From my inbox

Ascension graduate awarded

The College Board recognized Henry Hancock, a May graduate of Ascension Academy, with a 2009 Advanced Placement Scholar Award for earning at least a score of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams taken in the spring. The highest score is a 5.
Hancock, valedictorian for the Class of 2009, and is attending Rice University.

Money for English help, GEDs

Amarillo College’s Community Link was due to receive $9,855 today from Panhandle Community Services. The money will allow the program to offer English language classes and GED preparation and testing to 150 AC students. Community Link is located at 2412 N. Grand St.

Coming up in Amarillo ISD

* Hollywood make-up artist Bobbie Weiner, of "Titanic" fame, will speak to high school theater classes about her experiences in the movie industry. She is best known for her work in the Oscar-nominated film “Titanic,” as a special effects make-up artist who transformed hundreds of actors into blue-lipped, icicle covered corpses. While Weiner is a leading supplier of F/X make-up and stage blood in the movies, she has also been recognized by the Department of Defense as the #1 supplier of camo face paint used by soldiers. This guest speaker is sponsored by the Big Texan, Braums, the Card & Party Factory and the Girl Scouts.

* Kimberly Willis Holt, a nationally recognized children’s book author, will lead an assembly Friday morning at Pleasant Valley Elementary School. Holt lives in Amarillo. She will give a talk on the writing process and sign books. Every class at Pleasant Valley has read at least one of her books and decorated doors to depict the book their class has read.


Bible textbook publisher reports use book

Standard Newswire reports that more than 350 schools in 43 states nationwide this school year are teaching courses on the Bible, according to new data from Bible Literacy Project. The organization publishes "The Bible and Its Influence," the only student textbook designed for public school courses on the Bible.

More than 50 schools in Texas are teaching the course this fall in accordance with a state law passed in 2007. Other states offering Bible courses in public high schools: Georgia, Alabama, Indiana and South Carolina. For more information on the Bible Literacy Project, visit http://bit.ly/3FkYaD.