Talk of the Neighborhood highlights Central Texans’ achievements.

* Applause *

* McGregor Elementary teacher Sheryl Huffman received the McGregor Veterans of Foreign Wars Post’s Teacher of the Year Award. She was presented the award by the VFW’s Manuel Nelson.

* Class Acts *

* McGregor fifth-grader Jordan Stroope participated in the People to People World Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., in late February.

Jordan was nominated and accepted for the program based on his outstanding scholastic merit, civic involvement and leadership potential.

* Midway High’s UIL academic and speech team won district for the 21st consecutive time at the District 16-4A contest. Ennis placed second.

Students (listed alphabetically) who placed were:

Nethika Ariyasinghe, 1st in science (top chemistry score), 2nd in mathematics, 2nd in number sense; Michael Arrington, 5th in science; Jane Cha, 1st in number sense, 2nd in calculator applications; Andrew Chang- Gu, 3rd in current events, 3rd in science; Jonathan Diep, 4th in calculator applications, 7th in computer science; Kevin Doan, 5th in calculator applications, 5th in number sense, 6th in mathematics; Kendra Emert, 3rd in computer applications; Thomas Grabow, 2nd in calculator applications, 2nd in science, 3rd in mathematics, 4th in number sense; Sarah Groman, 6th in headline writing; Brandon Halvorson, 5th in spelling; Natalie Hejduk, 4th in science (top biology score), 7th in mathematics; Nicole Hengst, 3rd in Lincoln-Douglas debate; Katelyn Jaynes, 2nd in ready writing, 4th in literary criticism; Callie Jean Martin, 6th in feature writing; Catherine Martin, 2nd in literary criticism; Janna Martindale, 6th in literary criticism; Lauren McCoy, 1st in literary criticism, 3rd in headline writing; Emily Merlino, 2nd in feature writing; Lee Morrow, 5th in current events, 5th in editorial writing; J.T. Motlock, 5th in informative speaking; Collin Norkiewicz, 4th in Lincoln-Douglas debate; Micah Parks, 7th in accounting; Evan Plante, 4th in spelling; Emily Reeder, 3rd in persuasive speaking; Sandy Ren, 4th in ready writing; Duncan Widmann, 1st in current events, 2nd in informative speaking.

Teams winning first place were: calculator applications (Cha, Grabow, Diep, Doan); current events (Widmann, Chang-Gu, Morrow, Blake Johnson); literary criticism (McCoy, Martin, Jaynes, Martindale); mathematics (Ariyasinghe, Grabow, Doan, Hejduk); number sense (Cha, Grabow, Ariyasinghe, Doan); science (Ariyasinghe, Grabow, Chang-Gu, Hejduk, Arrington and Ren).

Winning second place were speech and spelling (Plante, Halvorson, Hannah Powers and Tina Lin).

* In the Military *

* Army Pvt. Larry E. Parker, a 2006 graduate of La Vega High School, has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. He is the son of Willie Parker of Waco.

* Air Force Airman 1st Class Alexander M. Najera, a 2007 graduate of A.J. Moore Academy, arrived for duty at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

The airman, an instrument and flight controls journeyman with less than one year of military service, is assigned to the 436th Airlift Wing. He is the son of Nestor R. Najera Sr. and Marina Olvera, both of Waco.

* Army Pvt. Erika A. Davis, a 2008 graduate of Waco’s S.T.A.R.S. High School, has gra-duated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. She is the daughter of Kathy and Thomas Davis of Waco.

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