Perry McLeod, a US and World History teacher at Richland Northeast High School in Columbia, has been named South Carolina History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Preserve America. McLeod will receive a $1,000 honorarium and will be in the running for the National History Teacher of the Year Award to be selected this fall. Richland Northeast High School's library will receive a core archive of history books and materials from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. McLeod has been teaching for 20 years and has been at Richland Northeast High School for fourteen years. His other honors include the South Carolina Council for the Social Studies Teacher of the Year award in 2005 and several awards for Our Local Greatest Generation, an oral history project he conducted with his students in which they interviewed local veterans.

Deanna Piper is South Carolina's winner of the state Igniting Creative Energy Challenge, an educational competition sponsored by Johnson Controls that encourages North American students to develop ingenious ways to conserve energy and protect the environment.

Graham Van Schaik, an exceptional senior at Spring Valley High School, has been recognized once again as one of the country's most outstanding high school seniors by the Coca- Cola Scholars Foundation and has been awarded a $20,000 National Coca- Cola Scholarship for college. Van Schaik, a member of the 20th class of Coca- Cola Scholars, has demonstrated academic excellence and civic excellence in school and in the community.

Seventy students ages six to 18 were selected to have their work published by the Richland County Public Library in Kids in Print, a collection of stories, poems and art. Students featured in this year's edition include: Julia Rayfield, A. C. Moore Elementary School; Delaney Woodham, Bethel- Hanberry Elementary School; Phillip Glover, C.A. Johnson Preparatory Academy; Roderick Bishop, Carolina School for Inquiry; Katie Zobel, Chapin Elementary School; Dante Valtorta, Chapin Middle School; Menachem Muller, Lilly Coveney, Bette Needle, Esme Bajo and Alexander Glickman, Columbia Jewish Day School; Kellie Wooten, Congaree Elementary School; Eden Crain, Covenant Classical Christian School; Holly McDermott, Crossroads Middle School; Victoria Cochran, Dreher High School; Rebeca Robles, Dutch Fork High School; Ethan Poh, Dutch Fork Middle School; Makenzie Owens, Forest Lake Elementary School; Frances Sadler, Hammond School; Chris Yogodzinski, Ben Herring, Katie Tuten, Keshia Craft, Ginger Seymour, Cade McConnell, Treyvon Jordan, Jalaina LaGree, Brione Daniels, Chandler Shaw and Bailey Crapps, Hand Middle School; Nina Valenti, H. E. Corley Elementary School; Creighton Boggs and Maddison Acciardo, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School; Elise Porter, Mary Carolyn Hobbs, Grace Kathryn Porter, Sabri Irizarry, Brittany Boone, Addision Rogers, Olive Bay Eleazer, Dylan Prince, Nathan Lindsey, Luke Porter, Laura Wilkes, John Mark Porter, Mary Caroline Giles, Frankin Ekanem, Daniel Davidson, Jackie Van Ryn, Morgan Marshall and Ciara Steele, Homeschool. TyRon Pressley, Hopkins Middle School; Terrance Castro, Hyatt Park Elementary School; Taylor Herman, Leslie Stover Middle School; Shazzmere Edwards, Midlands Math and Business Academy; Chelsea Means, Midlands Technical College; Claire Love, Pleasant Hill Middle School; Matthew Greene, Polo Road Elementary School; Philip Thomas, Richland Northeast High School; Rashmili Vemula, Ridge View High School; Sakeena Ghandour, River Springs Elementary School; Madeline Foley, Rosewood Elementary School; Will Hackney, Brie Whitlark, Marshall Drake and Evan Carter, Sandhills School; Riley Ammons, Satchel Ford Elementary School; Jalisa Glover, Southeast Middle School; Taylor Hill, Summit Parkway Middle School; and Taylor White, Timmerman School.

Five schools and twelve student winners were awarded prizes on May 1 at the Champions of the Environment year- end celebration, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control announced today. The Junior Scientists of Forest Heights Elementary School in Columbia were named 2008 overall Champions of the Environment and received $2,500. Second runner- up Blythewood High School took home $1000. Twelve students were awarded prizes in the Environmental Awareness Middle School competition in the following categories: First place: Michelle Demmerle of Heathwood Hall Episcopal School.

William A. Rainwater, son of Mr. and Mrs. Keith S. Rainwater and a student at Cardinal Newman High School, was named the 2008 recipient of the Saint Michael's College Scholarship and Service Book Award. The award recognizes students who demonstrate a commitment to volunteerism and leadership through community service.

Killian Elementary recently received the Red Carpet School Award from the State Department of Education. This award is presented to schools that provide a warm friendly environment that helps make visitors feel welcome and part of the school family. Winning schools receive red carpets with the state seal to display in their lobbies, and maintain their recognition status for a three- year period. Killian received this award for the years 2004- 2007. Killian has also been recognized for its successes in creating successful single- gender education programs.

A.C. Flora High School student Jewel Gibbs was selected for membership in the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS), a highly prestigious national organization that recognizes top scholars and invites only those students who have achieved superior academic excellence. As a member of the NSHSS, Gibbs will have access to scholarship opportunities, academic competitions and other benefits.

Dreher High School senior Casey Wentworth has been awarded a $150,000 Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship by the U.S. Marine Corps. In February Wentworth competed for the award with high school students from across the nation. When she enters college this fall as a Marine- option midshipman, the scholarship will pay for tuition, books and other educational fees. Upon completion of her naval science requirements and graduation, Wentworth will be commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.

Spring Valley students Eric Shine and Valentin Lazar competed at the International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering, and Environment Project Olympiad (I-SWEEEP) in Houston, Texas, May 1- 4. Junior Valentin Lazar won a bronze medal for environmental projects and $500. Sophomore Eric Shine won a bronze medal for engineering projects and $500. Congratulations to their teachers and families.

Matthew McDuffie of Spring Valley High School, received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He has to report to West Point immediately after he comes back from the National HOSA Conference in Dallas, Texas in June.

Chief Perry Langston of Spring Valley High School was selected by HQ Air Force Accession and Training School "Air University" in Montgomery, Alabama, to assist in teaching the Academic Instructor's Course for 120 newly appointed AFJROTC instructors this summer (7-18 July). He was one out of 1000 instructors selected.

On June 18, a group of young explorers will embark on the field trip of a lifetime when they travel to Africa as part of the 2008 Richland One Student Experience to Africa (ROSETA) Program. The students, who will be eighth graders when the new school year begins in August, will spend two weeks visiting schools and sites of historical and cultural significance in Ghana and Morocco. The 2008 ROSETA participants are Jada Daniels and Teryn Parker - Crayton Middle School, Casey Corbin, Preston Perkins, and Ta Juan Huiett - Gibbes Middle School, Kendrick Daniels - Hopkins Middle School, Kayla Washington, Moriah West, and Tyler George - W.G. Sanders Middle School, Anissa Jones, Ja'rel Green, and Paulina Tucker - Southeast Middle School, Adia Middleton, Amanda Rush, Cathelean Vereen, and Micheala Doughty - St. Andrews Middle School.