Conyers resident Dr. Harry Downs, the first president of Clayton State University, will be receiving an honorary doctorate from the university he helped start in 1969. Downs will be honored during the noon Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 8, in the Clayton State Athletics & Fitness Center.

Downs graduated from Conyers High School in 1942 and earned his Associate's Degree from North Georgia College in 1943, a B.S.Ed. (major in Mathematics — 1949) and a M.Ed. (major in Guidance — 1950) from the University of Georgia, and a doctorate from Michigan State University in 1962. Starting in September 1960, Downs began a 34-year tenure with the University System of Georgia. He headed Clayton State University and oversaw its transition to a four-year college from 1969 to 1994.

Heritage High School JROTC cadets Andrew Connor (12th grade), Joseph Kim (10th), Mario Gaines (10th), Micah Worsham (10th) and Mitchell Clemens (9th) are headed to San Diego for the Youth Physical Fitness Competition, May 12-16. Their unit finished 7th nationally out of 230 Marine Corps units and first out of 42 units regionally in qualifiers.

Ksenia Zakirova from Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology is one of 27 senior division winners for her essay submission to the National DuPont Challenge, out of thousands of submissions in the senior division. Her essay, "Engineering in a Different World," was inspired by her work in her research and science classes.