Two stories in Friday’s Journal-World told about outstanding young men and women coming to Lawrence to participate in two excellent programs at Kansas University.

One story was about the young musicians academy at the university. The other was about a Junior Olympics program at KU. One program focuses on youngsters who are highly talented pianists and the other story tells about dedicated young men and women who are participating in the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics.

Participants in both programs have distinguished themselves in their fields of interest. There are approximately 40 youngsters in the music academy and they will be in Lawrence for a month, practicing, practicing and practicing under the watchful eyes of instructors from the Juilliard School in New York City, Northwestern University and the Cincinnati College Conservatory. They will attend master classes and studio classes as well as taking courses in sight-reading, music theory, accompanying, opera and music business.

In addition to the students from throughout the United States, 20 other students were scheduled to attend the academy from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China but were asked not to come because these areas have been centers of the highly contagious severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

The program is due to return to KU for the next three years, and every effort should be made by university and city officials to make this an ongoing event. It cannot be lost due to a lack of support and interest by local officials. It exposes the university and the community to truly outstanding young people, as well as to many of their parents, and it serves as an excellent selling and recruiting tool for the school.

The Junior Olympics program attracted 900 young men and women from Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas. Just like the music academy, Junior Olympics serves as a showcase for KU and Lawrence. Here again, every effort should be made to keep this event returning to KU year after year. Think how much officials at other universities would like to have these two programs coming to their campuses.

Those in charge of the programs should double-check every detail and figure out how the gatherings can be improved, even if they already are good. Try to make them better so students, parents and their teachers back home believe the KU-Lawrence experience is a winner in every respect.

These two events are hosted by KU but there was another outstanding group in town that used city facilities. More than 750 swimmers were in Lawrence for the annual Roger Hill Swim Meet. It was a three-day event and, just like the KU events, the gathering of swimmers represented the best from the Midwest, mostly from Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Nebraska. These are swimmers in two divisions, the under-12 age group and the 13-and-over swimmers. As one official noted, the participants are “some of the best swimmers in the Midwest who have qualified for the U.S. Open and U.S. Nationals.”

It is a great event for Lawrence and obviously would not be held here without the excellent swimming facilities at the Indoor Aquatic Center at Free State High School. There is no justification for complacency, however, and again city officials must make sure facilities, arrangements and hospitality is first class in every respect.

It’s obvious those participating in all of these events already are winners, and local officials should do everything they can to make sure facilities, accommodations, teachers, coaches, officials, the town and the university measure up to the same level of excellence.