Talk of the Neighborhood highlights Central Texans’ achievements.

* Applause *

* Dr. Cynthia SoRelle, theater instructor at McLennan Community College, will serve as chairman of the board of directors for the Literary Managers & Dramaturgs of the Americas, an international theater association. She will begin her three-year term in June.

SoRelle has been a member of LMDA since 1998 and has served two three-year terms as a member of the board.

* Class Acts *

* Chelsey Crye, valedictorian of the 2008 Lorena High class, was named to the dean’s list at Baylor University for the fall semester. She was selected to the Mortar Board Honor Society as one of the top 100 freshmen at Baylor with a 4.0 grade-point average. The daughter of Kathy Crye and Daron Crye, Chelsey is majoring in nursing.

* Midway Middle School students won 41 seats in the All-Region Choir this year at the Region VIII middle school auditions in Temple. It was the most in school history. The choirs are under the direction of Tammy Benton.

Students selected to the 2009 Region VIII Middle School All-Region Choir are:

Seventh grade — Madison Horner; Abby Jo Pozek, 2nd chair; Blair Sivess; Maggie Kearney; Erin Illich; Jeremy Bugh, 1st chair; Alex Tullos, 5th chair; Evan Arnett; Matthew Boles; and Colton Jackson.

Eighth grade — Blair Harp, 4th chair; Kasie Meek, 1st chair; Rachel Stern, 2nd chair; Betsua Rocha, 3rd chair; Katherin Burns, 1st chair; Camille Plemmons, 3rd chair; Jami Trevathan; Carli Conner; Lauren McLean; Hannah Johns; Katherine Watts; Sarah Goodnight; Jan Johnson; Jessica Brooks; Ryan Hykel, 2nd chair; Joseph Dreiwitz, 4th chair; Forrest Whiddon; Jake Mitchell; John Fisher; Logan Wischmeier, 3rd chair; Landon Harrell; Ryan Weaver, 4th chair; Case Smith; Nathan Blattman, 5th chair; Joshua Blattman; Demetri Montgomery; Joel Mireles; Addison Wilson, 2nd chair; Dylan Eckert; Noah Diaz-Granados; Nick Rork.

* Saemmul Lee of Waco, the daughter of the Rev. Gooil Lee and Hanna Lee , was named to the fall semester honor list of Oxford College, the two-year liberal arts division of Emory University in Oxford, Ga.

* William Holt Bostwick of Waco has been named to the dean’s list at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., for the Advent 2008 term. He is the son of Linda and Frederick deBurlo Bostwick III.

* Lauren Mary Carroll of Woodway was named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at Trinity University in San Antonio.

* Pitching In *

* Cheer for Charity raised $4,116 for the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign during its Feb. 8 event at Midway Middle School.

The event was hosted by local cheer gym ICON. It had 193 participants showing off their cheer skills for 575 spectators.

Cheer for Charity was founded in 2002 by Chesley Northern and her mom, Chris, when Chelsey was a freshman at Robinson High School. During Chelsey’s high school years, four Cheer for Charity events raised more than $11,000 for United Way of Waco-McLennan County.

Cheer for Charity was on hiatus while Chelsey was in college, but after she graduated from the University of Texas last summer, they resumed the event.

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