CENTRAL

• Naperville, Illinois: Jake Lund of Naperville Evangelical Covenant Church earned the All-Conference Sportsmanship Award as a football player at Nequa Valley High School. Another teen, Erika Nyberg of Naperville North High, was named to a local newspaper's All-Conference team in girls tennis. Nyberg was a doubles qualifier for the Illinois State High School girls tennis tourney this fall.
• Homer Glen, Illinois: Southwest Covenant Church has an extensive music ministry among its youth and young adults. Erin Mueller is a freshman member of the Lockport Township High School marching band, Pep Band and Jazz Band while serving in the music ministry at the church. Last year, she was one of two eighth-grade students to earn a place on the Illinois Music Educator Association All-District band. Sister Lindsey is a senior at the school and participates in the symphonic, Pep and Jazz bands. Both are honor roll students. Mary Noren, a junior at Lockport, sings in the school choir and on the church's worship team. Eric Hedberg, a North Park University student, is involved in his school's jazz band. And Ryan Scott, a junior high student, plays in his school's band.
• Northbrook, Illinois: Northbrook Covenant Church student Kristin Frownfelter, a senior at the Art Institute of Chicago, had an art print accepted in the Nippon Steel Spring Art Exhibition. Her work was one of 43 accepted among those from 600 artists. Another student, freshman Katie Belleville of Glenbrook South High School, earned a varsity letter in girls cross-country.
• Rockford, Illinois: Bethesda Covenant Church's Kevin and Tom Lundgren participated in a special student/parent scholastic quiz bowl as representatives of Rockford Guilford High School. The Rockford Guilford contingent finished third at the event, held at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC), and won $7,500 in scholarships to UIC for school and internships.
• Iron River, Michigan: Grace Covenant Church middle school student Ginny Beauchamp was honored during a Family Independence Agency volunteer recognition banquet. Meanwhile a group of high school students enjoyed stellar accomplishments in fall sports. Laura Cederberg, Amy Stegbauer and Karla VanWagner helped the West Iron County girls tennis team earn the Upper Peninsula Division 2 title. Stegbauer was an All-Region performer as part of the first doubles regional championship team and VanWagner earned honorable mention. Rebecca Griffith was second in the second doubles tournament and Cederberg and her partner placed first in fourth doubles. In football, West Iron County junior kicker Joel Frasier was an All-Upper Peninsula ABC and All-Conference football player Dan Kneebone (All-Conference) and Anders Lindwall also played football. Melanie Honold and Brandon Hakari ran for West Iron County High School's girls and boys cross country program. At the college level, freshman Matthew Sammond was an offensive lineman at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, which won the NCAA Division II football title in early December. Sammond had earned a scholarship to the school after earning All-Area recognition in football and academic honors at Forest Park High School in Crystal Falls.

EAST COAST

• Lord's Valley, Pennsylvania: Christin Duncan of Church at Hemlock Farms plays viola in the Delaware Valley High School orchestra, which recently held its annual Christmas concert.

GREAT LAKES

• Jamestown, New York: First Covenant Church student Joanna Grundstrom was named third runner up in the Lakewood Area Junior Miss pageant recently. Grundstrom was also selected to perform in the state of New York's All-Conference Senior High Mixed Chorus. Two other students were standouts on the athletic field. Natalie Johnson earned a berth in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association's swimming championships in the 200-meter Intermediate Medley, which combines four different swimming strokes in one race. Sarah Young of Maple Grove High School was a member of her school's soccer team, which went unbeaten during the regular season and advanced to the Section 6 Class C semifinals this fall.

MIDWEST

• Golden, Colorado: Applewood Community Church student Jordan McCaslin, a senior at Faith Christian Academy in Arvada, was an All-State and All-Metro League boys soccer player for a team that captured the state title in 3A division play. The National Soccer Coaches Association of America also named him to its All-Region team. Brothers Jeremy and Luke also started for the team, which went 15-2-1 and beat Kent High of Denver 2-0 for its second state championship in three years on November 5.
• Clyde, Kansas: Junior Lynette Brax of Brantford Evangelical Covenant Church was selected to the All-Conference team in women's volleyball this fall for Manhattan Christian College in Manhattan, Kansas. She also made the All-Region team for the Lady Crusaders, who compete in the Midwest Christian College Conference, a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA).

NORTH PACIFIC

• Sammamish, Washington: Erica Anderson of Pine Lake Covenant Church was recently awarded the Student Laureate by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois for overall excellence during her college career at North Park University (NPU). Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan presented Anderson with the award at a special ceremony at the Old State Capitol in Springfield on November 2. Anderson, an elementary education and English major, has been involved in volunteer work through Urban Outreach, serving as youth and child team coordinator and also service learning coordinator. The Student Laureate Medallion is given annually, along with a $150 honorarium, to one member from the senior class of each four-year, degree-granting institution of higher learning in Illinois.
• Spokane, Washington: First Covenant Church high school student Sara Peterson earned a varsity letter for girls cross country at Rogers High School. Peterson is a freshman at the school. Meanwhile, Hutton Elementary School student Hannah Hudson was honored with the "I Can" Award, which recognizes students for their achievements in school.

NORTHWEST

• Cottage Grove, Minnesota: CrossRoads student A.J. Gouws was selected to attend the winter camp in late December at Dallas, Texas, for the USA Rugby (under-19) team that will represent the country at the World Cup competition April 9-13 in Paris, France. Gouws was one of 48 who trained with the USA Rugby last summer in Minnesota.
• Ellsworth, Wisconsin: Zion Covenant Church students Andrew Borner, Amanda Thoner and Duffy Gill participated in the recent Ellsworth High School production of "Footloose" at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST

• Los Altos, California: Foothill Covenant Church students Scott Lykke and Jim and Russ Detig were members of the Mountain View High School marching band, which earned first place at the Lodi High School band competition in central California.

ASIA

• Kristina and Jenni Husby recently performed in their school play "You Can't Take it with You." David and Ronna Husby are the Asia regional coordinators for the Department of World Mission of the Evangelical Covenant Church. Kristina plays field hockey and Jenni plays basketball. Younger sister Erika is also an ambitious sort as she has recently decided to start publishing a weekly newspaper for her classroom called the Friday News.

SOUTH AMERICA

• Students at Covenant Bible College-Ecuador recently helped feed more than 3,000 people in Quito's city dump, where many of the poorest of that city reside. Besides feeding local residents, students organized games for the children, presented a concert and delivered Operation Christmas Child gift boxes (sponsored by internationally known Samaritan's Purse) for the children, along with two bags of groceries for each family.