Residents achieve high honors

Many local residents were named to either the Dean's List or the Chancellor's List at the University of South Carolina Upstate for the spring semester: Justin Robert Baer, Brian Edward Champion, Kari Elizabeth Chapman, Jason Patrick Funderburk, Cory Jay Nicholson, Michael Dominick Quinzi, Jonathan Henry Schuett, and Amanda Rose Straub , all of Fort Mill, and Chad Michael Hilliger and Kirby Leigh King, both of Tega Cay, made the Dean's List.

The following township students were named to the chancellor's list: Justin Robert Baer, Kari Elizabeth Chapman and Jason Patrick Funderburk, all of Fort Mill, and Kirby Leigh King of Tega Cay.

Dean awarded for innovation

Fort Mill Middle School teacher Amy K. Dean has been recognized as one of the nation's most innovative educators in the 2008 ING Unsung Heroes awards program.

She is one of 100 winners who received a $2,000 award to help fund her innovative idea and bring it to life in the classroom. She will now compete with other winners for one of the top three prizes -- an additional $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000.

Dean's "Japanese Garden" program will allow sixth-grade students to apply their knowledge from many subject areas on this working ecosystem while recognizing that learning is practical. They will solve math problems by measuring the courtyard, and graph the layout of essential site features and vegetation.

Free and reduced meals policy stated

The Lancaster County School District has announced its policy for free and reduced price meals for children served in schools under the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program.

Household size and income guidelines effective July 1 range from a household of one with a weekly income of $370 to a house hold of eight ot more with a weekly income of $1,267. A complete copy of the policy is on file in each school and in the office of the district superintendent where any interested party may review it.

Student artists needed for contest

Art on Main, a local festival held in the fall, is holding a student illustration contest. The theme is a children's picture book by Derick Wilder titled "My Superest Superheroes."

All entries will be displayed in the "My Superherest Superheroes" section of Art on Main. Winning entries will be awarded ribbons and the artists' names will be published in the Fort Mill Times and be announced during the show, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 11. For more contest rules and more information, visit

www.MoveFortMillForward.com, click on "Art on Main" and then click on the "Superheroes" link.

Get your library card

September is Library Card Sign-up Month, and the South Carolina State Library wants to make sure that South Carolina's citizens have the smartest card of all - a library card. Studies show that children who are read to in the home and who use the library perform better in school.

A recent study by the American Library Association also showed that families use libraries to spend time together. For more information about Library Card Sign-up Month, go to the American Library Association web site at www.ala.org.

For information about the Fort Mill Library, call 547-4114 or visit www.yclibrary.org.

For information about the Lancaster County Library call 803-285-1502 or visit www.lanclib.org.

--compiled by staff