STUDENT SPOTLIGHT/ROXANA HIGH SCHOOL

Among the sports, clubs and activities she has participated in are National Honor Society; National Honor Roll; First Baptist Church of Bethalto Youth Group; varsity softball; volleyball; German Club; Madison County Youth Forum; Riverbend Youth Growth Association; and Prom committee. She also is Student Council treasurer, school newspaper editor and yearbook editor.

Give the gift of glitz

Prom jewelry is being collected by Beltsville resident Marisa West to donate to young women who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Last year, West gathered 3,000 prom dresses for Katrina victims.
Donations can be left at Alchemy, 8025 Georgia Ave., through April 1. They also can be mailed to West at P.O. Box 710, Beltsville, MD 20704. For information, e-mail promdressneworleans@yahoo.com orzengardens555@yahoo.com.

Enterprise High School Prom Help

Some Wiregrass donors are also helping storm-torn students on their special night.
It’s prom time for many high school seniors, but in the wake of the March 1st tornado, many Enterprise high school students are still just trying to get back to normal.
That’s why some area groups are looking to give the students a prom truly like no other.
Houston Academy is taking $5000 dollars from their own prom budget to share the popular high school experience.

Seniors enjoy different kind of prom

Senior citizens had the time of their lives last night at the senior citizens prom held by First National Bank.
“This is the banks way of saying ‘thank you’ to the seniors in the area for what they have done to help the Tularosa Basin,” said Pete Cook, president of First National Bank.
The theme for the evening was a masquerade ball, and the turnout was higher than the year before. The theme changes every year. Last year was the celebration of First National Bank’s 50th anniversary, so the theme was the 1950s.

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Conway has instituted many new initiatives as part of her literacy program, including a “Family of the Month” recognition that features one family in a celebration planned by other families; an incentive store, where vouchers are earned for outstanding achievement so families can obtain food staples and diapers; a “second chance” prom for parents who missed out on this experience as teenagers; and a referral/resource system to help families find social service agencies they need.

More schools have gay-straight alliances

And besides promoting tolerance, gay/straight alliances organize activities such as open-mike night and the community prom, which started last year and drew more than 150 students from high schools in Clinton County.
Members of Plattsburgh’s and Peru’s clubs started the prom when gay students at some schools were denied couples tickets to their school proms.
This year’s community prom is a masquerade ball scheduled from 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the Comfort Inn ballroom.

Review from Amazon.com
A Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize-winner, Quinceañera is a small film with a big heart.
The plot unfolds at the leisurely pace of life itself, yet there’s not a wasted moment in the script. The story follows the travails of young Magdalena (Emily Rios), a teen in the Mexican-American, but gentrifying, Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park.

As Magdalena’s 15th birthday approaches, and the festive coming-of-age quinceañera party that accompanies it, life throws her a curve ball in the form of an unexpected–and possibly miraculous–pregnancy. In disgrace, she turns to her elderly uncle Tomas and sometime gangbanger and not-quite-uncloseted gay cousin Carlos. The interactions of these unlikely family members ring completely true, with stellar performances by Dios as well as Chalo González as her warm Tio Tomas and Jesse Garcia as the smoldering Carlos. The portrayal of life in Echo Park is intimate and effortless, as the teens slide interchangeably between Spanish and English; crime and gang activities coexist with trendy gay couples and their fashionable remodels. And in the heart of it all, the family ties among the three lead characters prove unconventional–and unbreakable. The DVD also contains a commentary with the filmmakers and cast members, a Q&A with them, and a “making-of” featurette. –A.T. Hurley