AROUND CAYCE, SPRINGDALE & WEST COLUMBIA

Twenty-eight Lexington Two middle school students have been named South Carolina Junior Scholars.

The students were recognized at an awards ceremony last Thursday before the monthly Board of Trustees meeting.

The program, developed by the state Department of Education, identifies 8th-graders with high scholastic achievement and intellectual ability and offers summer opportunities through South Carolina colleges and universities.

The Junior Scholars are:

Busbee Creative Arts Academy: Anna Hoppock, Adrian Ibarra Alonso, Violet Kelly, Xzaiver Mathis

Fulmer Middle: Eleanor Autry, Isabella Brown, Sydney Evans, Abigail Fisher, Ethan Jeffcoat, Jacob Kaminski, Eliana Kyzer, Kaden Peteja, Kenneth Randolph, Bryson Vaughan, Tobias Welch

Northside Middle: Casey Brightwell, Edith Brooks

Pine Ridge Middle: Lily Branton, Josh Lindner, Harley McIver, Caitlyn Miller, Margaret Petermann, Mark Ritchie, Mary Stewart, Raven Taylor, Ved Thakor, Amaiyah Walker, Gracyn Whitaker

If you were in West Columbia or Cayce last Thursday (April 25) you may have seen some smoke in the air. The Congaree National Park, along with park partners, was conducting a large prescribed burn. The burn was intended to help with habitat restoration and fuel reduction in accordance with the park’s fire management plan.

Crews from other national parks. the SC Forestry Commission, and The Nature Conservancy assisted with the burn.

Congaree National Park has been undergoing 35 years of prescribed burns. According to officials, natural low-burning fireshistorically allowed longleaf pines to flourish by eliminating faster growing hardwoods that might eventually crowd them out.