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Wednesday, December 12, 2007 The Braselton News Page 9A Schools may submit news, photos Educators may submit announcements and photos for school-related activities to MainStreet Newspapers. Each photo should be clear and in focus, and include a description of the events happening in the photo. Photos of poor quality may not be published. Educators are asked to submit no more than two quality photos for each event. Photos should not be attached to a Microsoft Word document, but attached within an e-mail. When using a digital camera, please ensure the camera is set at a medium quality setting to produce the best quality photos. Photos taken at a low resolution may not publish well. The first and last names of those shown in the photo, including adults, must be submitted. Please ensure that all names are spelled correctly. Educators may also submit announcements, such as special events and learning activities. Honor rolls and perfect attendance lists may also be submitted accord ing to the format preferred by MainStreet Newspapers. School news will be published according to available space. For more information, or to submit school news, e-mail AngieEditor@ aol.com. Fax announcements to 706-387-5414. School holiday schedules set The following is a list of school schedules for the 2007-2008 school year for the Barrow, Hall, Gwinnett and Jackson county school systems. BARROW COUNTY •Friday December 21, through Tuesday, January 1: Christmas Holidays •Monday, January 21: MLK Holiday •Tuesday, January 22: teacher planning day/in-service day •Friday, February 15: teacher planning day/in-service day •Monday, February 18: President’s Day Holiday •Monday, March 31: Spring Holiday •Tuesday, April 1, through Friday, April 4: Spring Holiday •Monday, May 26: Memorial Day Holiday •Friday, June 6: last day of school HALL COUNTY •Friday, December 21: teacher planning/student holiday •Monday, December 24, through Friday, January 4: Winter Holidays •Monday, January 7: teacher planning/student holiday •Friday, January 18: early release day •Monday, January 21: holiday (students and staff) •Monday, February 4: teacher planning/student holiday •Friday, February 15: early release day •Monday, February 18: holiday (students and staff) •Monday, March 24: holiday (students and staff) •Friday, April 4: early release day •Monday, April 7, through Friday, April 11: holiday (students and staff) •Monday, May 26: holiday (stu dents and staff) •Tuesday, May 27 and Wednesday, May 28: teacher plan ning/student holiday GWINNETT COUNTY •Friday, December 21, through Tuesday, January 1: Winter Break •Wednesday, January 2: teacher planning or snow make up day (student holiday) •Monday, January 21: MFK Jr. Day (system wide holiday) •Monday, February 18: student and teacher holiday or snow make up day •Monday March 10: snow make up day (student holiday) •Friday, March 21: student and teacher holiday •Monday, April 7, through Friday, April 11: Spring Break •Thursday, May 22: post-plan ning/professional learning day/ snow make-up day •Friday, May 23: post-planning/ professional learning day JACKSON COUNTY •Thursday, December 20, through Wednesday, January 2: Christmas and New Years Holidays •Thursday, January 3 and Friday, January 4: teacher workdays •Monday, January 21: student and teacher holiday •Wednesday, February 20, through Friday, February 22: stu dent and teacher holiday •Monday, March 14: teacher workday •Monday, April 7, through Friday, April 11: student and teacher holidays •Monday, May 26: student and teacher holiday •Tuesday, May 27, through Thursday, May 29: teacher work days Mill Creek High students compete in dressage regional BY KRISTI REED Mill Creek High School stu dents Danielle Bryant and Brooke Fankford recently competed in the United States Dressage Foundation Regional Championships in Ocala, Florida. Dressage, which means train ing, is an equestrian event designed to test the horse’s abil ity to respond to minimal input by the rider. It can take years to develop the horse’s ability to per form certain maneuvers. A dressage competition involves a series of movements at designated intervals within a competition arena. “It’s kind of hard to explain,” Bryant said. “You have an arena with letters. You do certain move ments at certain letters. As you go up the levels, the movements get more difficult.” Each movement is assigned a score from zero to 10, with 10 being the highest. There are six standard levels of competition beginning with the introductory level and progressing through level