Two esteemed alumni of Plymouth Whitemarsh High School returned to their alma mater May 3 to be added to the PW Distinguished Graduates Organization.

NBA player and PW state champion John Salmons joined Renee Turchi, an associate professor at the Drexel School of Public Health and dignified childrens physician, to address the school and receive their honors.

Its truly humbling to have this honor bestowed upon me, Turchi said.

In 2011 alone, Turchi was a state champion in children and youth with special health care needs in the Maternal & Child Health Bureau, received the Nations Best Doctor Award and was given the Best Research Award at the annual Physical Therapy Association Conference.

I remember being in biology lab and schlepping this huge binder with all these biology notes here at PW that absolutely influenced my education, Turchi said.

Her compassion and humility for the well-being of others, and children specifically, have made her into the sought-after and respected doctor she is.

My prayer on Sunday in church after I pray for the health of my family, my friends and myself, I say, God, help me to help them, because it is way bigger than me or you or any of us and we can never, ever forget that, Turchi said.

After PW, Turchi studied at Cornell University, receiving her B.A. in psychology. She then received her Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and became an MD at the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Theres so much to be done in our City of Brotherly Love, just 10 miles from here, Turchi said. I dont think I realized until I was in medical school in Philadelphia how much work we have to do.

Another Philadelphian, or even closer in Conshohocken, Salmons also gave the people of Southeastern Pennsylvania something to cheer about. Continued...

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Plymouth Whitemarsh honors alumni

Reading High School alumni honored some of their own Thursday night, as well as a handful of students about to join their ranks.

The Reading High School Alumni Association held its annual dinner at Riveredge in Bern Township. The event serves two purposes: to recognize distinguished alumni who proudly have carried on the Reading School High name and to welcome graduating seniors into the fold through a scholarship program.

A total of 12 seniors - 10 from Reading High and two from Reading Muhlenberg Career & Technology Center - each received a $1,500 scholarship.

And three past Reading High graduates were honored with distinguished alumni awards:

Lee Ann Graul, Class of 1975: Graul is a career employee of the Defense Department. She most recently was a member of the Joint Coordination Element, a team established to improve cooperation between the departments of defense and homeland security.

She has also served as a member of the National Security Agency's Cyber Task Force, which deals with issues related to national cybersecurity.

Graul's former experience includes intelligence analysis and operations and management positions at the National Security Agency over the past three decades.

Michael J. Eppihimer, Class of 1986: Eppihimer is director of the cell biology, pathology and therapeutic area groups at Boston Scientific Corp., a worldwide developer, maker and marketer of medical devices.

He previously used his scientific skills as an associate professor of biology at Penn State University, as a staff and principal scientist at the former pharmaceutical company Wyeth and as a post-doctorate fellow at Louisiana State University Medical Center.

Eppihimer has published or contributed to dozens of scientific papers.

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High school alumni honor past, current graduates

Durham, NC - Eight high school seniors have won prestigious Angier B. Duke Memorial Scholarships, which are undergraduate merit awards to attend Duke University.

The awards cover full tuition, room and board and mandatory fees for four years, as well as a six-week summer study program at the University of Oxford in England. Scholars are also offered up to $5,000 for research or other educational enrichment programs. Based on estimated tuition rates, a scholarship will be worth more than $200,000 to a student over a four-year period.

The scholarships are awarded to outstanding students who show promise of being intellectual leaders. The awards stem from the Angier B. Duke Memorial Inc., established in 1925 by university co-founder Benjamin Newton Duke in memory of his son, Angier Buchanan Duke.

The scholarship's alumni include 18 Rhodes Scholars and 13 Marshall Scholars, including the renowned writer/Duke English professor Reynolds Price, who passed away last year; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Anne Tyler; NASA project scientist Hal Weaver; and Dr. Lynt Johnson, chief of transplant surgery at Georgetown University Medical Center.

This year's winners are:

-- Thasos Athanasiou Athens of Davis, Calif., a graduate of Davis Senior High School, and son of Kiley and Kyriacos A. Athanasiou.

