Milestones for Dec. 19

IN EDUCATION

• Wesley Daniel Harrison has graduated magna cum laude from the Honors College at Western Carolina University with a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a bachelor's in philosophy with a concentration in religion and a minor in political science. He is the son of Debbie Church and J.D. Harrison Jr. of Winston-Salem.

• Michael J. Madigan Jr. has been selected as a Pratt Research Fellow by the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University. Selection criteria include academic record and intellectual ability. Pratt Fellows perform intensive research within their engineering discipline under the direction of faculty advisers.

Madigan is a junior majoring in biomedical engineering and pre-med. He is the son of Mike and Ann Madigan of Winston-Salem.

• The Department of Physical Therapy at Winston-Salem State University recently received the Cultural Pluralism Award at the annual conference of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professionals. The award was based on the department's demonstrated leadership in promoting cultural pluralism through the establishment of free physical therapy services at the Community Care Center in Winston-Salem, its work in health disparities research and its global learning initiatives.

The Physical Therapy Department has provided more than $250,000 in services since it was established in the summer of 2008. It is the only free physical therapy service in Forsyth County and serves an ethnically diverse population between the ages of 18 and 65 with an income that is 200 percent below the federally defined poverty level.

In the areas of research, three investigators in the department have acquired funding for health disparity-related research through a National Institutes of Health grant. These grant projects include research on the influence of ethnic skin differences on amputation rates in African-Americans versus whites, and the fall risks in elderly African-Americans with hypertension.

Through its global learning initiative, the Physical Therapy Department is working in Belize in collaboration with St. Louis University to provide clinical services to a remote mountain area of the country. It has also signed a memorandum of understanding to do work in Cairo.

IN THE ARTS

• D'Walla Simmons-Burke, director of choral and vocal studies, Daniel Smith, a music business major, and Anthony Howard, a music education major, will represent Winston-Salem State University in the "105 Voices of History" Historically Black Colleges and Universities National Choir performance at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn., in January.

Simmons-Burke was nominated by her colleagues to be a presenting national conductor at the concert, with Smith and Howard being selected as members of the choir that includes representatives from each of the nation's 105 historically black colleges and universities. Smith, a baritone, and Howard, a tenor, both sing in WSSU's choir and Schola Cantorum.

IN THE MILITARY

• Army National Guard Pvt. Nathan S. Hawkins has graduated from basic infantry training at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga. During the nine-week session, he received training in drill and ceremonies, weapons, basic combat skills and battlefield operations and tactics, and weapons defenses.

Hawkins is a 2006 graduate of Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Va. He is the son of Felicia Hawkins of Pilot Mountain.

• Lt. Col. Ben Hodge of Winston-Salem is deployed for one year to southwest Asia with the Army's 113th Sustainment Brigade in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. This is his third deployment since 2003.

Hodge is employed by Davidson Audio Visual Inc.

• Army Pvt. Terrance A. Shelton has graduated from basic military training at Fort Jackson, S.C. He received additional training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Shelton was also chosen from a class of 118 as the distinguished honor graduate of the 48 T. Motor Transportation Operator course.

Shelton is a 2011 graduate of Parkland Magnet High School and was awarded a nursing scholarship from the North Carolina State Elks Association. He plans to attend East Carolina University in January.

Shelton is the son of Alexandria Shelton, the grandson of Clara and John Shelton, and the great-grandson of Martha G. Jones, all of Winston-Salem.

• Nicholas R. Helenek has enlisted in the Navy under the Delayed Entry Program at Navy Recruiting District, Raleigh. The program allows him to enter the Navy and take up to one year to complete prior commitments. He will report for active duty to undergo basic training at the Navy's Recruit Training Center in Great Lakes, Ill.

Helenek is a 2011 graduate of Davie County High School. He is the son of Mary E. Wiedel of Advance and Bradley Wiedel of Winston-Salem.

IN OTHER AREAS

• Denise Johnson, program director of the Girls Empowered by Math and Science Academy, was recently named the Triad winner in Time Warner Cable's National Super Connector Search contest. TWC launched the contest, asking its customers to share how they've connected young people to science, technology, engineering and math.

Johnson will star in her own public service announcement for Connect a Million Minds, which is Time Warner Cable's five-year, $100 million philanthropic initiative to inspire kids to pursue education and careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Time Warner will also donate $5,000 to the GEMS Academy.

• The North Carolina Society of Historians recently recognized organizations and individuals at its annual banquet in Mooresville. Alleghany County organizations and individuals received more than 10 percent of the awards given.

For the third straight year, the Alleghany Historical-Genealogical Society (AHGS) won a Joe M. McLauren Newsletter Award for its quarterly newsletter edited by Jeff Halsey and produced by Imaging Specialists.

AHGS and the Sparta Revitalization Committee received a Paul Green Multimedia Award for a joint effort, "The Sparta Historical Walking Tour — The Story of Sparta."

AHGS also won a Paul Green Multimedia Award for the first episode of its new television show, "Alleghany Memories" that featured Mildred Torney and Pauline Jolly.

Lorene Sturgill of Piney Creek received a Robert Bruce Cooke Family History Book Award for "Descendants of William Black and Nancy Allison." Her 296-page, case-bound book contains genealogical records, letters and photographs of the Black family.

Kay Bodeen received a Clark Cox Historical Fiction Award for "Pat Crisp — Like a Moth to the Flame," a semi-fictionalized account of her grandfather's life. Pat Crisp was a legislator from Watauga County at the turn of the 20th century.

Compiled by Marcus Green