CHEERS: to Highland High School for being named one of America’s best high schools by U.S. News and World Report based on a “college readiness index” that included criteria such as advanced placement tests and state benchmark exams. “Readiness starts with day one. It goes all the way down to kindergarten,” high school Principal Pete Ulrich said. It is an effective approach to education for Highland, which was among 37 high schools in Ohio honored by the magazine.

CHEERS: to members of Connection Church in Sharon Township who made a soldier’s homecoming Tuesday a happy event in more ways than one. Members of the congregation spent about a week revamping the Medina residence Sgt. Mark Pancake shares with his wife, Cynthia, and three children. Pancake, who spent a year in Kuwait, walked into a home whose rooms had been repainted and redecorated. The bathroom also had been gutted and redone. Now Pancake can spend his first days home soaking up the love of family and church fellowship instead of tackling home repair projects.

CHEERS: to members of another congregation, First Baptist Church in Medina Township, who packed and delivered food baskets to area families the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Since 2003, church members have adopted families through the Community Services Center in Medina. “We adopted about 80 families from Community Services. Then we asked our church family if they knew of others who were in need this season, and the list grew,” said Nancy Gillentine, director of children’s and women’s ministries at First Baptist. All told, church members shopped, packed and delivered about 100 boxes of food this holiday season.

CHIDINGS: to the Bush administration in the wake of evidence it cowed to the banking lobby and backed off a proposed crackdown on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the current financial meltdown. Because regulators reportedly bowed to aggressive lobbying and were assuaged by assurances from banks that troubled mortgages were OK — even though there were ominous signs in 2005 — they delayed action for nearly a year, which gave the economic crisis time to simmer, then boil.

CHEERS: to families trying to simplify the holidays in these tough economic times by giving homemade gifts. Canned fruits and vegetables, jams and jellies, cookies and ornaments, are replacing store-bought gifts for some givers this year. Yes, it’s a concession to the recession, but Ohio farmer Leroy Schindler, quoted in an Associated Press story, said perhaps there’s a silver lining. He hopes the sour economy might finally force people to move away from the commercialism Schindler says has overshadowed the holiday season for too long.

CHEERS: to Swiss teacher Louis Palmer for teaching us what’s possible by driving a solar car 32,000 miles around the globe — and not using a drop of oil in the process. His 17-month journey took him through 38 countries in an electric car that travels up to 55 mph and covers 185 miles on a fully charged battery. It’s the first time a solar-power car has traveled around the world without the benefit of fossil fuels, but Palmer hopes it’s not the last. “These new technologies are ready,” he said. “It’s ecological, it’s economical, it is absolutely reliable. We can stop global warming.”