Auburn High grad is now Web producer for PBS New York

Tanner Vea, a 2003 Auburn High School graduate and No. 1 in his class, is working for flagship PBS TV station Channel 13 in New York City as a Web producer.

Tanner Vea, a 2003 Auburn High School graduate and No. 1 in his class, is working for flagship PBS TV station Channel 13 in New York City as a Web producer.

Channel 13 produces a children’s program for PBS called, “Cyberchase.” Vea produced the accompanying Web site, www.pbskids.org/cyberchase. The hands-on, interactive site contains many online games and video. The Web site and the program have been nominated again for an Emmy in the category, “New Approaches – Daytime Children’s Entertainment.”

The site won an Emmy last year.

Tanner attended the Daytime Emmy Awards in

New York City on Friday at Lincoln Center.

Tanner attended Bard College in the mid-Hudson Valley of New York State on the Excellence and Equal Cost Scholarship.

He graduated in May 2007 with a degree in media and culture.

Elsewhere

Michelle Lee-Sims, a fifth-grader at Gildo Rey Elementary School, was a semifinalist in the Washington State Letters About Literature Competition. She was one of 181 semifinalists out of 2,600 entries at three levels of the competition. She was invited to an awards ceremony in Olympia to receive her certificate of recognition. Sponsored by the Washington State Library, the competition’s writing prompt was for students to compose a letter to their favorite author and describe how their favorite book affected them personally. Lee-Sims wrote to her favorite author, Sharon Creech, about the book Bloomability. …

Emily Dunham, daughter of Denise Dunham, received a $1,000 scholarship from Public School Employees of Washington/SEIU 1948. A graduate of Auburn Mountainview, she plans to attend University of Washington. … Auburn’s Devin Hansen was awarded one of Lipscomb (Tenn.) University’s top academic honors. Hansen, a social work major and home school graduate, was selected as a member of Who’s Who in a ceremony on the Nashville, Tenn., campus. … Auburn’s Bryan Hudgens made the spring semester honor roll (3.5 GPA or better) at Montana State University. … Auburn’s Nicole Mertens made the spring semester dean’s list at the University of Montana Western. … The Auburn Mountainview High Horticulture Club’s educational display garden received a gold award at the Point Defiance Flower and Garden Show.