Each week ‘‘At Our Best’’ highlights the achievements of those in our community. It includes honors, awards and other recognition that is being earned by local residents.

Please continue to send or deliver such information, along with pictures of those honored, to the newspaper in care of managing editor Mike Schmeltzer, 600 S.W. Jefferson Ave., Corvallis, OR 97333.

Rotary announces student awards

The Greater Corvallis Rotary recently awarded the Winter Sports Outstanding Student Athlete Awards. Athletes are nominated by their coaches based on their leadership, academics and their achievements outside of school. Outstanding Students Athletes from Corvallis High School were: Greg Alexander, Nadav Heyman, Eva Oriakhi, Ben Dawley, Sloan Storie, Chris Brown and Carmen Kwong. Receiving the award from Crescent Valley were: Caroline Wells, Caleb Carlson, Matt Smith, Cory Lamont, Rachel Adamski and Kayla Kauffman.

Accounting grad wins the bronze

Oregon State University College of Business graduate Steve Sharpe received the third highest score on the 2007 CPA exam in the State of Oregon. Sharpe, who earned his degree in accountancy with an option in finance last year, was among more than 1,300 test takers.

Accounting professor Roger Graham said that Sharpe excelled in accounting and finance. “He was a star student in both (fields),” he said. “He won the Medallion Award for the top Accounting Finance student last year from the FEI (Financial Executives Institute) Portland Chapter.” FEI awards top students at OSU, University of Oregon and Portland State University each year.

As a student, Sharpe worked at Costco in Albany and after graduating began his career at Moss Adams LLP in Eugene.

Sharpe is the second College of Business student in a row to score third on the CPA exam. Sara Van Nata, an accounting certificate student, won the bronze medal in 2006.

CHS graduate receives scholarship

Joseph Clair of Corvallis was recently awarded the prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship.

He is the son of Allan and Mary Ann Clair of Corvallis and is a 1998 graduate of Crescent Valley High School.

He is a member of the eighth annual contingent of new Gates Scholars, selected from countries around the world, who will begin graduate studies at the University of Cambridge, England. They will study subjects across the whole range of knowledge: arts, science, humanities, social science, technology and medicine.

Joseph earned master’s degrees at Duke Divinity School and Fordham University, where he is currently a teaching fellow. At Cambridge, he will study for a Ph.D. in divinity.

Local graduates at Gemology school

Ryan Thompson of Corvallis recently passed the final exam for the Gemological Institute of America’s Graduate Gemologist Program. While pursuing the degree, he was an intern at Hilton Jewelers in Corvallis, where he completed the diamonds portion of the courses. While there, he graded diamonds and cleaned and designed jewelry.

Honor roll

Scripps College, Claremont, Calif. — Sophia Marie Herron, a resident of Corvallis, was named to the dean’s list for the fall semester 2007. Herron is a senior, majoring in European Studies.

Scripps College, Claremont, Calif. — Calida Marie Danko, a resident of Philomath, was named to the dean’s list for the fall semester 2007. Danko is a freshman. Her major undeclared.

Biola University, La Miranda, Calif. — Kyle Jeffrey Kubler has been named to the dean’s list for the fall of 2007 at Biola University. He is the son of Jeff and Margaret Kubler of Corvallis (Adair Village).

Bates College, Lewiston Maine — Hiromi Go of Corvallis was named to the dean’s list at Bate’s College. Go, a first-year student, is the son of Nensei Go of Japan and Yoshie Fujita of China, and is the nephew of Jim and Hua-yu Li McLendon. Go is a 2006 graduate of Riverdale High School in Portland.

Military News

Army Pvt. Jarrod C. Schermerhorn has graduated from basic infantry training at Fort Benning, Columbus, Ga.

Schermerhorn is the stepson of Thea Stone of Monroe and a 2003 graduate of Monroe High School.

Kiwanis Award

The Kiwanis Recognition Program, which is a component of the Youth Services Committee and the Kiwanis Club of Corvallis, recognizes local high school senior students who either excel academically or have shown substantial academic improvement along with having good citizenship and a great deal of community service. Each student is given a monetary award along with a certificate of achievement. Both Corvallis and Crescent Valley High School students are eligible.

The award for first quarter achievements was presented to Sandy Liu, daughter of Jie Liu and Lan Chen, who attends Crescent Valley High School. Sandy has maintained a very strong GPA, has received numerous academic awards and is active in school clubs. As a volunteer in our community she has helped at the soup kitchen, Safety Town, DaVinci Days, Fall Festival and the Boys & Girls Club. She is an avid swimmer and pianist and is interested in photography. Sandy hopes to major in biomedical engineering and minor in photography and economics.

The other award for first quarter achievements was presented to Mushfiqur Sarker, son of Mahfuzur and Nahid Sarker, who attends Corvallis High Shool. Mushfiqur has managed to maintain a strong GPA. As a volunteer in the community, he has been a coach for Corvallis Parks and Recreation in lacrosse, a game he loves himself; and he helped raise funds to assist flood victims in Bangladesh. Mushfiqur plans to attend OSU School of Engineering and to one day aid his birth country, Bangladesh.

Professor earns weed science award

A weed science professor at Oregon State University has received the Weed Science Society of America’s highest honor for her contributions to the profession.

Carol Mallory-Smith, an associate department head at OSU’s Department of Crop and Soil Science, was named a fellow of the society at the nonprofit professional organization’s annual meeting.

Mallory-Smith is studying how genes from canola contaminate vegetable crops. She and a colleague are also looking at how substances from juniper trees might be able to inhibit the germination of weeds. In the past, she has studied Orobanche minor, a parasitic weed that attaches to clover and snuffs the life out of it. Found in Oregon in 1998, it could destroy the state’s clover industry if not controlled, said Mallory-Smith, who helped identify other plants that attract the weed as well as herbicides that kill it.

Additionally, her work with Italian ryegrass gave growers extra options for controlling the ryegrass with herbicides. She and other OSU researchers also found that crop rotations can be used to reduce California brome in wheat production because California brome seed lasts only two years in the soil.

Mallory-Smith, who was born in Troy, began teaching at OSU in 1994 after earning a doctorate in plant science at the University of Idaho in 1990.