Thanks to a Gilbert High School student, Arizona now has new official representation for our state. If you have been here for a while you may know that we are the Grand Canyon state and you can probably recognize the state flag with the big star and rays coming off of it like the sun. But did you know that states have all sorts of official symbols? The most commonly known official symbols are the state bird and flower but the official representation doesn't have to stop there. Read our Officially Arizona article to find out what the Gilbert High School student added to our official list and see what other crazy items represent out state. You might be surprised by the list.

A Phoenix based group of high school and college students are creating a new way to help those without the internet get connected using a mesh network. A mesh network uses a series of nodes that all connect to each other creating a net of coverage with less gaps, resulting in fewer dropped connections. The project, called Project Phoenix, has students work and understand how to build and manage these networks. The end goal is give individuals who don't have the internet the ability to use the internet. These students hope to provide individuals not only with access to the internet but also the ability "to access trainings and gain experience for well-paying high tech jobs." The mesh network is currently in its testing phase.

Since 2005 North Carolina has hosted a world tournament for junior golfers at the World Kids Golf Championship. According to U.S. Kids Golf, L.L.C.'s website over 1,500 players compete from over 50 countries on over a weeks worth of activates. All of this culminates in three rounds of championship play and this year the world champion for the 7 and under age group came from here in Arizona. Beu Ellington, is this years World Kids Golf Champion at just 7 years old. To win she did 108 strokes on a 9 hole course beating Gabriela Brambilla from Brazil and Erica Koshimizu from Japan by just one stroke. Beu Ellington's championship just goes to show you that you don't have to wait to become a champion. 

Smartphones are all around you. Even if you don't own one personally chances are you still use one everyday; but are you aware of all the great features that are on that phone? Sure there are games, social media apps and of course a camera but smartphones also have great features that could potentially save your life. Did you know that you don't have to be able to unlock a smartphone to use its emergency features? If you are ever in a situation and you need help any charged smartphone will do. To get to this screen you just need to try to access the phone and use the touchscreen to hit  "Emergency" from there it will give you a keypad where you can dial 911. If you have an iPhone you can discreetly hit the volume button 5 times to make an emergency call or hit it once and drag the SOS slider on newer models. This feature also allows you to notify emergency contacts at the same time. Android phones have a similar feature that also allows the user to store personal emergency information and send out an emergency notification to contacts. To learn how to set it up visit this site.