Sixth graders at Cherokee Middle School had graduation ceremonies Thursday from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. The 10-week program was taught by Sgt. Curt Moye of the Cherokee Police Department (the one with a mustache in the middle of the group). Photo by Ken Ross

The first place winners of the Cherokee Middle School 7th grade Science Fair, held Wednesday morning, are Sanna Miller, left and Emily Cook, right who did extensive research on which name brand laundry detergent would perform best on a variety of laundry stains. Surprisingly the best performer was the "secret recipe" they used. This pair will now take their project to state competition. Photo by Nancy Nelson

Placing 2nd at the Cherokee Middle School 7th grade science fair are left to right: Nolan Martin, Brock Dagel, and Kristian Freed, for their study on which color of light encourages plants to grow faster. They discovered that red light encourages the fastest growth due to how chlorophyll photosynthesizes under different colors of light. The group will now take their project to state competition. Photo by Nancy Nelson