Nearly 100 outstanding high school seniors recently attended Georgia Southern University’s second annual Southern Leadership Excellence Academics and Dedication (LEAD) Conference at its main campus in Statesboro. Throughout the day they attended leadership workshops, as well as toured the campus and residence halls

To be invited to the Southern LEAD Conference, students must score a minimum of 1100 on the SAT, earn a 3.0 grade point average in high school and have experience in leadership and involvement through extracurricular and volunteer experience. The Southern LEAD Scholarship was established in 1999 and awards a $1,000 one-time award to 40 incoming students.

Representing the Newton county area were Nichelle Brown from Covington, Christopher Elliott from Mansfield, Shannon Rhodes from Social Circle and Terri Scott from Covington.