four. Bryant, a senior at Mill Creek, placed ninth out of 27 riders in level one dressage at the regional competition. Fankford, a junior, placed ninth out of 15 riders in level three dressage. Bryant has been participat ing in dressage for the past five years. Bryant said she enjoys the precision of the sport. “I’m a perfectionist,” she said. Bryant said having to accom plish precise maneuvers at spe cific locations in the arena is challenging and appeals to her perfectionist tendencies. Fankford has been riding for nine years and began riding dres sage six years ago. “I started off doing western pleasure and it just got extreme ly boring,” Fankford said. “I needed something to hold my interest.” Fankford and Bryant train four times a week. Fankford trains with her horse Miroko, a Dutch warm- blood. Bryant rides Ishkandar, a Zweibrucker Rheinlander. Though dressage is very chal lenging and time consuming, both girls enjoy the sport. “I love being around horses and learning new things,” Fankford j. 1\\ i DRESSAGE COMPETITORS Junior Brooke Lankford and senior Danielle Bryant traveled to Ocala, Florida in October to compete in the dressage regional championships. said. “I like teaching the horse more stuff each time I ride. I like perfecting everything.” Fankford and Bryant said they hope to continue in the sport and would like to compete in the Olympics some day. “I definitely want to,” Bryant said. “It takes work. A lot of people think you just go and kind of muscle the horse around, but you can’t do that at all.” Fankford said mental attitude is the key to success in the sport. “You can’t get frustrated,” she said. “You have to like the horse and have a positive attitude.” Fankford and Bryant are pre paring for their next major com petition in March. Brittany Singer, Ben Evans nominated for Wendy’s Heisman Award BY KRISTI REED Mill Creek High School recently announced the nomina tions of seniors, Brittany Singer and Ben Evans, for the Wendy’s High School Heisman Award. The award recognizes out standing student achievement in academics, community service, school involvement and athletics. Singer and Evans were selected from among hundreds of student athletes at Mill Creek. Evans said he was surprised to learn of the nomination. “We got called into [Athletic Director] Coach Fong’s office and were told we were the two selected from our school,” Evans said. Singer and Evans said they were pleased to be nominated. Both athletes had an exceptional year in their respective sporting endeavors. Singer, a left fielder with the girls’ varsity softball team, led her team to the state playoffs. The Fady Hawks finished third in the state and first in the region. Singer said she was pleased that her team did so well during her last season as a Fady Hawk. “It was very exciting. It was kind of a letdown that we didn’t win. But, it was good that we expected to win; that we had those hopes,” she said. Evans also had a very good year as a receiver on the football team. He also plays baseball, but said football is special. “The thing that just keeps bringing you back is all your friends,” he said. “You really develop a strong bond with the people you play with. It really is a brotherhood.” Evans was very pleased with the football team’s performance this year as the Hawks traveled to the state playoffs for the first time in the school’s history. “It was awesome,” Evans said. “It was everything we wanted to do. We had come in from the eighth grade program where we won one game in two years. It was a big turnaround.” The Wendy’s High School Heisman nomination qualified Evans and Singer for a chance at state and national awards. Evans said he was glad to be nominated, but admits being a little disappointed that he and Singer did not advance to the WENDY’S HEISMAN NOMINEES Seniors Ben Evans and Brittany Singer were Mill Creek High School’s nominees for the annual athletic award. The Wendy’s Heisman recognizes outstanding student athletes. next level of competition. “I got my hopes up a little bit,” Evans said. “Coach Fong said there was a possibility of getting a year’s supply of hamburgers or something.” “We still appreciate them doing it,” he said. Pictured: Top Row: Brandy Cleveland, Reggie Metheny (Senior Vice-President/Manager), Stacey Burkhaulter Bottom Row: Jennifer Stancil, Sai Herr-Lee, Missy Ward Come By And See Our Brand New Branch And Friendly Faces Conveniently Located At: 1775 Old Pendergrass Road • Jefferson, GA 30549 UFDIC 706-367-5266 3 There is no better time to come to Freedom Bank. 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