Maggie and Eric are 'fairly' engaged.

Vicky and Robert Dickson of Carrboro are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter Maggie to Eric Roehrig. Eric is the son of Frank and Eileen Roehrig of Greensboro. Maggie and Eric live in Carrboro. The wedding is planned for July 26, 2008 at The Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill.

The Orange County Literary Council will hold ESL training on January 8 for volunteers interested in learning how to help non-native English speakers improve their everyday English skills.

Due to local demand for English as a Second Language classes, the literacy council and the Seymour Center are partnering to make ESL classes available to more people. Volunteer tutors will attend an intensive program that includes lectures, self-paced online sessions and role-playing activities. After the training, volunteers will be placed as either small-group leaders or assistants for the spring semester.

No experience is necessary and volunteers of all ages are welcome.

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The Orange County Human Relations Commission is soliciting nominations for the 2007 Pauli Murray Human Relations Awards.

The Paul Murray Award is presented annually to one Orange County youth, adult and business that served the community with distinction in pursuit of equality, justice and human rights for all citizens.

Nominations must be submitted by January 11. For more information or to submit a nomination, visit www.co.orange.nc.us/hrr/pmurray/asp or contact the Office of Human Rights and Relations at 960-3875.

The Orange County Cooperative Extension and the Economic Development Commission are accepting applications for a new program designed to train apprentice farmers in small-scale, sustainable vegetable and fruit production.

The “People Learning Agriculture Now for Tomorrow” program will cover the basic how-to’s of whole-farm planning, marketing, pests, diseases, weeds, planting and harvesting, soils, fertility and crop rotations, building your business plan, record keeping and integrating livestock into your farm.

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Student Body Vice President Mackenzie Price and science teacher Kevin Carter look over the dozens of links collected by Carter's biology class. Photo by Kirk Ross.

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

During their first annual holiday project, Carrboro High School students raised $4,200 to support needy families this holiday season.

Over a two-week period, students bought and sold purple, black and white paper links – Carrboro High’s colors – in their homerooms. Purple and white links were 25 cents, while black links were $5.

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Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools has formed a long-range facilities committee that will meet this winter and spring to review the district’s construction needs, and the public is invited to submit input via a new district blog.

The committee will be directed by Steve Scroggs, assistant superintendent for support services. Scroggs has created the “Bowtie Blog” as a medium for public discourse around the issues covered by the committee, such as the use of alternative spaces for classrooms and the expansion of current facilities.

The blog will be hosted on the district’s website, www.chccs.k12.nc.us, under the “Quick Links” section.

Smith Middle School students scored highest of any school team in North Carolina in the American Mathematics Competition 8 for middle school students.

Students from Smith and Phillips middle schools participated in the competition. Smith students Arun Ganesh and Richard Lu earned perfect scores in the competition – the only two perfect scores in the state.

Smith students who earned a certificate of distinction by posting a score of 21 or better include: Michael Gao, Max DeJong, Andrew DeJong, Thomas Greet, Wesley Guo, Michael Lao, Stan Perumov, Esther Rolf and Tyler Tran.

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In January, the East Chapel Hill Rotary Club and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation will open a teacher supply store where teachers can use $100 vouchers for free materials.

In the first stage, the store will offer materials to kindergarten, first-grade and second-grade teachers in all district elementary schools. The organizations plan to add grade levels in subsequent stages.

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The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education will tonight (Thursday) consider increasing school meal prices by 10 cents.

If approved by the board, the price increases will take effect January 23, 2008. Lunch prices will increase to $2.50 for elementary lunches, $2.75 for middle and high school lunches and $3.35 for adult lunches. The board is considering the price increases because district food services faces a deficit beyond the $122,000 supplement approved by the board.

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Carrboro Elementary School students recently collected nearly 600 cans of food for a canned-food drive to benefit families in need within the school and through the Inter-Faith Council Food Pantry.

The students’ goal was to donate 50 cans per grade, in honor of the school’s 50th anniversary, but students surpassed expectations and collected 590 cans and $910 in grocery gift cards.

Students helped bag and box nearly 400 cans to deliver to IFC and to Carrboro Elementary families in need.

The results are in, and Carrboro Elementary has been announced as the winner of the second annual Chapel Hill-Carrboro Battle of the Bulge challenge.

From Sept. 7 to Dec. 7, teams of faculty and staff from nine district schools worked to make healthy choices and lose weight. The Carrboro Elementary team lost the most weight, with 250 pounds lost. Second place went to the Frank Porter Graham Elementary team, which lost 205.5 pounds.

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Orange County Schools will hold a Financial Aid Night on January 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the Orange High School auditorium. Parents of students who are planning to apply for financial aid are encouraged to attend.

Representatives from the College Foundation of North Carolina, Elon University, N.C. State University and the Durham Technical Community College will serve on a discussion panel.

Is there a limit to the amount of impact a football player’s head can handle before the player suffers a concussion?

The answer is yes … and no, say researchers at UNC. High-tech helmets worn by some UNC football players over the 2004 to 2006 seasons yielded new data challenging theories about these mild brain injuries.

The UNC study shows that hits and heads are as individual as the players themselves. Researchers advise against establishing a one-size-fits-all rule for evaluating concussions.

Using accelerometers embedded in helmets, researchers measured the amount of g-force players’ heads experienced at impact. The system is called HITS, or Head Impact Telemetry System.

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Children play harder and longer when their child-care centers provide portable play equipment such as balls and jump ropes, more opportunities for active play and physical activity training and education for staff and students, according to researchers at the UNC School of Public Health.

“Childhood obesity is an epidemic that threatens the future health of our nation,” said Dianne Ward, a co-author of the study. “We know that about 57 percent of all 3-to-5-year-olds in the United States attend child-care centers, so it’s important to understand what factors will encourage them to be more active, and, hopefully, less likely to become obese.”

Researchers assessed the physical and social environmental factors thought to influence healthy weight at 20 child-care centers across North Carolina.

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Carrboro High School 2007-08 Wrestling

Sat Dec 22
Red Raider Duals at Newton-Conover HS, 9:00

Sat Dec 29
Athens Drive Duals, All Day

Sat Jan 5
Sonny Inskip Tournament
Northern Durham HS, All Day

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