Brian and Jennie Nash, Montgomery, Ill., announce the birth of their daughter, Melanie Marie Nash, born Nov. 20, 2006, at Provena Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, Ill.

Her siblings are Nathan, 5, Landon, 2, and Kaelyn, 1.

Maternal grandparents are Dick and Phyllis Sullivan, Aurora. Paternal grandparents are Al and Barbara Nash, Lawrence. Great-grandparent is Ala Dell Nyman, Lawrence.

¢

About $30,000 was raised for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Douglas County during the 12th annual Eldridge Gingerbread Festival and Auction on Dec. 6, sponsored by the Eldridge Hotel.

More than 150 children and adults created and donated graham cracker and gingerbread homes that were auctioned for the festival.

Winners in the graham cracker division for 5- to 8-year-olds were Althea Wilson, first; Spencer Conard, second; and Matthew Eagle, third. In the graham cracker division for 9- to 12-year-olds, Sophi Santee took first; Ginny Nace, second; and Anna Patterson, third. In the graham cracker division for 13- to 18-year-olds, Erika Lignell was first; Hannah Buchner, second; and Rachel Buchner, third.

In the gingerbread division, Helen Benefiel won first place, Jodie Smith and Tanya Kulaga tied for second, and Chris and Vicki Julian took third.

Other winners were Katie Pierson and Khela, first place, big and little division; Cali, Ainsley and BryAnn Burke, grand prize; Chris Morris and Cheyenne, most traditional; Lindsay Kelly, most interesting construction; and Lila Alvarado, most detailed. Honorary mentions went to Jasper Hawkins, Mason Denneler, Helen Hawkins and Katie Conard.

¢

Scott Bregman, a member of the University of Michigan men’s gymnastics team, was named a 2006 College Gymnastics Association Academic All-American.

During the 2006 season, Bregman competed on floor and vault events, scoring 9.0 on floor and 8.75 on vault at the Big Ten team finals and 9.05 on floor at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships.

Bregman is a 2005 graduate of Free State High School.

¢

Julia Barnard and Andrew Grover, seniors at Lawrence High School and members of National Honor Society, have been nominated for the National Honor Society scholarship sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

At Lawrence High, Barnard has led several organizations, such as the Young Democrats and the Model United Nations team, and has participated in choir and cross country. She plans to attend the University of Michigan to study political science and elementary education.

This year, Grover was captain of the boys cross country team, which placed third at state. He also is involved in Latin Club, varsity track and golf. He will attend the University of Minnesota to study international business.

State and regional winners will be named in the scholarship program, and one national recipient also will receive a $10,000 award.

The Lawrence Accredited Music Teachers Association will present a student recital at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H. Students who will be performing include Hsin-Roe Pan, Sabrea Platz, Madeline Dethloff, Karen McCain, Yihan Li, Nora Elbayoumy, Dravid Kissan and Adrian Willems. They are from the studios of Carol Cook, Elaine de San Miguel and Richard Reber.

¢
Chuck and Diane Folks, Lecompton, announce the birth of their daughter, Lydia Marie, born Dec. 7, 2006, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

She has a sister, Maelee, 2.

Her maternal grandparents are Richard and Verna Stanwix. Paternal grandparents are Carrol Freed and Richard Folks Jr. Great-grandparents are Richard Folks Sr. and Elsie Moore.

¢
Free State High School’s Benjamin Greenberg claimed the individual first-place trophy in K-12, and Southwest Junior High School earned the team first-place trophy in K-12 at the Cordley School Chess Tournament on Dec. 9 at the Kansas Union.

Quail Run School garnered the second-place trophy in K-6, while Free State received the third-place trophy in K-12 as well.

Individual medal winners in K-12 were Alan Shi, SWJH, second; Bryce Baringer, Free State, third; Roy Wedge, Central Junior High, fifth; Kellen Cross, SWJH, sixth; Keely Stenseng, SWJH, 11th; Jason Chang, SWJH, 14th; Jessica Newman, South JH, 16th; Stephen Klamet, Free State, 18th; Matthew Drahozal, SWJH, 19th; and Thomas Reams, SWJH, 20th.

In K-8, local medal winners were Nicolas Shump, SWJH, 15th; Nathan Wilhelm, Bishop Seabury, 16th; Jake Mather, SWJH, 18th; and Pattrick Carttar, SWJH, 19th.

In K-6, local winners were Lucas Suchy, Wakarusa Valley, second; Venkata Malladi, Quail Run, seventh; Siyin Li, Hillcrest, ninth; Aaron Simon, Quail Run, 10th; Cal Young, Wakarusa Valley, 13th; Darren Rawlings, Wakarusa Valley, 14th; Vinnie Barker, Sunflower, 16th; Sam Stephens, Quail Run, 17th; and Mishra Apramay, Sunflower, 19th. Local winners in K-3 included Josh Kallenbach, Quail Run, eighth; Ting-Ting Shi, Quail Run, 10th; Brandon Jaiser, Cordley, 13th; and McCarthy Fitch, Cordley, 15th.

A total of 166 players and 22 schools competed in the tournament.

¢
Kris Adair, Lawrence, was one of nine Washburn University students inducted recently into the Alpha Beta Beta chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the history honor society. Adair is a senior majoring in history and secondary education.

To qualify, students must complete at least 12 semester hours in history with a grade point average of at least 3.1 in history, have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and rank in the top 35 percent of their class.

The mission of Phi Alpha Theta is to promote the study of history through the encouragement of research, good teaching, publication and the exchange of learning and ideas among historians.