A tornado that passed through Concordia Parish Thursday left many Miss-Lou residents startled at the sudden violent weather.

Luckily, the storm only left minor damage in the Clayton and Ferriday areas and no reported injuries.

Let’s take a look back at some of the highlights of last week that weren’t drenched in rain and wind.

-The Natchez campus of Copiah-Lincoln Community College saw a 12.3-percent increase in full-time students over the previous year. While Co-Lin President Ronnie Nettles said the early numbers likely would drop later down the road, we’re glad to see more residents continuing their education. Good luck to those students and the college as it attempts to continue recruiting both high school students and adults who are looking for further job training or retraining.

-Adams County Christian School eighth grader Tory Rollins recently took home a top prize and scholarship money thanks to her 4-year-old goat, Valley. The duo won first place in the best in show competition at Dixie National Livestock Show and Rollins received $1,200 in scholarship money that she will put toward her future tuition at Mississippi State. We congratulate Rollins on her award.

-No television cameras were in town this week, but Cathedral High School students easily could have been cast for “CSI: Natchez” as they participated in a molecular biology workshop. The workshop, which was led by Dr. Mike Darwin Yerky and hosted at Co-Lin, gave students the opportunity to cut DNA samples with enzymes to simulate work done in a criminal case. Hands-on projects that get students interested and involved with science, or any subject, should be incorporated in school curriculum as much as possible. This was a great example of that.

-The Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration kicked off this week with an impressive lineup. This year’s events included celebrating former Mississippi Gov. William Winter’s 90th birthday. Winter, who also serves as director of proceedings, has been a strong supporter of NLCC and Natchez for many years. We’re glad he was able to join the NLCC again this year and hope he has many more memorable birthdays ahead.

Even though our area might be in for more storms this week, let’s hope the worst is behind us as we await the arrival of spring.