Gwinnett Daily Post

LAWRENCEVILLE -- Five local young people have been announced as National Merit Scholars, earning them each $2,500 scholarships to the colleges or post-secondary institutions of their choice.

About 2,500 designees were chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 finalists in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program.

National Merit Scholarship winners are the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

They were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors. Scholars may use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university.

Local winners included the following: Ronan M. B. O'Brien, Mill Creek High School; Caleb N. Younger, Parkview High School; Shawn C. Albert, Gwinnett School of Math, Science and Technology; Rebecca Y. Kim, North Gwinnett High School; and Ho Lim Lee, North Gwinnett High School.

GAC announces digital learning initiative

NORCROSS -- Greater Atlanta Christian School has announced that this fall every child in third through fifth grade will have an iPad2, and each K through second-grade classroom will have an iPad lab.

GAC has already moved to a 1 to 1 format in grades 6 through 12. In December, each student traded in their MacBook for the newer MacBook Air More than 50 schools from around the U.S. and Georgia have visited the Norcross Christian Preparatory School to learn more about the training of teachers and students in a digital learning environment.

Frank Reddy writes about education. Good News from Schools appears in the Sunday edition of the Daily Post.