Junior Achievement

For Old Mill's Chris Combs and Southern's Nick Alley -- Anne Arundel's two returning state wrestling champions -- their success starts with a simple ingredient: hard work.It means wrestling throughout the year, constantly lifting weights, running to build endurance and not cutting a single corner in the practice room."You can't mess around or you'll lose your edge and it can cost you a match," Alley said.Their reward comes when the referee raises their hands in victory, which happened plenty for both last season and promises to continue once again this year.

Publisher, multimillionaire and sometime-presidential candidate Steve Forbes will help Junior Achievement of Central Maryland recognize this year's Spirit of Achievement Award winners tomorrow night.Forbes, a member of the Junior Achievement national board, joins the group in honoring Provident Bank of Maryland and Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc. for their work helping youth.Junior Achievement of Central Maryland itself will be honored at the benefit dinner at the Omni Hotel in Charles Center for 40 years of involvement with state schools.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Just after he was named publisher of Fortune magazine in 1987, Jim Hayes was ready to cut off the publication's substantial annual donations to Junior Achievement Inc."Many of the managers didn't understand why we were involved and why it cost us so much money," Mr. Hayes said. "But I decided we needed to look at them once before we discounted the entire relationship."Mr. Hayes went to the group's annual Business Hall of Fame dinner to get a taste of what Junior Achievement was all about.

The Czechoslovakian Society of America duckpin league has been around for a long time."Oh, my, it was just after the war [World War II], 1946, I guess, when the boys came home," said Helen Hejny. "At that time there were a lot of Czechs living in East Baltimore and we started bowling at the old Spillway lanes on Monument Street."The league began with four couples, grew as the years went by and now is shrinking again.And it moved: from the Spillway to the Overlea lanes on Belair Road and when that center converted to tenpins in the mid-50s, the league moved to Seidel's, still on Belair Road but closer to Baltimore City.

Ethan A. Seidel, professor of economics and business administration at Western Maryland College, has been named vice president for administration and finance.The appointment was effective March 24.Dr. Seidel replaces Dr. Jennie L. Mingolelli, who took a similar job at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.His responsibilities include management of the financial and physical resources of the college.He will lead preparation of the budget, approve contracts, direct procurement and oversee the college bookstore, food services, facilities management and property maintenance.

If the price is right, you could walk away from tomorrow's Action Auction with a full-length mink coat.The auction, which benefits the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce and Junior Achievement, also features a 1992 Mercury Topaz, an overnight stay in the Comfort Inn's Jacuzzi suite and a chance to be a WTTR radio DJ for a day.Local businesses have donated more than $20,000 in gifts for the second annual auction at Wilhelm Ltd. Caterers in Westminster....

The Carroll County Chamber of Commerce honored Donna Tehansky of Kelly Temporary Services Inc. with a "Business and Education Partnerships" award at its monthly breakfast meeting Tuesday.Ms. Tehansky has participated in the Passport to the Future program, job fairs for the Carroll County public schools, the Displaced Homemaker program at Carroll Community College, Job Training Partnership Act programs and Alternative Programs.She also is active in Junior Achievement and a member of the Chamber of Commerce Business and Education committee.

Carroll County's Chamber of Commerce recognized five members for individual achievements at the group's quarterly "Hats Off" breakfast meeting yesterday.The local organization also honored several businesses for their work with the Carroll County public schools."Hats Off" awards went to:* Brian Raver, president of Advanced Vacuum at the Carroll County Air Business Center, for the expansion of his business that sells vacuum pumps to scientific and manufacturing industries.* Don Bullock, owner of Bullock's Airport Inn at the Carroll County Air Business Center, for opening the first smoke-free restaurant in the county.

Junior Achievement (JA) of Central Maryland launches a monthlong fund-raising drive today to raise $300,000 to provide business programs for 16,000 schoolchildren in the Baltimore metropolitan area and Cecil County.W. Douglas Littrell, the organization's president, said the drive is aimed at businesses. About 125 of the area's top executives and business managers were expected to attend the campaign's kick-off breakfast today at the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s Spring Garden Plant at Leadenhall Street and Fort Avenue in South Baltimore.