Congratulations to our neighbor and friend Erin Reichert. Erin was named Beaufort County's 2012-2013 District Teacher of the Year.

Teaching seems to come naturally to this dedicated wife and mother, who has been teaching at Bluffton High School since 2007.

More than a teacher to all of her advanced placement students, Erin has participated in many community activities with her students, including the Bluffton Village Festival, Relay For Life and the annual May River Cleanup. As a special treat, Hilton Head BMW presented Erin with a 2013 BMW to use for the coming year.

Toot, toot to Erin and her students, who are lucky to have such a wonderful person teaching and guiding them.

* If you are from Beaufort or Jasper counties, the Daughters of the American Revolution would love to find out about your ancestors who lived in this area during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Emily Geiger Chapter of Greater Bluffton is documenting local gravesites and records -- like the kind you might have found in your family Bibles. Greater Bluffton is the group's focus this year, with Jasper County on its radar for 2013.

The DAR Library at the National Headquarters in Washington, D.C. has one of the largest collections of family records in the country. If you think you might have information that the group would be interested in, contact Dorothy Pace at emilygeiger.grc@gmail.com, or Sunni Winkler at P.O. Box 24006, Hilton Head, 29925.

Bluffton artist Marquita Willis has a solo exhibit now hanging at The Beach Institute, 502 E. Harris St. in Savannah. A native of Los Angeles now making Bluffton her home, Willis has been inspired by the barrier islands of South Carolina and the Gullah culture.

Titled "Marquita Willis, Skies The Limit," the exhibit will be on display through Dec. 29. The gallery is open noon- 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. I think you will find her paintings charming and full of color.

Details: 912-234-8000, www.kingtisdell.org

Lowcountry artist Jonathan Green has founded a nonprofit organization, Lowcountry Rice Culture Project, to educate area children about the contribution their ancestors made.

Green wants children to learn that their African ancestors helped develop rice as a money-making crop that made many in the Lowcountry wealthy. He wants them to learn that there is more to know than what's in history books. Slaves were the backbone of building the beautiful houses and tending to every need of the plantation owners.

Next September, a rice symposium will be held at The College of Charleston to discuss the project's findings. A number of local and state cultural and historical organizations are helping with the research.

This is going to be very interesting and will make each bite of rice more intriguing.

Babbie Guscio is the social columnist for The Bluffton Packet. She can be reached at The Store on Calhoun Street.