The Tift County Board of Education welcomed a new member and recognized several students for their academic and extracurricular achievements during Tuesday night’s regular session.

Tift County Probate Judge Suzanne Carter Johnson swore in Tommy Lindsey to fill the unexpired term of Erick Willis, who resigned his District 3 post on the board in early April citing “professional reasons.” Lindsey served on the board from 1990-1996 and will hold the seat until the fall elections. Liz Carson Keith, who holds the at-large District 7 post on the board, and Kim Rutland have qualified to run for the District 3 post.

Also Tuesday, the board recognized Tift County High School’s high academic achievers. Donald Adkins serves as valedictorian of the 2008 graduating class. During Honors Night earlier this week, Adkins was awarded a full scholarship to the U.S. Air Force Academy worth over $400,000 after passing rigorous physical fitness and other tests required and after receiving the required congressional appointment. Salutatorian Catherine Roe was also recognized. Rowe has been accepted at Mercer University’s Medical School. Her acceptance marks the first acceptance of a TCHS graduate to the program as a college freshman.

Also, Janzen Brewer, who scored the highest of any student on all portions of the SAT, was named the class STAR Student. He named Kim Seigler, a science teacher at TCHS, as the STAR teacher.

Debbie Salter, AP English teacher at TCHS, also introduced and recognized Catherine Roe and Jim Murray for their successes in region and state essay competitions. For the second consecutive year, Roe was named the Region 1AAAAA Girls Essay Champion and the State AAAAA Girls Essay Champion for 2008. Jim Murray, after his first time competing, was named the Region 1AAAAA and State 1AAAAA Boys Essay Champion. Salter said the competition was rigorous with students not knowing what topic they would be required to write about under a time limit.

Chris Robinson, chorus teacher at Eighth Street Middle School, and Elizabeth Ryan, eighth-grade concert band teacher at the school, recognized students who participated in the “Music in the Park” competition held at Six Flags. The ESMS chorus earned Excellent ratings and Best-Over-All Mixed Chorus honors in the Middle School Division. The ESMS Concert Band earned superior ratings, the first place honors and Best-Over-All in the Middle School Concert division of the competition. Groups from Georgia and other states competed in the competition.

Sheri Grabowski of J.T. Reddick Elementary School announced that the school’s choral group recently competed in District Honor Band competition and earned superior ratings at the festival. This year marked the first time that the sixth-grade band entered the large group competition and the group was awarded straight superior ratings.

Ernie Carter, who leads the after-school drama program at J.T. Reddick, said this year’s J.T. Reddick Players had over 140 students participating and the group had performed at TCHS’s Performing Arts Center, at G.O. Bailey, Len Lastinger and Northside schools. They also performed at the Leroy Rogers Center for senior citizens and had been invited to provide the entertainment for a banquet to be held there next year.

To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.