During the summer, Pelham High School Junior Civitans attended the Junior Civitan International Convention held on June 23-26 at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Birmingham.

Six Pelham members attended the convention. Advisers who attended were librarian Mary Harris and teacher Sandra Thompson.

At the convention, the PHS club won first place for Environmental Project of the Year. The club also received an award for the work monitoring the water quality at Bishop Creek.

The group would regularly take water samples and test the samples for characteristics such as alkalinity, pH and hardness.

All data was reported to the Alabama Water Watch Program. It was then used to help chart changes in Alabama’s rivers, lakes and coastal areas. This was the group’s third year to participate in the Alabama Water Watch Project.

The club also won second place Club of the Year. The award was based largely on the number of community service hours completed, the variety of service projects completed and the percentage of members who participated in the projects.

The Pelham Junior Civitans also received special recognition for their work addressing social issues such as homelessness, breast cancer awareness and poverty.

&uot;I am very excited that the efforts of our members were recognized on an international level.

&uot;They worked very hard to uphold the ideals of Junior Civitan and Mrs. Thompson and I are very proud of them,&uot; Harris, said.

This article was written by Pelham High School student Beth Melcher.