Several local students recently competed in the Annual Health Care Occupations of America State Leadership Conference in Athens. The top three students in each of the 54 events have qualified to compete at the HOSA National Leadership Conference held in June in Orlando, Fla. The following local students placed in their respective events.

West Hall High School:

Alex Smith, Etana Murawski, Erin Cansler and Damini Patel placed first.

Lucas Hernandez, Cassie Kornstadt, Hanh Nguyen and Leah Granger placed second.

Logan Herford, Morgan Strickland, Emily Grainger and Yennifer Clarin placed third.

Chestatee High School: Wendy Martinez, Sonia Alcantar and Erika Alcantar placed third.

The Academy of Medical Sciences at West Hall High school was also named as the Outstanding HOSA Chapter for 2012.

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Thaddeus Howard of Buford was named to the dean's list at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, for the fall 2011 semester.

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On March 3, the "Odyssey of the Mind" Regional Tournament was held at C.W. Davis Middle School. One hundred-thirteen teams competed from across North Georgia. From Hall County, 13 qualified for the upcoming "Odyssey of the Mind" State Finals, which presents an opportunity to qualify for the World Finals this summer:

Da Vinci Academy

C. W. Davis Middle School

Flowery Branch High School

Spouts Springs School of Enrichment

Johnson High School

Friendship Elementary

Spouts Springs School of Enrichment

"Odyssey of the Mind" is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countries participate in the program.

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The following local students have graduated with honors from Columbus State University in Columbus.

Commerce: John Bagwell;

Flowery Branch: Mary Spong;

Gainesville: Joseph Corbin.

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The following local students are on the dean's list at Columbus State University by completing the fall 2011 semester with at least 12 credit hours and a 3.6 or higher GPA.

Buford: Tyler Krug;

Commerce: Marcus Evans, Margaret Tatum;

Flowery Branch: Ryan Bishop;

Gainesville: Jaci Carithers, Leigh Styron;

Hoschton: Emily Porter;

Jefferson: Katie Patterson, Brandon Smith;

Sautee Nacoochee: John Murphy.

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The following students were named to the honor list of Oxford College liberal arts division of Emory University located in Oxford for the 2011 fall semester. Students must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 or higher to be named.

Cleveland: Adam Morrow;

Gainesville: Elisa Jones.

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The following local students received a degree from Emory University in Atlanta.

Buford: Holly Steerman;

Flowery Branch: Rhonda Bowling, Terri Milburn;

Gainesville: Andrew Allen, Melissa Stuparits;

Gillsville: Heather Wood;

Hoschton: Christine Robbins, Marilyn Sims-Jones;

Oakwood: Duck Kim;

Pendergrass: Benjamin Roller.