SOUTHWESTERN COMM. COLLEGE

“Sound the buzzer! I know this one,” said an excited Sara Orr who correctly answered that Walter Farley is the author of The Black Stallion. Orr, and other members of Southwestern Community College Upward Bound Scholars’ Bowl team placed second in Saturday’s competition on the Jackson Campus. For the first time, SCC hosted the NC Council of Educational Opportunity Programs Scholars’ Bowl Competition, including teams from Surry Community College, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Pembroke, UPCEE-Greensboro and UPCEE-Winston-Salem. The winning team-UNC-Chapel Hill-will represent the state and advance to the southeastern association regional competition. Members of the SCC team are, from left, Brionna Willingham , Emily Donovan, Orr, all of Swain High School; Autumn Baird of Blue Ridge High School, Halley Trantham, captain, of Swain High, Kayti Sevigny of Franklin High School and James Whitt of Swain High; not pictured: Karleigh Reeves of Cherokee High School. (Photo courtesy of Rose Garrett/SCC)

Southwestern Community College Scholar’s Bowl member James Whitt of Cherokee was the individual high scorer and the SCC team placed second in Saturday’s (Mar. 6) NC Council of Educational Opportunity Programs Scholars’ Bowl Competition.

SCC hosted the two-day event, which included teams from Surry Community College, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Pembroke, UPCEE-Greensboro and UPCEE-Winston-Salem. The winning team – UNC-Chapel Hill- will represent the state and advance to the southeastern association regional competition.

“I’m glad it was the students answering the questions,” said SCC librarian and event volunteer Vickie Lepore. “You can really see they’ve spent a lot of time preparing for this.”

“We practiced a lot,” said SCC team member Emily Donovan of Bryson City. “I thought some of the questions were difficult but I thought we were pretty prepared.”

Team member Sarah Orr, also of Bryson City, said the Scholars’ Bowl “helped you learn a wide range of topics.”

“It makes me want to pay more attention in school,” added Donovan.

Team Captain Hally Trantham of Bryson City admitted in previous competitions she had felt a little nervous. “But this is my fourth year now and I’ve had some valuable experience.” However, Trantham said there seemed to be a lot more math this year and that’s not her strong point. “I’m better at English, mythology and random facts.”

Luckily, team member and Co-captain James Whitt of Cherokee does well in math. “And science, and just about everything else,” said Trantham, noting that Whitt outscored everyone else at the competition.

“I think the reason I did better this year than last year was because I’ve had a lot more classes,” said Whitt, a Swain High School junior.

While Orr talked about how being in Scholar’s Bowl helped her build knowledge skills, Whitt added that it helped him with public speaking, too. “It helps make me not so nervous,” he said.

Sean Nilan of Otto was amazed with the wide range of questions- “everything from common knowledge to geometry specifics,” he described. Even though he is especially good in science, this Franklin High School 10 grader elected to participate behind the scenes as a student ambassador. “Sean was a runner, a student leader among his peers, and a great cheerleader for our team members. We’re pleased to have so many students that support their peers and believe that education is fun,” said Erica Muse, SCC Upward Bound academic advisor.

First time volunteer Robin Whitley, who teaches GED classes at the LBJ Job Corps Center, enjoyed seeing how much fun the students experienced. “They were competing, true, but they did it with friendly camaraderie,” she said.

How well the SCC team bonded as a group and performed so well against much larger schools impressed SCC Upward Bound Director Annette Kesgen.

SCC UB Academic Advisor Cheryl Renfro said she was grateful for “the overwhelming support from our local business who donated food, bottled water and a wide variety of door prizes.”

For more information about the Scholars’ Bowl, or the Upward Bound program, contact Kesgen at 828-631-2671.

11am to 3pm

Little Snowbird Church playground

FMI 828-479-8201 or 828-479-3917 (days) 828-479-8678 (evenigns)

Saturday, March 20

proceeds to help KoLaNvYi Swagga basketball team, travel to Mississippi for NAYO

Saturday, March 13

starting at 6pm

Hotdog supper starts at 5:30pm

Lots of fun and Prizes

Bessie Murphy Sexton, 66, went home to be with her Lord Tuesday, March 9, 2010. A native and lifelong resident of Cherokee, she was the daughter of the late Luther and Elnora Ledford Murphy. She was a member of Bethabara Baptist Church and a very respected member of the Birdtown Community. Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by her brothers, Joe, Jess, and Jim Murphy.

