Among the winners of the Lighthouse Youth Services Vision Awards is a group of teens in Evanston who are trying to make a difference in an area that has been plagued by crime.

The executive board of the Evanston Center Teen Council will get an award in the Youth Group in-service category for its efforts in holding youth activities at the Evanston Community Center. Board members have helped to plan summer camps, Mother's Day and Father's Day breakfasts, tea parties for seniors, the Halloween Boo Fest for children, the Evanston Memorial Day Parade and Taste of Evanston events.

"This group realized that if positive change was going to happen, it would have to be the catalysts,'' said Kim Easley, teen adviser.

Other winners include Nikki Michaelson, Finneytown High school, the Service to Special Needs Persons award; Jennifer Allen, Cincinnati Christian Hills Academy, Service to Community Award; Andrew Bradford, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, Service to Youth; Albert L. Trinh, St. Xavier High School, Service to Adults or Senior Citizens.

The Lighthouse Independent Living Program received the National Independent Living Association 2003 Organization of the Year Award.

Youth winners will be honored at 11 a.m., Feb. 7 at Kenwood Towne Centre's Center Court Stage.

Fighting obesity

The Coca-Cola Co. has launched a physical fitness program at Campbell County Middle School to help fight youth obesity.

J. D. Barnett, community relations officer for Coke, said the company has supplied students with pedometers to measure the number of steps they take. "The plan is to get them to take 10,000 steps a day for a week,'' Barnett said. "We want to get them involved in fitness and at the same time attacking teenage obesity.''

Tom Hervey, associate principal at the school, said the program is being tested with 120 sixth-graders.

"Each morning we chart the number of steps taken," he said. "It raises the conscious level and get them away from television and video games.''

Pasta for Pennies

Close to 90,000 students in southern Ohio area counties are participating in the Olive Garden's Pasta For Pennies program, which began Jan. 26 and runs through Feb. 13, to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The Olive Garden's Pasta for Pennies is an effort that raised more than $2.2 million last year from elementary, middle and high school students across the United States. Classes that collect the most money in each school receive a pasta party courtesy of Olive Garden.

Golden Key honor

Nicholas Birck, a junior with a double major in ancient and medieval history and Greek classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has accepted membership in Golden Key International Honour Society. The organization provides recognition to college juniors and seniors in the top 15 percent of their class.

The Anderson High School graduate is the son of Debbie and Ed Birck of Anderson Township.

Denison awards

These freshmen are winners of Dean's Awards from Denison University, Granville, Ohio:

Ryan Clark, a graduate of Turpin High School and the son of Barbara and James Clark of Anderson Township.

Ian Conwell, a St. Xavier High School graduate and son of Kathy and Joseph Conwell of Kenwood.

Abigail Miller, a Seven Hills High School graduate and daughter of Amy and Robert Miller of Indian Hill.

The awards were made for the student's academic, extracurricular and personal record.

Dean's list

Senior Steven Kuess achieved a 4.0 grade point average and was named to the autumn quarter dean's list of the College of Engineering at Ohio State University. He will receive a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in March.

The Sycamore High School graduate is the son of Ann and Charles Kuess of Evendale.

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