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Chelsea Guild, a senior at Chapel Hill High School, received the Excellence in Community Service Award during her reign as Miss Teen North Carolina. She also received the honorary title of Greater Miss North Carolina from the Miss North Carolina USoA organization.

Chaney Howe, a first-year student at Earlham College and son of Eleanor and Daniel Howe of Chapel Hill, recently completed Earlham's August Mountain Wilderness program in the Uinta mountain range of northern Utah. For three weeks in August, Howe hiked the alpine lake regions. The program teaches such outdoor skills as cooking, first aid, leave-no-trace camping and map and compass navigation.

James Daniel Elam, a 2003 graduate of Chapel Hill High School and a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, presented a paper at the Beyond the Book Conference in Birmingham, England, on Aug. 31. Elam's presentation, "Book Groups in a Digital Age," examined how book groups use Internet listservs and chatrooms to form community separate from the face-to-face interactions of the geographical public sphere. Such technology acts as a medium through which identity, both personal and communal, is created and shaped. Thus "reading a book" and "surfing the web" become social functions.

John R. Connelly has entered basic cadet training at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., in preparation to enter the first academic year at the academy. The six-week, two-phased orientation program must be completed by the cadets prior to entering the freshman year. Phase one involves personal orientation and training in the fundamentals of being a cadet. During phase two, cadets train outdoors living in tents while learning to function in field conditions. Cadets apply and practice team work, cohesion and learn to deal with physically and mentally demanding situations.
Connelly is the son of James Connelly of Hillsborough and a 2007 graduate of Orange High School.

Joanna Michelle Craver of Chapel Hill has been named to the dean's list for the summer semester at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga. To make the list, a student must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.0 and must have a semester grade-point average of at least 3.5 with at least nine hours of course work.

Charles Pardo, an officer with the Chapel Hill Police Department, has received the El Centro Latino Award for outstanding service and support of the Latino community. Pardo coordinates Latino outreach initiatives for the department and is assigned to the Community Services division. El Centro Latino is a nonprofit organization that provides social services, educational and cultural programs to the Latino community of Orange County.

Maire A. Dekle of Chapel Hill was named to the dean's list for the spring semester at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. To make the list, a student must achieve a grade-point average of 3.5 or above, a B or greater in all classes and complete at least 15 credits.