Gainesville State College and Brenau University both won national championships at the International Academy of Dispute Resolution’s National Tournament, which was held at Drake University Law School in Des Moines, IA, Nov. 11-12. GSC won the school national championship in the attorney-client school division. The team of Gina Schwartz of Flowery Branch, Will Rigdon of Oakwood, and Madeleine Broxton of Cleveland finished second seed in the final four among the mediation teams, and went on to finish first in the final round to claim the national championship. GSC and Brenau shared first place in the preliminary rounds as GSC’s Scott Fuller of Oakwood and Brenau’s Heidi Cranford of Dawsonville, teamed up to win individual honors as a top attorney-client team. Fuller was on a team with Penny Hollis of Gainesville from GSC as well as Cranford from Brenau. GSC and Brenau won other major awards at the tournament. In school awards, the team of Amy Broome of Oakwood, Mason Roszel of Flowery Branch and Fernando Gonzalez of Los Angeles, maintained GSC’s top ten standing in the school advocate-client division by garnering a 10th place award for GSC. In individual awards, Brenau’s Christina Poole of Covington, won an all-American Award the third consecutive year she has received an All American designation at the national tournament. Additionally, Gonzalez and Roszel placed fifth in the attorney-client individual awards, and in addition to Fuller and Cranford, were also named All-Americans. Brenau was also represented by Shantel Francis of Newport News, Va., and Megan Blackwell of Kennesaw.
Riverside Military Academy hosted the 1st Annual Hall County Honor Band on Nov. 14-15.
The Honor Band consists of 121 select students, including seven RMA cadets, from each high school in Hall County. Students were nominated by their band directors and chosen by a committee in order to join this select group.
The Honor Band will performed a concert in the Sandy Beaver Center Auditorium.
Students selected from Gainesville High School for the Hall County Honor Band were:Melinda Cindea, Chris Kelley, Patrick Kelley, Dillon King, John Li, Jesse Mitchum, Drew Parks, Melissa Puentes, Brenda Rodriguez, Nick Smith, Austin Stanley and Kole Wheeler.
Instructors at Lanier Technical College have nominated 35 outstanding students for the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership competition, according to Jennifer Pulliam, coordinator for the college’s GOAL program. GOAL, a statewide program of the Technical College System of Georgia, honors excellence in academics and leadership among the state’s technical college students. GOAL winners are selected at each of the state’s 25 technical colleges as well as the two Board of Regents colleges with technical education divisions. Students are judged on their grades, work ethics, presence, and ability to communicate the value of technical education. After two judging sessions, the winner will be announced on Jan. 31 at the Gainesville Lions Club, a sponsor of the GOAL competition along with Student Government Association. Lanier Tech’s winner will compete at a regional competition in February and at the state level at the end of April in Atlanta. The prize for the state GOAL winner is a new Chevrolet. The Lanier Technical College nominees are Leisa Stevens of Gainesville (Accounting, Oakwood Campus), Denise Youngblood of Winder (Business Administrative Technology, Winder Campus), Barbara Speed of Flowery Branch (Management and Supervisory Development, Oakwood Campus), Marlene Allgood of Flowery Branch (Medical Assisting, Oakwood Campus), Emily Cain of Dahlonega (Early Childhood Education, Oakwood Campus), Cindy Littleton (Medical Assisting, Oakwood Campus), Karen Hill (Early Childhood Education, Oakwood Campus), Gina Watkins of Dahlonega (Radiology Technology, Oakwood Campus), Londie Bell of Cornelia(Dental Assisting, Oakwood Campus), Denise Gravitt (Business Administrative Technology, Oakwood Campus), Melisa Farlow of Braselton, and Kathy Hellums of Statham (both in Criminal Justice at Winder Campus), Lesley Borders of Nicholson (Business Administrative Technology, Oakwood Campus), Nancy Dickinson of Dawsonville (Medical Assisting, Oakwood Campus), Chris Hunt of Lawrenceville (Business Administrative Technology, Winder Campus), Michelle Giddens of Gainesville (Medical Assisting, Oakwood Campus), Sharon Parker of Flowery Branch (Accounting, Oakwood Campus), Undre Cia Pedraza of Norcross (Clinical Lab Technology, Oakwood Campus), Albina Roach of Braselton (Accounting, Oakwood Campus), Celia Volpe of Cumming (Clinical Lab Technology), Donya Clark of Flowery Branch (Medical Assisting, Oakwood Campus), Jennifer Whaley of Bethlehem (Medical Assisting, Winder Campus), Kristy Lance of Pendergrass (Medical Assisting, Oakwood Campus), Shannon Pursley of Jefferson (Medical Assisting, Winder Campus), Suzanne Ferguson of Dawsonville Campus (Business Administrative Technology, Dawson Campus), Thomas Lobo (both in Clinical Laboratory Tech at Oakwood Campus), Tammy Baker of Gainesville and Tanya Eison of Hoschton (Cosmetology at Oakwood), Charles Chandler of Good Hope (Drafting at Winder), Lillian Sanders and Amanda Porter (both in Medical Assisting at Winder Campus) and Emilie Angle and John Taylor (both in Accounting at Forsyth Campus).
Jackson Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) is currently accepting applications for three scholarship programs. Applicants may be full or part-time students. Winners will be chosen by a scholarship committee, which will carefully review each application to select the most qualified candidates, based on academic ability, extra-curricular activities, autobiographical sketch and recommendations. Jackson EMC offers two separate types of awards through the A.T. Sharpton (ATS) Scholarship program, named in honor of a late chairman of the Jackson EMC Board of Directors. Scholarships in the amount of $1,000 will be awarded this year, three from each of the two ATS categories. The A.T. Sharpton Restricted Scholarship Award is available exclusively to students attending or planning to attend Gainesville State College. Judges will consider academic ability, extra-curricular activities, autobiographical sketch and recommendations, as well as financial need. The A.T. Sharpton Unrestricted Scholarship Award is available to graduating high school seniors, undergraduates and/or graduates who are attending or planning to attend any accredited two-or four-year college, university or technical college in the nation. Judges will consider academic ability, extra-curricular activities, autobiographical sketch and recommendations. Also available is the Walter Harrison Scholarship, administered by Georgia EMC and named for a leader in the state and national electric cooperative movements. Several of these $1,000 scholarships are awarded statewide to undergraduate students enrolled in or accepted by a Georgia college, university or technical college. A.T. Sharpton applicants may also apply for the Walter Harrison Scholarship as long as the requirements are met. All scholarship recipients must be a customer of Jackson EMC or the son or daughter of a customer, and must also be a resident of the home served by Jackson EMC. Students interested in applying for any or all of these scholarships should contact their area high-school guidance counselors or complete the application online at www.jacksonemc.com/scholarships or at www.ngcf.org. The deadline for applications is Jan. 20.