-- Puja Bansal of Dix Hills, N.Y., a graduate of Half Hollow Hills High School East, and daughter of Archana Somani and Vipul Bansal.

-- James Emery Ferencsik of Savannah, Ga., a graduate of St. Andrews School, and son of Beth Quigley and David Ferencsik.

-- Grace Danting Li of Manvel, Texas, a graduate of Glenda Dawson High School, and daughter of Shixia Huang and Yi Li.

-- Brody Donovan Kellish of Manlius, N.Y., a graduate of Cazenovia High School, and son of Sherry and Mark Kellish.

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Duke Announces Winners of A.B. Duke Scholarships

Historically black colleges and universities are about to have a mess on their hands. Because of a sharp change to a student loan policy, enrollment has dramatically dropped. This is not good for the schoolsor hopeful high school graduates.

Founded primarily after the Civil War, these higher institutions served the black community when white colleges didnt allow them to attend.

Currently, there are 105 historically black colleges and universities in the United States, and these include public and private, two-year and four-year institutions, medical schools and community colleges. They educate about 374,000 students, including white students.

The enrollment is declining at these schools because in 2011, the PLUS loansdisqualified borrowers with unpaid debts that had been referred to collection agencies over the past five years.

PLUS loans have long been popular because, unlike many student loans, they have no limit and can cover an array of needs, including tuition, fees, books, and room and board. Parents apply for the loans, some upwards of $50,000, to cover the amount of money needed to bridge financial gaps for their childrens education.

Historically, loans, fellowships, and scholarships have been critical for students at these colleges, said Rolonda Watts, a radio personality and alumna of Spelman University in Atlanta. I got through there [college] with work studies, scholarships and loans.

Watts great, great grandfather was a founder of Bennett College in North Carolina.

Nathan Ober, a student at Villanova University, has done extensive research on the student debt crisis and notes that black students are the most likely among all racial or ethnic groups to graduate with high debt.

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Why Historically Black Colleges Are in Serious Trouble

COBB

Cobb employee wins state EMS Educator of the Year

EMS Coordinator Larry Causby of Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services was named Georgia EMS Educator of the Year at the 2013 Georgia Emergency Medical Services Awards Banquet on Thursday.

The award is presented to an EMS educator who has contributed significantly to EMS education at the community, regional, and state level. The person must not only do the job, but far exceed the expectations of the employer and the community. Causby was selected as a true role model and community hero.

Andria Simmons

Driving seminar for teens, parents

The Powder Springs Police Department and the University of Georgia will host a free, 2-hour P.R.I.D.E. seminar to help Cobb County parents prepare their teens to drive 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. May 28 at the Powder Springs Police Department, 1114 Richard D. Sailors Pkwy. A teen and a parent must register to attend. Forms: http://www.cityofpowdersprings.org/DocumentCenter/View/2199. Deadline May 17.

Veronica Fields Johnson

Sorority hosts empowerment summit

The Marietta-Roswell Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. will address preserving the value of your home, improving your credit, and finding a job at The Fourth Annual Community Empowerment Summit 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. May 18 at the Smyrna Community Center, 200 Village Green Circle

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County by county news for Tuesday

PELHAM -- In nominating Pelham High's school nurse of 25 years, Barbara Campbell, to be selected as "New Hampshire School Nurse of the Year," the school's former football coach and physical-education teacher Thomas Babaian described Campbell as

Campbell, 61, a Lowell native learned from PHS Principal Dorothy Mohr on April 1 that she was unanimously selected by the New Hampshire School Nurses' Association to receive the state recognition at an awards banquet June 8 in Manchester.

The "heartbeat" reference, made by Babaian in the nomination package submitted to the NHSNA, held a special added meaning for many of the school's staff, students, parents and alumni who admire Campbell for not only

NH School Nurse of the Year, Barbara Campbell,R.N., she is the Pelham HS nurse, here she stands outside her office with a ER Defibrillator that she trains teachers on . SUN/David H.Brow. (David H. Brow)

"Never did Barbara think she would be on the receiving end of these skills until she collapsed in her office on Oct. 27, 2005 from a heart attack," PHS teacher Lynne Kirila wrote in the nominating Campbell who was later diagnosed with arrhythmia. "A teacher, Judy Metz, whom she had trained in CPR, Officer Anne Periello and the Pelham Fire Department saved her life."

