Bandon High School

Emily Brooks Emily Brooks is a Student of Distinction at Bandon High School for several reasons. She is the Associated Student Body representative to the Bandon School District Board of Directors. In this roll, she has brought forward ideas and suggestions on how to make school functions more safe and fun for the student body. Emily is appreciated and admired for her grace, professionalism and wisdom in representing the student body. She is a member of the National Honor Society and she has worked very hard to maintain academic excellence throughout her four years in high school.

Emily has been very involved with the Coos County Youth Summit the last few years, serving as chairperson this year. She was chief organizer of the 2009 event, and she had the privilege of being selected as a speaker as well. Additionally, Emily has participated in many other community service activities such as, Community 101, Relay for Life, Festival of Lights, Red Cross Blood Drive, helping at the Everyone At the Table (EAT) program, Michelle Whitney Walk-a-thon, beach clean-up, invasive species plant removal, Haunted Halls and Grandparents Day dance at Heritage Place, just to name a few.

Lastly, Emily is an accomplished athlete. She is a member of the golf team and received the Most Inspirational Award in both 2007 and 2008. She also participated in cross country for three years and received the Most Improved Award in 2006. Track and Field was another athletic event that Emily enjoyed.

Emily is a well rounded student, who works hard and is effective in everything she undertakes. She will attend the University of Oregon in the fall, majoring in political science. Her parents are Mary Anne Brooks of Bandon and William David Brooks of Springfield, Utah.

Alex is the son of Jim and Holly Sylvester of Bandon. He will be attending the University of Oregon majoring in education.

Alex is not only academically accomplished, he is also a gifted and accomplished speaker. He has a natural way of setting one at ease and bringing groups of peers together for common goals. So it is no surprise that he has served as inter-class rivalry chair as a freshman and a junior; as well as, currently serving as Student Body ICRC representative. He also is using this gift to compete on the Bandon High School Speech Team, and had the honor of competing at the National Speech tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada this past year.

Additionally, Alex is an outstanding singer and has been a valuable member of Bandon High School's Swing Choir program for three years. He is an energetic member of both the dance team and cheerleading squad, where he has served as captain on both varsity and junior varsity squads. Alex, along with his teammates, has had the privilege of competing and placing at state in all three of these venues. He has the honor of being accepted as a member of the University of Oregon cheerleading squad.

Alex uses his leadership abilities to influence the student body for the betterment the school. With his energy and innovative ideas, he has single handily organized and facilitated the many pep assemblies this year. He is able to motivate and inspire the student body with school spirit and pride at every event. For these reasons, Alex is a student of distinction at Bandon High School for 2009.

Alex Sylvester Alex is the son of Jim and Holly Sylvester of Bandon. He will be attending the University of Oregon majoring in education.

Alex is not only academically accomplished, he is also a gifted and accomplished speaker. He has a natural way of setting one at ease and bringing groups of peers together for common goals. So it is no surprise that he has served as inter-class rivalry chair as a freshman and a junior;

as well as, currently serving as Student Body ICRC representative. He also

is using this gift to compete on the Bandon High School Speech Team, and had the honor of competing at the National Speech tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada this past year.

Additionally, Alex is an outstanding singer and has been a valuable member of Bandon High Schoolıs Swing Choir program for three years. He is an energetic member of both the dance team and cheerleading squad, where he has served as captain on both varsity and junior varsity squads. Alex, along with his teammates, has had the privilege of competing and placing at state in all three of these venues. He has the honor of being accepted as a member of the University of Oregon cheerleading squad.

Alex uses his leadership abilities to influence the student body for the betterment the school. With his energy and innovative ideas, he has single handily organized and facilitated the many pep assemblies this year. He is able to motivate and inspire the student body with school spirit and pride at every event. For these reasons, Alex is a student of distinction at Bandon High School for 2009.

Melinda Torres Melinda is a very active senior at Bandon High School who stands out academically as a leader, an athlete and a volunteer. As a leader, Melinda has served as class president for all four years. She also has served as 4-H president for four years, and as both president and vice president of the Key Club at Bandon High School. It makes sense that she has earned leadership awards for her natural abilities. As senior class president, Melinda has taken her duties very serious. She has been the major contributor to planning the end of year senior class activities and events, in addition to directing and organizing many of the graduation details which includes the senior class video. Additionally, Melinda is an integral part of the annual staff, which has earned her awards. She is editor of the yearbook and does a great job in advertisement sales.

Melinda is interested in giving back to the community. This year, as a part of the high school leadership class, she was director for a service project called Community 101. The class applied for and received a $5,000 grant to distribute to worthy organizations in the community. She lead the class in developing a list of potential recipients, wrote letters to each group explaining their project, and facilitated interviews with applicants. As a leader in the Kiwanis Key Club, she has helped to raise funds for tsunami victims and UNICEF. She has volunteered at the annual Holiday Community dinners, as well as helped to collect for Toys for Tots and canned foods for the food bank. She was a member of the Ford Family Foundation Rural Development team during her sophomore and junior years. There is a two year commitment as the team develops a project in rural communities of Oregon. They strategize, plan and implement a community service project that would best benefit the needs of the community. The project developed in Bandon was to improve the softball field at Bandon Heights by building a walking path and benches around the field. Melinda is a vital member of this team. She gave up a weekend a month for five months to participate in the training and development of this team prior to implementing their project.

With all that Melinda does she is still able to maintain high grades and membership in the National Honor Society, which earns her this honor as a Student of Distinction.

Melinda's parents are Susan Perkins and Froylan Torres, both of Bandon.