Brax, a high school senior, was among 16 contestants. She won the interview portion of the event and received $800 in college scholarship money. An honor student at Washington High School, Brax plays three high school sports - volleyball, basketball and track and field - while participating in cheerleading and various clubs.

She will pursue a dual degree program at Manhattan Christian College and nearby Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. Brax became interested in scholarship pageants after watching her older sister, Lynette, compete. "I met 15 wonderful girls and had a great time," Brax said of the state pageant. "I was honored to have been there."

Brax is one of many young people in local churches of the Evangelical Covenant Church who have distinguished themselves in school and community activities. Following are notes on other young people gleaned from the more than 200 local church newsletters received each month by the Department of Communication, grouped by conference or region.

CENTRAL

• Mount Prospect, Illinois: Mark Jaeschke was part of the Thomas Middle School Jazz Ensemble that won first place at the recent Illinois Grade School Music Association competition in Mount Prospect. Mark also received an "Outstanding Musician Award" from the judges. Both Mark and Mark's brother, Michael, earned a 1-plus score for a music solo during competition.
• Stillman Valley, Illinois: Valley Evangelical Covenant Church sixth grader Hannah Smith won a spelling bee in Stillman Valley competing against other sixth, seventh and eighth grade students. She later competed in a regional spelling bee in Dixon. Another youth from the church, seventh grader Aaron Deets, was first at the Byron Middle School spelling bee and also competed at the regional in Dixon. At the high school level, Emily Smith participated on the state champion Scholastic Bowl team at Stillman Valley High School.
• Portage, Indiana: David Hinojosa of the Evangelical Covenant Church of Portage helped his Portage High School team to sixth place in the Indiana State Academic Decathlon competition. Individually, Hinojosa was first in his speech division.
• Iron River, Michigan: Grace Covenant Church teens Kyle Fish, Brandon Hakari, Tim Lindahl and Krista Lindwall were honored by the Crystal Falls Rotary Club for their academic accomplishments - all are in the top 10 percent of their high school class. Another teen, Karla VanWagner, was named to the All-Conference team for girls volleyball. Meanwhile, eighth grader Cassie Bekkala won a community schools spelling bee and will compete in an event in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
• Beloit, Wisconsin: Redeemer Evangelical Covenant Church's Chrissy Nilson was part of the Clinton High School girls basketball team that captured the Wisconsin Division 3 state championship. Her team won 20 of its final 21 games to finish 22-4 overall.

ECCAK

• Eagle River, Alaska: Community Covenant Church's Renee Hammett won a gold medal and Lukas Brown won gold and silver medals at the recent state Taekwondo championships.

GREAT LAKES

• Jamestown, New York: First Covenant Church youth Sandi Walrod received a National Science Merit Award for Physics at Bethel Baptist Christian Academy.

MIDWEST

• Wausa, Nebraska: Chris Rodenborg of the Evangelical Covenant Church of Wausa won the sixth grade spelling bee for Knox County.

NORTH PACIFIC

• Yakima, Washington: Wiley Heights Covenant Church students A.J. Melcher, Kristin Hull and Emily Bates perform for the pep band at West Valley High School while Jessica Bitz-Richards is a budding volleyball player in the area. Bitz-Richards' Team Yakima Volleyball Club squad placed sixth out of 32 teams in a recent tournament in Yakima in the under-14 age division.

NORTHWEST

• Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethlehem Covenant Church student Maria Balogh qualified for the finals of the Minnesota State History Day competition for her efforts on a school project. Her performance is based on the story of a brother and sister (Hans and Sophie Scholl) who were part of a resistance movement called the White Rose in Nazi Germany.
• Clear Lake, Wisconsin: United Covenant Church's Deanna Helgeson was named valedictorian for Clayton High School, culminating an active high school career. She plans to attend the University of Wisconsin in Madison this fall. Besides maintaining a 4.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, she has participated in art, forensics, drama, jazz band, marching band, concert band and choir, dance team, softball and yearbook. In art, she has received state recognition for her paintings and sculpture projects during the past two years. In forensics, she made the state tournament in the areas of poetry, prose and farrago. She has played a saxophone at a state music competition and played violin at the Northern Lakes Center for the Arts with the community orchestra. She has served as class president for Student Council, is current president of the National Honor Society at Clayton High and was nominated for a scholarship through her school.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST

• Hilmar, California: Hilmar Covenant's Anna Keevy, a senior music major at California State University-Stanislaus, was a featured performer in the "Young Artist Showcase." The event features musically gifted young people between 18 and 25 years of age who reside in Turlock. She received a $500 scholarship for her efforts. Keevy is part of Hilmar Covenant's adult choir and serves as a piano accompanist.

SOUTHEAST

• St. Petersburg, Florida: Faith Covenant Church's Tess Mullinax, one of the top girls basketball players in her area, recently scored her 2,000th point as a varsity player for Shorecrest Christian High School. She has been playing varsity basketball since eighth grade. Another Faith Covenant youth, Melissa Tomlin, has done well in club gymnastics, recently placing second at the Dawg Classic Meet at the University of Georgia in the All Around competition (combination of scores from four events). Tomlin, a home schooled sixth grader, was second in the parallel bars event and second in the balance beam
• Greensboro, North Carolina: Trinity Church's Trudy Li was a member of the Grimsley High School varsity Science Olympiad team that took first place in a regional competition at Guilford College.