Three members of the Milford High School DECA chapter earned honors in the marketing/career-based skill events in Orlando, Fla., recently.

Matt Crider, a senior, earned top 10 honors in the "Full-Service Restaurant Marketing Series."

He completed a 100-question written test and did three verbal presentations in competition against 330 students from all 50 states, plus Guam, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Canada and Germany.

Shawn King and Ryan Jackson, juniors, received honorable mention in the Financial Services Team Management Decision Making Event, for their case study verbal presentation.

They earned top 10 honors by developing a PowerPoint presentation on a promotional mortgage campaign. They competed against 180 teams.

DECA is an association for high school marketing students.

The Milford marketing program is a satellite of the Live Oaks Career Development Campus, a part of the Great Oaks Institute of Technology & Career Development.

A panel discussion at 7:30 p.m. May 20 at First Unitarian Church, Linton Street and Reading Road, Avondale, will focus on how six religious leaders have taken a leadership role in race relations.

The panel includes: Rabbi George Barnard of Northern Hills Synagogue; the Very Rev. James Diamond, Christ Church Cathedral; the Rev. Sharon Dittmar, First Unitarian Church; Sr. Alice Gerdeman, Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center; the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr., New Jerusalem Baptist Church, and Dr. Catherine Roma, St. John's Unitarian Church.

For more information, call 281-1564 or 631-5812.

Karthik Balasubramanian, a Sycamore High School senior and a member of the Cincinnati Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, was presented a Distinguished Finalist engraved bronze medallion in the 2003 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program last week.

Honored as an outstanding youth volunteer, Balasubramanian received the award during an American Red Cross staff meeting at the Cincinnati area office downtown.

Balasubramanian cochaired a campaign that raised money to vaccinate more than 3,000 African children against measles. He was selected by state-level Prudential Spirit of Community Award judges.

The awards program is sponsored in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

Allen Howard's "Some Good News'' column runs Sunday-Friday. If you have suggestions about outstanding achievements, or people who are uplifting to the Tristate, let him know at 768-8362, at ahoward@enquirer.com or by fax at 768-8340.