Jessica Tolbert

Tolbert wins in National ACTSO competition

Jessica Tolbert, a junior at Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, won first place in the visual arts category of the 39th annual National Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological Scientific Olympics contest sponsored by the NAACP.

ACTSO is a year-long enrichment competition sponsored by the NAACP that is open to all black high school students. Participants compete in performance arts, visual arts, culinary, business, math/sciences and humanities categories. The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Branch of the NAACP sponsors ACTSO locally.

Other local students competing at the national level included Amanda Greenidge of CSAS, essay/playwriting; Amara Brown of Center for Creative Arts, youth observer; Ayana Woodard of CCA, poetry; Chandler Custer of CSAS, classical instrumental music; Elyssia Gaffney of CSAS, dramatics; Jessica Tolbert of CSAS, drawing; Maya Thirkhill of CCA, oratory; and Myrissa Williams of Notre Dame, youth observer.

Basic training graduates

Eric W. Ross

• Pfc. Eric W. Ross has graduated from basic training at Parris Island, S.C. and from Marine combat training. The son of Dr. and Mrs. John Ross is a graduate of Chattanooga Christian School and East Tennessee State University.

He is stationed at Corry Air Station in Pensacola,Fla.

Charles Logan Holmes

• Army Pfc. Charles Logan Holmes has graduated from basic military training at Fort Jackson Army Base in Fort Jackson, S.C., where he received the Honorary Soldier of the Cycle Award at Fort Jackson after 10 weeks of training. He is now receiving advanced independent training at Fort Eustis in Newport News, Va., to become a Chinook helicopter repairman.

Holmes is the son of Cindy and Tony Holmes and a 2010 graduate of Soddy-Daisy High School.

Alexander Paul Baker

• Seaman 3rd Class Alexander Paul Baker has graduated from Great Lakes Naval Training Center and is currently attending Quartermaster School in preparation for assignment on a destroyer.

He is the son of Jon Baker of Red Bank and Gale Baker of Bradenton Fla., where he was a graduate of Manatee High School and State College of Florida.

Carroll selected for black history seminar

Brian Carroll, associate professor of communication and director of the honors program at Berry College, was one of two dozen scholars selected to participate in "African-American History and Culture in the Georgia Lowcountry," a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar

The two-week seminar, led by the Georgia Historical Society, was held in Savannah, Ga.

Participants visited Sapelo and Ossabaw islands, the coastal community of Pin Point and spent an afternoon at Savannah's Ten Broeck Race Course, where one of the largest sales of enslaved persons in U.S. history took place in March 1859.

Freeman, Kiser place in national contest

Two Georgia Northwestern Technical College students finished in the top 10 in the national SkillsUSA Championships. Both placed first at the state level in the Georgia SkillsUSA competition to advance to the national level.

More than 5,600 career and technical education students competed in the hands-on competitions in more than 90 trade, technical and leadership fields.

Jubal Freeman placed sixth in the nation in Computer Numerical Control Turning and Nathan Kiser placed 10th in the nation in Automotive Service Technology.

The CNC Turning contest assessed Freeman's ability to write a CNC program for part drawing and materials, determine tool offsets, set up the machine and produce a part on a lathe. The Automotive Service Technology contest was based on a task list outlined by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence and the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation.

Georgia team takes first in 205-mile race

Three Harbin Clinic physicians, a Berry College student, a Winshape employee, and two representatives from Go Go Running in Rome, Ga., along with other friends from around the United States, finished first overall and set a course record in the 205-mile Epic Cache-Teton Relay from Smithville, Utah, to Jackson Hole, Wyo.

The Rome, Ga., runners included Dr. Charlie Baggett, Harbin Clinic cardiologist; Dr. Jonathan Pewitt, Harbin Clinic dermatologist; and Dr. Andy Stevens, Harbin Clinic neurosurgeon along with Romans Robert Branham, Brian Cross, Powell Fulton, Zach Harter and Jay Stephenson. Other runners were Clay Colvin, Patrick Dillon, Eric Giandelone and Eric Robinson.

The team was sponsored by Go Go Running of Rome. Team Go Go Running finished the race with a time of 24:21:06 for an average of 7:08 minutes per mile per runner.

Sequatchie Creamery wins national award

For a second consecutive year, Sequatchie Cove Creamery's Dancing Fern cheese has won recognition in the Farmstead cheese category at the American Cheese Society competition. Last year the cheese won first; this year it took third place.

"Dancing Fern cheese has competed well two years in a row. The same cheese placing in the same category doesn't happen often," said Nathan Arnold, head cheese maker for Sequatchie Cove Creamery.

Dancing Fern Cheese can be purchased locally at Whole Foods Market, Enzo's and Pruitt's Grocery on Signal Mountain. It is also sold at the Main Street Farmers Market on Wednesdays from 4 to 6 pm.