Hunter Martin, an eighth-grader at Davis Middle School, spent three weeks of this summer vacation studying robotics at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. The program, offered through Duke University's Talent Identification Program, is open to students in grades seventh through 10th. Once accepted, students must further qualify with high scores on the SAT or ACT. Martin took the ACT in the seventh grade and scored an 18 out of a possible 36 on the ACT. "Hall County is wonderful to have the teachers who distribute information about this," said Martin's mother, Rene Owens. "We moved here in 2006, and we had never heard about anything like this (before moving)." Martin spent more than 90 hours in classes designing, building and programming robots to drive, pick up items and climb stairs. He placed fourth in the project finale, which was "Jousting Robots."

Christina Sherby was named to the dean's list for the spring semester at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. To be named to the dean's list, students must receive a 3.5 grade-point average.

Erin Parrish of Flowery Branch has been awarded a scholarship by the Ty Cobb Educational Foundation. Parrish is a student at Gainesville State College.

Kaley Peek of Gainesville graduated summa cum laude on May 10 from Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C. Peek is a 2004 North Hall High School graduate and the daughter of Becky and Robert Peek of Gainesville.

Mark Casper, a student at Gainesville High School, won the state high school division for the InvestWrite essay competition. The competition was sponsored by the New York City-based Foundation for Investor Education. Casper's essay will be featured in a newsletter from the Georgia Council on Economic Education.

Jerith Peck, Freddie Perez and Guadalupe Lorea, eighth-graders at Chestatee Middle School, placed first, second and third, respectively, in the poster contest held earlier this year by the Hall County Humane Society.

North Hall Middle School's chorus, under the direction of Leana Haupt, won Best in Class and Best Concert Choir during Festival Disney in Orlando, Fla., in May. The competition, sponsored by Disney, featured students from across the country who performed for nationally recognized music teachers.

The following students have been named to the president's list at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro for the spring 2008 term: Katherine May and Karen Whelchel of Gainesville; Kelsey Odom, Kristen Treutle and Cierre Ubaldo of Flowery Branch; and Brianna Van Alstyne and Jessica Wiltsie of Lula. To achieve this honor, students must have a 4.0 grade-point average with a minimum of 12 credit hours for the semester.

The following students have been named to the dean's list at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro for the spring 2008 term: Patti Brown, Zachary Hoffman, Jamie Kitchel, Brett Newcome, Emily Pope, Patrick Shuler, Joshua Thomas, Catherine Tilson, Dana Woods and Davon Young of Gainesville; William Duttweiler of Clermont; and Theresa Meloni, Michael Payne and Bret Sanderson of Flowery Branch. To achieve this honor, students must have a 3.5 grade-point average with a minimum of 12 credit hours for the semester.

The following students graduated in May from the University of Georgia:

• From Hall County: Ashlyn Alford, Timothy Anderson, J. Lawrence Barrett, Laura Carlyle, Lara Collins, Victoria Cox, Jaime Crawford, Russell Crow, William Crumley, Sarah Dailey, Alaina Dooley, Jessica Dyer, Claire Erlacher, Lane Farkas, Jonathan Farr, Nicholas Gentile, Leslie Gibson, Jessica Hartzog, Henry Haynes, Shelley Haynes, Frances Hein, William Henson, Anna Higgins, Meredith Hill, Amber Hodge, Stephen Jenkins, Mary Johnson, Stephanie Johnson, Jennifer Joyner, Johnny Nam Le, Allison Ligenfelter, Jaime Martin, Joni Green McElwaney, Jennifer Melton, Donna Miller, Matthew Muller, Kieu Thi Nguyen, Lori Nye, Jenna O'Dell, Sarah Parks, Elizabeth Parrott, Helen Perry, Kimberly Pope, Briana Porter, Judianna Price, Stephanie Prichard, Michelle Schingler, Jitendra Sharma, Jacqueline Shirley, Allison Shuler, Melissa Smith, Randy Snow, Scott St. John, Brandon Stanton, Eric Stephens, Christopher Strickland, Michael Trinque, Perry Westbrook, Lacy Williams, Melanie Wilson, Frank Wood and Patrick Work.
• From Dawson County: Benjamin Cotton, Edward Engle IV and Michael Micetich.
• From Habersham County: Kyle Barron, Patricia Booth, Sara Boyd, Terri Byers, Emily Carter, Zachary Cathey, Morgan Cody, Shelby Gooch Day, Susan Elrod, Richard Elsarelli Jr., Ashley Gray, Chase Green, Kaitlin Hubbard, Courtney Irvin, James Loudermilk, Jason Milton, Megan Otter, Bradley Rogers, Mendi Sandoz, Whitney Simmemon, Justin Sutton and Jessica Tench.
• From Lumpkin County: Jordan Hamm, Natalie Outz and Megan Poitevint.
• From White County: Laura Losch and David McDuffie.