors attended the 2007 National High School Journalism Fall Convention in Philadelphia. The convention, sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association, welcomed over 4,600 students from all 50 states. Participating students had the opportunity to attend over 200 seminar sessions covering topics such as writing, design, man agement, sales and marketing. The convention also included key note speakers, exhibits and a trade show. Students Andrew Ricks, Savannah Kennedy, Lindsey Moore, Sarah Hamilton, Andie Tuggle, Megan O’Keefe, Tess Crowder, Tatum O’Keefe, and Linda Tai represented Mill Creek High School along with advisors Nora Neff, Kay Reynolds and Amy Larah. Nora Neff, journalism teacher and yearbook co-advisor, said the students chosen to attend were returning yearbook staff members with an interest in journalism. Neff believes the convention benefits the students in several ways. “We have a number of students who learned that they have an eye for design or color,” she said. “They come back willing to share their ideas and step out of the box a little bit.” The students gain self confi dence when they realize what they are capable of doing, she added. The marketing and budgeting classes are of particular impor tance to the yearbook staff, according to Neff. “The yearbook is self-suffi cient,” said Neff. “The staff has to know how to manage that budget. It’s a substantial budget- more than $200,000.” Yearbook staff member Sarah Hamilton said the convention was a great experience. “The classes were really good. I learned so many things that I didn’t know before,” Hamilton said. “I feel like I can be a better writer now.” The Mill Creek High School journalism program includes the yearbook, student newspaper and broadcast programming. Students in the program learn writing tech niques, photography, terminology, interview techniques and desktop Photo by Nora Neff publishing skills. Neff said sev eral program graduates are now journalism majors in college. Neff said she is glad that Mill Creek is able to send students to the conference. “I really like watching the kids,” she said. “It’s awesome for me as a teacher. It’s a lot of fun to see these young people do some really exciting things in their lives.” BY KRISTI REED four Mill Creek High School students have been named National Merit Scholarship Program semi finalists. Melinda R. Dolphyn, Kimberly M. Ingram, Jorge Nessi and Grant J. McLerrin will be competing for three national schol arships. The students will challenge approximately 16,000 other stu dents nationwide for three types of scholarships to be awarded next spring. The scholarships offered by the program are worth over $34 mil lion and include the National Merit $2,500 Scholarship; the Corporate- Sponsored Scholarship; and the College-Sponsored Scholarship. Semifinalists are chosen based on their preliminary SAT (PSAT) scores. More than 1.4 million stu dents took the PSAT in 2006. Pour students at Mill Creek were recognized as National Merit Commended Students. John McCranie, Nitesh Singh, Ashley West Jackson Middle School has given the following students the citizenship award for the first nine-week grading period of the school year. SIXTH GRADE Nicholas Baxter, Chase Duffy, Maddie Newton, Austin Parker, Katie Phillips, Sarah Phillips, Erica Sanchez and Dylan Stow. VanDittie and Abbey Whitley scored in the top five percent of all students taking the 2006 PSAT. Students Joshua Johnson and Brandi Turner were recognized as National Merit Scholarship Program “Outstanding Participants. This honor is bestowed on those scoring in the top five percent of all African-American students in the nation. The National Merit program also recognized Jorge Nessi as an Outstanding Hispanic Scholar Student. Nessi’s 2006 PSAT score placed him alongside other top Hispanic students taking the test. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation conducts the National Merit Scholarship Program and the National Achievement Scholarship Program to recognize outstanding academic student performance. Each year, the two academic competitions honor over 55,000 students and award over $50 mil lion in scholarships for undergrad uate study. Bristol Archer, Hannah Hudgins, Taylor Nix, Keith Pruett, Brenda Ramirez and Fernando Soria. EIGHTH GRADE Zach Culpepper, Hannah Doster, Megan Fitzgerald, Jacob Griffin, Claudia Flores and Troy McIntyre. Citizenship award winners named at West Jackson MS SEVENTH GRADE ‘We’ve £ol you on a pedestal! ciYOlPx Join us for Customer Appreciation Nov. 30th & Dec. 1st ♦ Enjoy pumpkin bread and hot cider in the lobby ♦ Register to win a Christmas gift basket ♦ Pick-up your 2008 calendar Habersham Bank Member FDIC 770-965-5590 * www.habcorp.com * 800-822-0316 Georgia Spa COMPANY MODEL YEAR END BLOWOUT SALE BIGGEST SALE OF THE YEAR! 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