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• Pitching in for their peers
  Wearing Santa hats, students at Glenforest School provided holiday gifts Tuesday for their counterparts at Epworth Children’s Home.The two dozen presents are the first step in what some Glenforest students hope becomes a permanent partnership.Students at Glenforest collected toys, games and stuffed animals as admission to a dance Dec. 4, but hadn’t decided where to donate them.They selected Epworth’s 80 abandoned, abused and neglected students after reading a Dec. 11 story in The State about local charities in need of gifts.Students at Glenforest liked the idea of assisting others their age, particularly those at Epworth in the Shandon area.
• Columbia riverkeeper wins approval
  The Waterkeeper Alliance board of directors on Tuesday approved an application for a Columbia area riverkeeper.The national group, based in Irvington, N.Y., sanctions local organizations designed to protect waterways from pollution. USC graduate student Alan Mehrzad applied for the riverkeeper designation for the Saluda, Broad and Congaree rivers.The board granted Mehrzad a conditional riverkeeper license, said Francisco Alliverdes, senior field coordinator for Waterkeeper Alliance. Mehrzad still needs to put together a nonprofit organization.During a river summit in September, Midlands officials listed getting a riverkeeper as one of the priorities.
• Violations close Benedict buildings
  Benedict College’s gym and library were closed Monday by the Columbia Fire Department because the fire alarm system in neither building was operable, said Aubrey Jenkins, the department’s deputy chief.The school also was issued a summons for a locked exit in the gym. A judge could insist that Benedict pay a fine of $361, a higher fine, or the judge could waive it altogether, Jenkins said.During a meeting Tuesday between Jenkins, Fire Marshal Carmen Floyd and Benedict president David Swinton, an agreement was reached in which the buildings were reopened and could remain open as long as the school has someone on fire watch. If there is a large-scale event in the gym, the school needs to have a fire marshal on standby, Jenkins said.Jenkins said the code violations at Benedict were discovered during a routine inspection, but he could not remember when that inspection took place. He did say Benedict was made aware of the code violations prior to Monday’s building closures.Kymm Hunter, Benedict’s communications and marketing director, said the code violations were discovered “during a recent annual inspection.”
• S.C. senior perfect on SAT
  SPARTANBURG — Will McChesney, 18, can attest that practice makes perfect.The Dorman High School senior worked his way through “dozens” of SAT practice tests, simply aiming for the best he could do. His best was a perfect score.The SAT is the most used college admissions test and is taken by more than 2 million students every year. The four-hour test is broken into three 800-point sections: critical reading, mathematics and writing.Last year, only 269 students earned a perfect score of 2,400.McChesney’s accomplishment made him the first Dorman student ever to earn a 2,400, though several past students made a perfect 1,600 before the writing section was added in 2005.
• Tight job market confronts new grads
  USC graduated 2,500 students at its fall commencement Monday, a pre-holiday rite that is usually met with unfettered joy.But USC’s graduates, like those of other schools across the state, are finding something less than joyful tidings as they look for work.South Carolina’s unemployment rate, 8 percent in October, was the highest in the South and the fourth-highest in the nation. The unemployment rate hasn’t been higher since 1983, when Ronald Reagan was president and many of those graduating were not born.Meredith Moring, a 22-year old from Columbia who graduated with a degree in public relations, knows all about the Palmetto State’s difficult job market.She spent much of this semester looking for a full-time job — and worrying she might not find one.
• Budget cuts hitting teacher training program
  In the late 1990s, Robert Hill of Columbia was fed up with his job in the insurance industry. Long hours. Lots of travel around the state. Lost time with his wife and two children, ages 3 and 5.Hill decided to switch to the teaching profession, even though it involved a pay cut.“It was the best decision I ever made,” said Hill, 41, who has found his life’s calling as a business teacher at Keenan High School in Columbia’s Richland 1 school district. “I wouldn’t go back to the insurance industry for a million dollars.”The state program that has helped Hill and thousands of S.C. professionals switch to the teaching profession is struggling because of state budget cuts.As a result, about 200 would-be teachers enrolled in the program won’t get their $1,000 annual stipends this year to pay for course work, books and other supplies.
• Tenenbaum gets high-profile endorsement
  Former S.C. schools superintendent Inez Tenenbaum got a high-profile endorsement for U.S. education secretary in Newsweek recently.Columnist Howard Fineman recommended Tenenbaum for the job.He cited her track record in South Carolina, where Tenenbaum implemented accountability.Fineman, who said Tenenbaum is a long shot, notes President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet so far is filled with candidates who hail from the nation’s urban centers and from elite universities.Tenenbaum is from a small Georgia town, has lived most of her adult life in South Carolina and is a graduate of the University of Georgia and the University of South Carolina.
• Voorhees team to be in D.C. debate series
  The Voorhees College debate team has been selected to participate in a debate series in Washington, D.C., that is an official part of President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration.The debate series is scheduled to be held at the Smithsonian Institution Jan. 19 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Voorhees, one of the six historically black colleges participating in the debate series, will take on Fayetteville State University.Gordon English II, coordinator of Voorhees’ business department, coaches the school’s debate team, which includes three juniors, two seniors and a freshman.“President (Cleveland) Sellers gave me the charge of making Voorhees a community of scholars, and I took that as an personal quest to bring forth more academically inclined activities to the school and to challenge our students to compete with all students from different universities,” English said. “From having this debate team, our students will achieve the attitude and self-confidence that they can compete with students not only at HBCUs but also at Ivy League institutions.”• Program to help students get jobs
• Yes, soup for you
  USC students have the opportunity to upgrade from the standard Ramen Noodle dorm fare to the upscale flavors of “The Original Soup Man,” Al Yeganeh.Yeganeh, who inspired the famous “Soup Nazi” character in “Seinfeld,” will award up to 10 refrigerators full of his "Grab-n-Go" soups to winners of a new contest.The aroma of Yeganeh’s creations, like his seafood bisque or turkey chili, can be found wafting from the food court at the Russell House, one of the first on-campus The Original SoupMan store locations in the U.S. Students need to log onto Facebook and become a fan of The Original SoupMan/University of South Carolina to be eligible.—From Staff Reports
• After-school cuts stir fears of children home alone
  Directors of after-school programs around the nation fear the deepening recession will force more children to spend afternoons home alone or on the street as cash-strapped governments slash funding and donations shrink.Several Boys & Girls Clubs in South Carolina announced plans to close Friday and many of the group’s 4,300 programs are trimming hours, consolidating locations and cutting field trips to get by, said Kirk Dominick, an executive vice president with Boys & Girls Clubs of America.“We’d be crazy to not project a decrease next year. We’re trying to identify the most vulnerable clubs out there,” he said, adding he doesn’t have precise numbers yet. “Some organizations have been struggling for a while.”After-school programs of all kinds are hurt