Magazine: Atkins, West among nation's best schools SP! C I \l TO nil CHRONICLE Two schools in Winston Salem/Forsyth County Schools were judged among the top high schools in the country by U.S. News & World Report, including West Forsyth High School, which ranked second in North Carolina. West Forsyth ranked 378th nationally, earning it a gold medal for being ranked among the top 500 schools in the United States. It was one of just two high schools in the state to earn a gold medal. Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy earned a silver medal for being ranked in the top 2,000 nationally. It was ranked 34th in North Carolina and 1,986th in the U.S. U.S. News looked at more than 19,400 public schools in the U.S. and ranked them according to how they perform on state assessments and how well they prepare students for college. The data is from the 2011-12 school year. The magazine first deter mined whether a school's stu dents performed better than expected for the average student in the state. It then examined whether a school's least advan taged students performed better than the average of similar stu dents in the state. Finally. U.S. News judged how well schools prepared students for college based on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate data. West Forsyth and Glenn High School also were included earlier this month in The Washington Post's list of America's Most Challenging High Schools. The list is compiled by the Post's edu cation columnist Jay Mathews. Schools are judged by the num ber of college-level tests given at a school in a school year divided by the number of graduates that year. West Forsyth ranked 16th in the state on the list, and Glenn ranked 58th in the state. For more information about U.S. News' rankings, please visit http://www.usnews.com/edu cation/best-high-schools. Gist to give genealogical talk SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE James E. Gist, a Winston-Salem native, will present "African American Genealogy Roadblocks" at the Forsyth County Genealogical Society's next monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 6 at the Central Library, 660 W. 5th St. The social starts at 6:30 p.m.; the program begins at 7. Gist retired from the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin I Aerospace. His interest in genealogy began almost 30 years ago when he found an old family Bible and wanted to "fill in the blanks" with his grand mother's help. His family database has grown to more than 2,400 names. He is looked to as a family histo rian by the Gist families of Chester County, S.C. He recently developed and presented a class in African American Genealogy at United Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, where he is chair of the Computer Lab Ministry. The meeting is free and open to the public. I Gist Senior Golfers Donate Cash Submitted Photos Winston Lake Senior Golf Association President James Streater presents a check for $1,000 to Carver High School Band Director Juan Eckard (right) to help pay for new instruments and other urgently needed band equipment. The association also presented a $1,000 scholarship to Jon A. McNeir, a freshman at N.C. Central University and a graduate of East Forsyth High School. He is the son of Kimberly McNeil. Some of the Members of the association are pictured above. 1 hey are: (first row) Harry Transou, James McNeil Mitchell, Richard Pettus, Leon "Popcorn" Sutton and James Streater, (second row) Mannie "Giggy" Hardin, John Easter, Henry Hardin, Charles Butler and Ander "Tommy" Nelson, (third row) Dan McGill, Bobby Gwyn, Robert Nesbit, Von Roberts, Larry Butler and Ernest Squire. M(Z MED-COB I \ Oiabtki Suppif. Inc. I | V S OwtMm f iwr?n ? Free Delivery right to your home. ? We fill out all insurance paperwork for you. ? No claim forms to fill out - We do it for you. ? No waiting in line at the pharmacy. ? Medicare, Medicaid and private insurances ' welcome. Michael Gilliam, General Manager ? \ Hope du Jour is May 6 SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE More than 130 restaurants are on tap to participate in Hope du Jour on Tuesday, May 6. This year, two restaurants are offering special promotions. Chef Dion Sprenkle, 5479 Old Us Highway 52 in Welcome, will serve a five course, prix fixe Hope du Jour menu featuring 28-d^y dry-aged sirloin for $37.50. ine vin zun wine Bar at wine Merchants, 205 S Stratford Rd., will offer a wine tasting of 18 different wines from around the world for $10. Presented by sponsors Wall Esleeck Babcock LLP, and Leonard Ryden Burr Real Estate, Hope du Jour is Crisis Control's signature event and one of its largest fundraisers. It has become a much antici pated community tradition where friends and family get together to share a meal while supporting Crisis Control Ministry, Forsyth County's largest emergency assistance provider. Participating restaurants agree to donate 10 percent of their sales on May 6 to support the mission and programs of Crisis Control Ministry. A list of participating restaurants can be found at www.hopedujour.org. The web site includes a convenient search function to find restaurants by city, type of meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner, Sunday Brunch), those that cater, have meeting rooms, or are offering special promotions. News and restaurant specials are posted daily on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hopedujour. ? '