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The Echos of Sparta Hi, 1947

BookCoverImageThe latest title from Star Route Books is Echos of Sparta Hi, a reprint of the 1947 Sparta High School yearbook, which was the second annual the school produced. The first annual was printed a decade before, in 1937.

The book includes all four High School grades and elementary school photos for everyone attending Sparta School that year.

The book is being re-published as a fundraiser for the Alleghany Historical Museum by the Alleghany Historical – Genealogical Society and is the first of several titles planned for release in 2016.

The 80-page, softcover book measures 8.5″ x 11″ and is printed on cream colored stock. It retails for just $12.50, and will be available at the Alleghany Historical Museum in Sparta, NC, when it re-opens in the Spring (March 31) and online at Shop.StarRoute.Net, and Amazon.

The FFA and Home Ec Club pages from the 1947 edition of The Echos of Sparta Hi.
The FFA and Home Ec Club pages from the 1947 edition of The Echos of Sparta Hi.
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Alleghany Ed Foundation Scholarship Forms

This week, we’ve been updating 2016 scholarship forms for Alleghany County Educational Foundation. The Educational Foundation is a scholarship resource that manages and distributes scholarships from individuals and organizations in the county for seniors at Alleghany High School.

Students must complete 20 individual forms each year, to apply for over 70 scholarships. Several of the scholarships allow for multiple recipients.ACEFsite With only around 100 graduates each year, students who want to go college will likely receive some level of assistance from the organization.

Imaging Specialists helped improve what was a laborious, time consuming application process. Before 2008, students were given a stack of applications to fill out, by hand. That year, ISI digitized the forms and created an editable, master form in Adobe Acrobat that included all available applications. Form fields were linked throughout the document, so the student only had to enter contact info once – on the first form – and the information was populated throughout.

We made the form available, online, so that students would have access the from anywhere. Making it available in this way ensured the students would also always have access to the latest version of the form. Updates and changes made by the Foundation would, of course, be immediate and available to everyone.

Information submitted to the organization is in a clean, readable format. While the Foundation has opted to receive printed copies from students, we could easily set up a button, to submit the data, digitally, allowing the recipient to cut, paste or file the information directly into a database.

AEFFormThis year, we’ve worked with the organization to split the form, so that the main application can be filled out by each student, and submitted regardless of what individual scholarships they might be applying for. We also added a button so that students can save the document to the cloud in their own personal Google accounts.

Students are able to save partial or completed PDFs to their computer, a portable drive, or their Google account, so that they can edit,  re-save, or print out forms at any time.

If you have a complicated, time-consuming process you need to simplify, talk to us. We can help you find a solution.

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ISI moves to the BDC

Starting in January 2016, we’ll have a new address. We’ve moved to the Blue Ridge Business Development Center and are in Office 505, at 115 Atwood Street.

BDC

We will continue to offer all the of the same services at the new location, focusing on web services (design, development, hosting and maintenance), print publishing (page design, digital prepress, book printing), and television production (our existing series Silver Screenings, Alleghany Memories, and the upcoming Common Threads).

Our new location will bring ISI closer to several of our existing business-to-business clients, as well as new startups who might benefit from our print & document services.

Our online store, Shop Star Route, is still live, and the books we had available at our Main Street location are still available downtown. Star Route Books are available at Sparky’s Coffeehouse (at 32 West Whitehead Street), and the Alleghany Historical-Genealogical Society is retailing the books they have published at Alleghany Historical Museum (at 7 North Main Street). None of our titles are out of print and they’re easy to find at Shop Star Route.

We’re very excited about the new chapter for ISI. Looking forward to seeing you in the new year, at our new location.

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Connie Miller’s Winds of Harmony

CMCoverRotateThe newest title from Star Route Books is Connie Miller’s Winds of Harmony. Connie’s novel is a work of fiction- a compelling love story set in the Blue Ridge mountains- with  historical anecdotes from the Miller Family included.

From Connie: Winds of Harmony shares a family’s love of the Blue Ridge, love and respect of one another and of family genealogy and area history.

In the book, readers follow a magazine photographer in her late 20s, Ann, as she builds her dream cabin in the Blue Ridge and meets a mysterious man she’s never before seen around town.

The story focuses on Ann and Logan’s new relationship, and includes stories about each of their ancestors. The stories, rooted in truth, are based on the family lore of Connie’s mother-in-law and feature the Miller family ancestors and their lives in the Laurel Springs area of Alleghany and Ashe Counties in North Carolina.

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PDF printer’s proof showing page layout and trims of Connie Miller’s Winds of Harmony.

Connie came to us with her manuscript and a beautiful cover photograph. We were able to help with page and cover design, proofreading and book production.

The book was written to be a surprise gift for the elder Mrs. Miller’s birthday, in November 2015. The books were finished early and Connie went ahead and shared the story with Mrs. Miller, who told her, “This is good. I like it.”

This is the most important review the book could have earned! Pick up your own copy, today. It’s good. You’ll like it.

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Winds of Harmony by Connie Miller, 6″ x 9″ – 120 pages, soft cover, $20 at www.shop.starroute.net