Campbell was later diagnosed with arrhythmia. She said Metz, a gym teacher, was naturally frightened but competent in administering the (chest) compression and breaths needed to prevent

NH School Nurse of the Year, Barbara Campbell,R.N., she is the Pelham HS nurse, here she chats with senior student, April Belanger (18) . SUN/David H.Brow. (David H. Brow)

Campbell was in a coma for a week, awoke in the hospital ICU, and returned to work at PHS six weeks later. The school community and town rallied around Campbell's successful follow-up effort to raise money to equip all the district's schools and town buildings with automated external defibrillators (AED).

"Incredibly, Barbara experienced a second heart attack on Feb. 7, 2007," wrote Kirila.

This time, it was at home and it was Campbell's husband, Glenn, who used the CPR skills his wife had taught him until the Pelham

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N.H. School Nurse of the Year

Whether it was a gentle nudge to help prepare them for the future or perhaps a slightly firmer push, Naperville Central High School seniors got it Friday during their annual Alumni Recognition Program.

The graduating class followed a 17-year tradition of honoring the service, excellence, persistence and character of those who walked the halls before them by honoring four top alumni. This year's honorees included a cancer-surviving philanthropist, an emergency physician who also happens be a U.S. Army veteran who treated wounded soldiers on the front lines in Iraq, a jazz musician and marketing vice president of a Fortune 500 company.

Dr. Sudip Bose, a 1992 graduate, is now an attending emergency medicine physician in Texas, an associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, an international lecturer and advocate for war veterans, and founder and CEO of multiple leading medical education companies. He's also a motivational speaker.

While Bose has achieved many successes, including earning a bronze star for his 15-month deployment in Iraq, he told the seniors they didn't come without first enduring some epic failures, including a 26 percent on his first AP U.S. History quiz in Katy Linder's class. He spoke to the students as if he were looking back in time.

"In the distant foggy haze, I'm seeing the image of a skinny Indian kid who started high school weighing 67 pounds without a care in the world," Bose said, talking about the successes he earned in junior high track and field and in the classroom up until he enrolled in that history class. "Someone slap Sudip Bose of 1992 and wake him up. Give him this very important message: 'Failure is how you evolve.'"

Courtney Clark, a 1997 graduate, cancer survivor and founder of philanthropic organization Austin Involved, stressed the need for students to have big dreams but also a Plan A and Plan B.

Clark told the students she was Broadway-bound the day she graduated from Central in 1997, but after learning dancing wasn't her strong suit, she picked up television production. In the midst of it all, she learned she had cancer; the cancer she believes saved her life.

"I reached my five-year cancer-free anniversary. That's a big deal for cancer survivors. That's about when your survival rate goes up and the chance of the cancer returning goes down," she said. "I now have these whole body scans to prove I'm cancer-free and then my phone rings again."

The scans showed a life-threatening brain aneurysm that required immediate emergency surgery.

"I've had to change plans several times on my path to following my dreams and many of you will have to do the same," Clark said. "You have to dream big but there is a lot of power in being able to get a new plan along the way. Have a dream and adapt. Be both."

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Naperville Central honors four top alumni

Cambridge Tennis Alumni Day

The Cambridge High tennis teams want to invite all former CHS tennis players (male and female) to the annual Alumni Tennis-Picnic Day. The event is set for Saturday, May 4 at the Cambridge City Park Courts, with play commencing at 1 p.m. with a picnic to follow. Anyone with questions should contact coach Mike Denniston at 439-1016.

Bass Tournament To Benefit Relay for Life

The Guernsey County Bass Association and Cure Hunters will sponsor the third annual Open Bass Fishing Tournament from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Salt Fork Lake to benefit Relay for Life. The entry fee is $100 with a pre-registration fee of $20 with the form available at http://www.fishgcba.net. A $10 late fee will be assessed for registering at the Old Marina ramp the day of the event. An optional "Big Bass" pot will be available for $5 per boat. The tournament will pay cash and award trophies to the first three places with 70 percent going to the winners and 30 percent to Relay for Life. The pay-out based on a 20 boat field will be $800 for first place, $400 for second place and $200 for third place. A 50/50 and other raffles will be available along with food for purchase. Visit the website or call Tina Choma, 740-584-0631, for additional information.

