Cummins, Peterson named Volunteer Stars
Bonnie Cummins and Eric Peterson have been chosen as Hamilton County’s winners of the 2015 Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards. They will be honored on Feb. 28, along with winners from other Tennessee counties, at the seventh annual Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards in Franklin, Tenn. One youth and one adult winner are chosen by the mayor of each of the state’s 95 counties as its representatives in the state competition.
Peterson volunteers with Samaritan Center, where he helps with bailing, dock work, pickups and other general projects.
Cummins has volunteered with Northside Neighborhood House for more than 30 years. She has served as a board member and in the Direct Assistance program. Each year she composes a letter for the NNH Christmas Program, asking for donations of toys and food. Last year alone, her letter helped raise $6,000 in donations. When a second NNH office opened in 2014, she volunteered to manage daily receptionist tasks there as well as mentor the new case manager.
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Robotics team wins awards in debut contest
Chattanooga Christian School’s first middle-school robotics team represented the school at the Lego League Robotics Regional and Super Regional competitions.
The sixth-grade team won the Strategy and Innovation Award, and the eighth-grade team placed seventh out of 32 teams in the robot challenges at Regional. The Blue and Gold team, made up of sixth- to eighth-grade girls and seventh-grade boys, won the Mechanical Design Award at Super Regionals.
The Blue and Gold team advanced to the state competition, where Elizabeth Wood, Xaverie Goodman, Dana Monahan, Landon Schuster, Reese Gibbs, Carter Bridgeman and Maya Franie presented a steel prototype of their design for a depository for unused prescription drugs. The “Pharmaceutical Detox Box” was built by JBH Steel.
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Elston wins Shulimson Award
Suzanne Elston, director of adult education at Chattanooga State Community College, has received the Gail Chasin Shulimson Founder’s Award, which is named after a longtime University of Tennessee at Chattanooga educator.
The award was created in 2010 to recognize people who support the mission of the Center for Community Career Education at UTC with the same passion as Shulimson, its founder, according to Sandy Cole, current executive director of the center.
According to Cole, the center began in 1980 with a small grant to serve displaced homemakers and single parents. It has grown to 10 programs serving 3,000 elementary, middle, high school and college students and adults.
Elston was nominated for her collaborative relationship with UTC and strengthening the referral process between both school’s programs.
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Bowlers support MacClellan Shelter
Area church members in conjunction with Knights of Columbus Councils raised funds for the MacClellan Shelter for Families through a 10-week bowling league.
The nine teams in the Knights of Columbus Family Bowling League recently presented shelter Director Paul Luikart with a check for $500.
The league starts its 10-week season in March. Registration deadline for spring league play is Feb. 21. For more information, call 423-463-1496.
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Hill, Coleman attend D.C. conference
Corinne Hill, Chattanooga Public Library executive director, and Becky Coleman, Hamilton County Department of Education director of literacy, joined more than 90 officials from 45 communities across the country in Washington, D.C., for a one-day meeting that was part of President Obama’s ConnectED Library Challenge. The challenge is an initiative to get a library card in the hand of every school-age child.
The meeting provided a platform to share ideas of successful approaches as well as foster local partnerships. President Obama launched ConnectED Library Challenge in April 2015. There are 60 communities participating in the challenge.
– Compiled by staff writer Susan Pierce