Palmer Trinity School

Virginia when he drove his Tempest Cycles/Darrell Gwynn Foundation Chevrolet to victory in the Dec. 7 running of the Thanksgiving Classic at North Carolina's Southern National Raceway Park. The 200lap, $10,000-to-win race marks the first major Late Model win in the 18-year-old Florida native's career. Joe qualified eighth among the 33 starters. "The car was really, really good," Joe said. "Randy Renfrow, crew chief, had an awesome setup. We didn't get the qualifying run we wanted, but the car was fast. In the first half we just tried to stay out of trouble and see what we had." Staying out of trouble is a tall order among such tough competitors, and Joe was spun early in the race and had to work his way through the field after restarting 28th. But by the 10-minute halfway break he was among the leaders again. "The car was perfect," Joe said. "Randy just made a small air-pressure adjustment and told me to go out and win the thing." When the checkered waved, Joe appeared to place second on the field, though he was charging and had the leader in his sights. He learned he'd won the race when he heard the track announcer state that the lead car was penalized one lap for an on-track incident not involving Coulter. "I was excited," Joe said. "It just proves that you need to keep racing. You never give up when you're running second or third, because you never know what might happen. You have to keep yourself in the best position possible, because anything can happen on the racetrack. I was gaining at the checkered and think if I had a few more laps I could have challenged him. When we heard we'd won we started jumping up and down and celebrating, and people were looking at us wondering why we were so happy." A few minutes later they knew why Joe was happy, as he walked off with the five-foot trophy, incentive enough to do more Late Model Stock Car racing in the future. "I like racing the Late Model," Joe said. "Everywhere you go there are 10 to 15 heavy hitters. It's fun racing, and it's good racing." Be sure to log on to www.JoeyCoulter.com for more information about this promising young driver's racing endeavors. leaders. This year, Salute to Education awarded its usual 100 scholarships to Miami-Dade high school seniors and 100 to Broward seniors. Each $1,000 scholarship, which can be used only toward tuition, was made out to the student's college. Cam is attending Dickinson College. Ariel Moger writes, "I am living in New York City and I am currently attending Columbia University. I plan on majoring in political science with a possible concentration in philosophy. Even though I have just started college, I am having the time of my life. My classes are exciting and living in NYC has been a dream come true. I cannot wait to come back and tell everyone stories. Since I have been at Columbia we have had the privilege of hosting both presidential candidates for a discussion on community service. We also have access to foreign leaders, including presidents and prime ministers, who come to speak at public forums on our campus. I feel very fortunate to be here. I also feel that Palmer Trinity did an excellent job of preparing me for college and that has made my transition to college even easier." Christine Erice writes, "My current course of study is nursing. I am currently enrolled in Miami Dade, after I get my RN degree I am going to transfer to either Megan Cunningham is pledging the Alpha Pi chapter of Alpha Delta Pi at The George Washington University. She was also elected the Representative at Large for her residence hall. Jamil Jebai is pledging FIJI, or Phi Gamma Delta, at Florida International University. Natalie Imran is playing club soccer for University of Florida, and is majoring in architecture. Brianna Rivas joined the Rugby team at Boston College and is now the President of her Nursing Class. Cam DiFede won a scholarship from Salute to Education. The program relies on the Scholarship Committee composed of Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealers as well as business, educational, and civic FIU or UM to continue to get my BSN and master's as a Nurse Practitioner." Nick Betancourt writes, "I'm at the University of Florida right now, and school is going pretty well. I love Gainesville and the University, though I miss the small classes at PTS. I'll be going to Costa Rica this summer with International Student Volunteers to do conservation and education work as well as nature hikes and white water rafting." Diego Alonso writes, "I'm currently studying at USF in Tampa. My major is mechanical engineering and it is definitely a lot of work. My courses include chemistry, foundations of engineering, composition 1, and precalculus. I am not really involved in too many extracurricular activities except for one. I joined a club known as the Society of Automotive Engineers being that this is my main field of interest. The club involves designing and building both on-road and offroad race cars from scratch and racing them around Alumnews 40 the country. We have a shop on campus that has tools required to be able to weld, cut and shave any metal pieces we may have to design. This club has taught me a lot through hands on experience that I most definitely could not have learned in the classroom. Tampa is a great city and I have made a ton of friends here, some of whom go to USF and some of whom are actually still in high school. The campus here is huge and with over 40,000 students it took me a while to learn my way around campus. The transition socially was very easy and I am very happy here. Unfortunately I am transferring to Northeastern University in Boston at the end of this semester so I will have to start making friends and learning the campus and streets all over again. But I'm looking forward to it and hoping that I like NEU as much as I like USF." Lauren Adamo writes, "So far my first semester has been good. My classes aren't too hard but I have a full schedule. Biology is the only class giving me trouble. My teacher gives really hard tests but I'm learning a lot. I keep in touch with a few kids from my class including Ariel Moger and Shea Adam. I went to New York a few weeks ago and I saw Ariel and Cori Capik at Columbia for a few hours before I spent the rest of the weekend with my brother. It was great to see them and catch up!! I also went to Vermont with Senior, Michelle Evans and her family for a weekend and we had a lot of fun. I still talk to all my friends at PTS almost every day. Connecticut is a lot different from Miami; there's not nearly as much diversity and very few people speak Spanish but I'm still enjoying it. I come home November 21st for Thanksgiving and I can't wait to see everyone!" Alex Sachs has gone from being a Falcon to a Hawk as a member of the Roger Williams University co-ed sailing team. Joro Forman is pitching up a storm in Ohio! As a twosport participant and 2008 Miami Herald All-Dade baseball and basketball selection he has continued his impressive athletic ways as a pitcher on the Denison University baseball team. Cristina Gil, who finished her Palmer Trinity School basketball career as a member of the 1,000 point club and listed on the Miami Herald All-Dade basketball second team, is now a member of the Suffolk University Rams women's basketball squad. Gregg Steinman is attending Moravian College and is a member of the school's baseball team where he is playing both first and third base. He was a 2008 Miami Herald third team All-Dade baseball player. Mike Woll is playing football and lacrosse for Lake Forest College. The 2008 Miami Herald All-Dade football and lacrosse player Mike has continued his successful ways as a dual sport athlete. The lacrosse season will begin at the conclusion of his football season. Ricky Morgan, former Miami Herald All-Dade football player, is playing on the Wagner College Seahawk football squad this year. Stephen Ludovici is at the University of Florida and writes, "Classes are easy. I am planning on spending the summer back home in Miami. I see Nick Betancourt occasionally. Gainesville is a lot like Miami, but a little colder when the cold fronts come through."

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