Best & Brightest

• David Smithson, son of Barry Irwin Smith and Wendy Susan Smith of Buffalo Grove, received a bachelor's degree from Emory College of Emory University in Atlanta.

• Kathleen Drake of Wheeling, a student at Millikin University in Decatur, is spending the spring semester working for Millikin Student Development as an intern. Drake, a communication major, was chosen for the internship from her scholastic record and personal interviews. To qualify, students must fulfill various course prerequisites, work with a faculty mentor to define specific educational objectives and receive approval from their department chairperson and dean. Drake is a graduate of Wheeling High School.

• Julie L. Cardella of Long Grove, a senior at Hope College in Holland, Mich., was named to the 2007-08 Dean's List for having a minimum 3.5 grade point average.

• Leigh Wiedelman, of Hoffman Estates, a sophomore majoring in music education at Valparaiso University, was elected to a statewide office during the January 2008 convention of the Indiana Music Educators Association in Indianapolis. Wiedelman was elected to a two-year term on the IMEA Board of Directors as a collegiate representative. She is one of two college students who will represent all collegiate music education students in Indiana. Wiedelman's election entitles her to be one of only 13 voting members on the 45-member IMEA Board. She the daughter of Mark and Mardelanie Weidelman and a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Palatine.