Byesville Youth Softball Spaghetti Dinner

Byesville Youth Softball will have a spaghetti dinner on Saturday, May 4 from 4-7 p.m. at the Stop Nine Church in Byesville. Dinners are $8 ($7 for senior citizens). Take-Out will be available.

Meadowbrook Main Athletic Boosters Meeting

The Meadowbrook Main Athletic Boosters will have their regular monthly meeting on Monday, May 6 at 7 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. All parents of athletes in grades 7-12 are encouraged to attend.

Cambridge Athletic Boosters Meeting

The Cambridge Athletic Boosters will meet Monday, May 6 at 7 p.m. at the high school. Coaches and parents of Cambridge City Schools athletes in grades 7-12 are encouraged to attend.

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Backyard Briefs

A technology leaning non-profit has reached from Georgia to Jefferson Township with the help of Damian Purves (Class of 1977) to award two Jefferson High School Juniors new laptops and printers. Having fond memories of his time at Jefferson High School, Purves contacted Principal Karl Mundi during a recent visit looking for ways he could give back.

PHOTO/ANTHONY LAWSON

A technology leaning non-profit has reached from Georgia to Jefferson Township with the help of Damian Purves (Class of 1977 pictured center left) to award two Jefferson High School Juniors new laptops and printers. Students Tristin Faust (left) and Mursal Noory (right) each received a new HP laptop computer, printer and software. Principal Karl Mundi is also pictured.

"I have been blessed," Purves said at the High School recently and had been talking to Mundi about ways to improve his alma mater, when he found out former Principal Bob Ross had passed away.

They both agreed honoring Ross with an award in his name would be fitting.

The vehicle to make that happen was living in Georgia next door to Purves in the form of RewardingMinds.org founder Jack Shift. His non-profit organization seeks to help academically excellent, but financially challenged students, become unburdened by their lack of access to needed technology in pursuing their studies. A relatively new charity in their second award year, RewardingMinds.org typically awards new laptop computers and printers to high school juniors or seniors closer to their home state.

"This is their first award in New Jersey," Purves said.

The Bob Ross Award will continue into the next school year and as with all non-profits, continuing the award will depend on donations.

Jefferson juniors Tristin Faust and Mursal Noory have earned these awards, according to Purves. Tristin spends half her school day in the vo-tech program for cosmetology. Her goal is to use cosmetology as a way to fund her college studies in psychology.

Mursal is also a high achiever and hopes to attend college with an eye toward a medical degree. Both have the drive and the results show, despite the lack of an up-to-date computer at home.

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Jefferson alumni helps get local students laptops for their studies

By DIANA DILLABER MURRAY diana.dillaber@oakpress.com; @DDillybar

Richard F. Kelley, of Birmingham, new senior development director for Oakland University William Beaumont Medical School.

A former executive with University of Detroit Mercy and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has been selected to serve as senior director of development for The Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine.

In this capacity, Richard F. Kelley of Birmingham, will be responsible for planning and overseeing all fundraising activities for the School of Medicine, which opened to its first class of 50 in ODowd Hall on the Auburn Hills side of OUs campus in the fall 2011. The 1,500-acre campus stretches between Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills.

Expectations are that enrollment will grow to about 125 in the fall.

Kelleys development efforts are designed to support the medical schools mission of graduating students who are skillful, ethical and compassionate physicians, as well as inquisitive scientists, said David Groves, OU spokesman.

Financial support for the school also helps it lead in promoting, maintaining and restoring health to individuals and communities served by the school and its graduates.

Although it remains a possibility in the future, the university presently has no immediate plans to construct a new medical school facility, university officials said.

However, if that time comes, the senior director of development would play a critical role in seeking donor support for the project.

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Richard F. Kelley named to leadership position at Oakland University