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RHMS field-studies group honored
RHMS FSG Monitoring
Participants in the Richmond Hill Middle School field-studies group do some monitoring in this undated photo. - photo by Photo provided.

Georgia Adopt-A-Stream has recognized the Richmond Hill Middle School field-studies group with the Extraordinary Volunteer Watershed Effort Award, according to a news release.
Led by seventh-grade life-science teacher Bob Hodgdon, the group consists of sixth- through 12th-grade students, parents and staff who conduct Adopt-A-Stream water-quality monitoring as well as participate in other real-life scientific studies.
More than 15 members are certified in coastal chemical and bacterial monitoring and have adopted six monitoring sites along the Ogeechee River and in Fort McAllister State Park. Their monitoring has led to the identification for elevated E. coli and phosphate levels within a tributary of the Ogeechee River.
In addition to water-quality monitoring, the group conducts plant, biomass and macroinvertebrate studies at the Savannah Wildlife Refuge, participates in Eastern indigo snake surveys on Fort Stewart, and helps with many other terrestrial and aquatic animal studies.
The group has raised more than $6,000 toward the purchase of field equipment for its projects and is currently fundraising to buy more advanced sensor equipment to capture more precise data and automatically update that data directly to a computer.
The data the students collect will be shared with their partners, and the water-quality data is available on the Adopt-A-Stream website.
Group participants are students Caroline Cox, Bailey Pelletier, Jesse Freeze, Kelly Gavin, Caroline Scooler, Patricia George, Lydia Porter, Katie Bacon, Tristan Kaufman, Katherine Stigall, Garrett Stigall, Robert Pecenka and Jacqueline GaNun; parents Marjorie Freeze, Sandra Gavin, Kiersten Scooler, Maike George, Lisa Conti-Bacon, Louis Kaufman, Greg Stigall, Sherri Jones and Shannon GaNun; and staff members Catherine Warren and Robert Hodgdon.
For more information, call the Environmental Protection Division’s Adopt-A-Stream state office at 404-463-1511 or go to www.GeorgiaAdoptAStream.org.

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Groups hand out scholarships
RH theater scholarship
Richmond Hill High School senior Jacey Shanholtzer shows her Dawn Harrington Berry Spotlight Award, which was awarded by the Richmond Hill Community Theatre and includes a $500 scholarship. With her are Tom Harris, Ashlee Farris, Brett Berry and Kim Diebold. The award was created in memory of Dawn Harrington Berry, a long time RHCT member and president who died in 2016. - photo by Photo provided.

Three reports recently presented scholarships

Richmond Hill High School senior Jacey Shanholtzer received the Dawn Harrington Berry Spotlight Award, which was awarded by the Richmond Hill Community Theatre and includes a $500 scholarship. The award was created in memory of Dawn Harrington Berry, a long time RHCT member and president who died in 2016.

Garden Club

The Richmond Hill Garden Club recently awarded a $1,000 scholarship to Katherine Wood and a $500 scholarship to Carly Vargas, both seniors graduating from Richmond Hill High School.

The awards were presented May 8 during Honors Night at RHHS.

Wood plans to attend Green Mountain College in Vermont and major in environmental studies.

Vargas plans to attend Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee, to pursue a degree in either environmental studies or biology.

The garden club awards a $1,000 scholarship annually to a local high school senior who plans to major in a field related to environmental concerns, plants and/or gardening.

This year, due to having two exceptional candidates, the garden club awarded an additional $500 scholarship.

Exchange Club

The Exchange Club of Richmond Hill recently named Caroline Odom as its student of the year.

The club each month during the school year names a student of the month, and the student of the year is chosen from among those winners.

Awards are based on academic performance, community involvement and leadership.

Monthly winners receive $100, with the annual winner getting a $1,000 scholarship.

The Exchange Club has been recognizing students for more than 30 years.

Odom will go on to compete in the Georgia District Exchange Club against students from across the state.

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