She is survived by her loving husband, Shawn Sexton; three daughters, Debra Slee of Cherokee, Joyce Justice and her husband, Barry, of South Carolina, Nancy Brown and husband, Tim, of Cherokee; three sons, James Rose Sr. of Cherokee, Thomas Myers and wife, Camille, of Cherokee, Daniel Myers of Cherokee; 15 grandchildren, John, Michael, Jess and James Jr., Jack and Haleigh, Brittany and Timiyah, Ian, Isaiah, and Nonny, Asija, Meli, Thomas and Lauren; four great grandchildren; three sisters, Katherine Crisp of Cherokee, Roberta Murphy of Cherokee, Janice Jones of Cherokee; and two brothers, David Murphy and Gene Brindle, both of Cherokee.

She will be dearly missed.

The funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Bethabara Baptist Church, with the Rev. Mitchell Smiley officiating.

The family will receive friends from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday evening at the church.

Burial will be in the Birdtown Cemetery.

Crisp Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

Tagan Crowe poses with his acrylic painting "Herd" which took a 1st place ribbon at last month's N.C. State Junior Beta Convention. (Photos courtesy of Bette Fitzgerald/CMS)

GREENSBORO – On Super Bowl Sunday, some of the most talented eighth grade students from Cherokee Middle School turned off their televisions and headed to Greensboro to participate in academic and art competitions with more than 3,000 middle students from over 100 schools across North Carolina at the annual State Junior Beta Convention. 

The convention theme was “Beta…A Circle of Winners” to promote the National Junior Beta Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.   The CMS banner, designed by Chicoah Ledford and Dylan Thompson won a first place trophy.  The banner had a southwestern Native American feel to it with leather horses, machine quilting and “2010” done in beadwork. 

Jeremy Saunooke took a 1st place ribbon for his hand-carved spoons.

Tagan Crowe took home a first place ribbon for his acrylic painting “Herd” which shows horses moving through a forest.  Jeremy Saunooke placed first in woodworking with two hand-carved spoons and BrayDe Brady won 2^nd for an embroidery pieces on a painted canvas depicting an arctic scene complete with a mother and baby penguin.  The multiple art ribbons earned CMS a second place trophy for the Art Sweepstakes. 

The six students who received ribbons are invited to attend and compete at the National Junior Beta Club Convention in Louisville, Kentucky this summer, June 26-29.  In recent years CMS has won at nationals twice.  In 2008, Meshay Long won 1^st place in oil pastels and Felicia Owle took 2^nd place in oil painting and last year Devyn Smith took 3^rd place in oil pastels. 

The following students participated in the various competition categories listed: 

ART: Wreath (Curtis Price, Courtney George, Corey Owle), Photography (Taran Swimmer, Kayla Bradley), Sketching (Tagan Crowe), Oil Pastels (Tagan Crowe), Watercolor (Tagan Crowe), Acrylic Painting (Tagan Crowe), Sculpture (Taran Swimmer), Embroidery (BrayDe Brady), cross-stitch (Ashley Mahan), Knitting/crochet (Vanessa Caldwell), Woodworking (Jeremy Saunooke), Jewelry (Justin Buchanan).

CATEGORY EVENTS: T-Shirt Design (Justin Buchanan, Chicoah Ledford, Damon Taylor, Hunter Lambert, Silas Reed-Littlejohn, Tagan Crowe), Scrapbook (Jaylen Welch, Kayla Bradley, Larissa Martinez, Avery Mintz and Monique Paul), Small Group Talent (Grass Dancing by Chebon Postoak, Russell Bigmeat, Darius Thompson, and Dylan Thompson), Poster Design (Taran Swimmer, Monique Paul, Avery Mintz), Living Literature where students freeze in costume to depict a scene from a book (The Lorax by Jeremy Saunooke, Levi Swearengin, Damon Taylor, Wade Wolfe, Justin Buchanan, and Tagan Crowe).

ACADEMICS: Power Point Presentation (Jessica Lambert and Priscilla Squirrell), Speech (Stevi Sutton), Math Test (Kenzie Garcia), Science Test (Watson Harlan), Social Studies Test (Hunter Lambert) and Leadership Workshops (Vanessa Caldwell, BraDe Brady, Anna Cline, and Taylor Johnson), Quiz Bowl Team (EJ Carroll, Silas Reed-Littlejohn, Brent Gunter, and Jalon Lossiah).

CMS Beta officials related, “This valuable leadership event was made possible by support from Cherokee Central School Board and Gear Up.  We would like to thank the students, their families, teachers, and the administration for helping to make this event such a success.  We appreciate the art instruction from Reba Elders, leading to such strong entries in the art categories.  The beta banners will be framed for a permanent display of student art in the beautiful new school building.”

Bette is the Cherokee Middle School Beta Sponsor.