Roses, of course, to Emily Brewer, Tommy Holmes, Elizabeth Aguilar Lopez and the baby girl who brought all those people together in a way that has captured attention across the nation.

Brewer, a UNC doctoral student in 19th-century British literature, and her 2-year-old son Dylan were on their way to the bus stop outside Abernathy Hall on the Carolina campus around lunchtime Dec. 7 when Brewer realized a woman already there was in distress.

The woman was Lopez, who was pregnant.

Although Brewer doesn’t speak Spanish and Lopez speaks very little English, it became very clear very fast to both of them that Lopez was about to give birth.

As Brewer approached, Lopez’s water broke. And then, in a matter of moments ... a baby.

Brewer calmed Lopez and called 911. Holmes, a member of Orange County’s EMS team, answered the call and talked Brewer through the rest of the delivery, instructing her as she cleaned the baby with Aguilar’s scarf and used a shoelace to tie off the umbilical cord.

Medic arrived soon afterward and took mom and newborn to UNC Hospitals.

The story captured national attention, and the North Carolina 9-1-1 Board last week awarded Holmes an award for his “outstanding level of service.”

Brewer got an even bigger honor: In gratitude to the graduate student who helped bring her baby into the world, Lopez named the little girl Emily.

Roses to Mary Andrews, a reading teacher at Estes Hills Elementary School.

Andrews recently received the first-ever Random House Bertelsmann Teacher Award for Literacy, which recognizes “innovative projects in support of cultivating literacy and lifelong readers.”

Her award includes a $10,000 grant to be used toward making her many creative projects possible.

In addition, she will attend and speak at the upcoming National Council of Teachers of English meeting in Las Vegas.

Andrews has developed numerous literacy programs through the years, including READ2ME:Tailgate Stories, Family Reading Partners and Coach Write!

In addition, she is a board member of Book Harvest and was a founding board member of Our Children’s Place.

Roses to the East Chapel Hill High School field hockey team, which recently won the state championship with a 3-0 victory over longtime rival R.J. Reynolds of Winston-Salem.

The Wildcats have been in this position before. In fact, they won the state title last year, too.

And the year before that. And the year before that. And the year before that.

All in all, East has captured nine state crowns in the past 12 years.

That is a remarkable level of achievement, although around we get a bit spoiled.

Just last week we gave Roses to Carrboro’s girls cross country team after it won its fourth straight state title.

East rolled to a perfect 19-0 record in picking its latest trophy.

The Wildcats put Sydney Holman, Rebecca Halter, Amanda Demasi, Marissa Creatore and Fiona Nelson on the state all-star team.

They were joined by a quintet from Carrboro, which finished third in the state: Maddie Smith, Katie Minogue, Kira Castle, Alex Grant and Tanner Watson. Chapel Hill’s Becca Heine, Jane Murray and Becca White also made the all-star squad.