Six students participated recently in Stafford County's first ever Battle of the Books for high school students. Brooke Point's team of captain Abby Maldonado, Richard Gannon, Tyler Grogg, Tracy Spelman, Ally Steuart and Rachek Whitford, finished third. Students read five books, then chose two to become very knowledgeable about. They then completed short-answer questions, student-generated questions, and multiple-choice questions that began, "In which book " To prepare for the competition, students generated 10 to 15 questions for the books that they read so that they were able to quiz each other during practice.

Student journalists on the staff of the newspaper, "The Hawkeye," were recognized in The Free Lance-Star's 2012 Student Journalism Awards contest. Kayla Harris won second place for sports photo; Nicole Caliri won third place for feature writing; Katie Beiswanger won honorable mention for sports writing; and Amanda Ridella won honorable mention for feature page design. Bob Edelman was named "The Hawkeye's" most valuable staff member.

Physics teacher Benjamin Forbes won a grant from the Stafford Education Foundation for new physics equipment. The money will be used to buy helicopters and rotors, which students will use to investigate the payload limits and optimum position for rotor blades. Students are going to use Tracker software to analyze videos while applying the rules surrounding forces and acceleration.

--Laura Hutchison