Highlighting achievements, Nov. 10, 2016 — PHOTOS
LDS bishop: Henderson resident Byron Williams has been appointed bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the Lake Mead Stake. Williams is the tax department director for Southwest Gas and is a father of four children.
Sign winners: The Nevada Department of Transportation awarded four raffle winners across the Las Vegas Valley with a “Welcome to Nevada” sign. Anna Thomas (southwest), Breanna Kirkham (southeast), Jennifer Bills (northwest) and Kaitlyn Tueller (northeast) each won a welcome sign. NDOT is in the process of replacing the highway signs that have been located around interstate and freeway entrances in Nevada for nearly 25 years.
Second-place finish: A men’s tennis team from Las Vegas finished second at the United States Tennis Association 18 or older national championship held Sept. 28 at Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Las Vegas lost to a San Francisco-based team, 3-2, in the finals.
Skydiving champion: Las Vegas native Scott Janise won gold in the 2016 World Parachuting Championships Sept. 26 in Chicago. With 700 skydivers and 38 countries taking part, Janise, 42, took home top honors as videographer in the female 4-way formation skydiving portion of the competition.
Safety award: SR Construction received the 2016 Safety General Contractor of the Year Award from World Wide Safety Oct. 3. The award is given to contractors who excel in safety performance. SR was founded in 1991 and has licenses in Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
Scholarship semifinalists: A total of 49 students from Las Vegas were a group of 16,000 semifinalists selected for the 62nd National Merit Scholarship program. The competition will eventually reduce to 7,500 students, all vying for approximately $33 million in scholarships to be awarded this upcoming spring. According to the National Merit Scholarship Corp., about 1.6 million high school juniors in 22,000 high schools across the country entered the competition.
Scholarship awarded: Sarah McGregor of Henderson received the President’s and Provost scholarships. She is a graduate of Silverado High School and is now majoring in combined science C at Youngstown State University in Ohio.
Honor Rolls:
— Angelica McNerny of Las Vegas was one of 53 cadets named to the President’s List at The Citadel College in Charleston, S.C., for the spring 2016 semester.
Graduations:
— Tara Peters of Las Vegas earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ken., on Aug. 30.
— Mahmoud Yaqoub of Las Vegas earned a master of science in engineering and engineering technology at Northern Illinois University on Aug. 7.