Jessie Branson is this year’s recipient of the Helen Fluker Open and Accessible Government Award from the Lawrence-Douglas County League of Women Voters. Branson, a former state legislator, will be honored at a banquet set for 5 p.m. Thursday at Brandon Woods Retirement Community’s Smith Center, 4730 Brandon Woods Terrace.

Dinner, featuring Swiss artichoke chicken breast, will be $12.50 a person. Please contact Sara Taliaferro at 842-9754 by noon Monday to make dinner reservations.

¢Dorothy Wheeler, Lawrence, will celebrate her 90th birthday with a gathering for friends and family from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday in the recreation room at Lawrence Presbyterian Manor, 1429 Kasold Drive. Wheeler’s quilts will be on display during the celebration. No gifts, please.

¢Travis and Kelly Evans, Lawrence, announce the birth of their son, Walker Owen Evans, born March 9, 2007, at Overland Park Regional Medical Center. He weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. He joins his brother, Jackson. Maternal grandparents are Craig and Rae Ann Brown, Baldwin City. Paternal grandparents are Bryce and Vicki Evans, Winfield.

¢Eddie Munoz and Theryn Spomer, Lawrence, announce the birth of their daughter, Natalie Caroline Munoz, born March 14, 2007, at the Birth & Women’s Center in Topeka. She weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. Maternal grandparents are Deborah Swank and Joseph Greitl, Topeka. Paternal grandmother is Gayle Tennyson, Lawrence.

¢Billy Jackson and Jessica Smith, Hillsboro, announce the birth of their daughter, Abagail Parthenia Jackson, born Dec. 26, 2006, in Hillsboro. Her grandparents are Judy Bickfort, Ramona; and Darran Smith, Dianne Grice and Billy Jackson, all of Nashville, Tenn. Her great-grandmother is Dee Holladay, Lawrence.

¢Ashley Coffman, Lawrence, is one of nine Bethany College students selected to perform in the music department’s Spring Honors Recital. Faculty in the department selected the students. The recital, a traditional part of the Messiah Festival each year, is set for April 5. Coffman is a junior soprano at the college in Lindsborg.

¢Sarah Nichols, a student at Free State High School, has accepted a scholarship from Fort Hays State University. She received a tablet computer from the Office of Student Affairs and a $500 Copper Academic Award. Nichols, daughter of John and Ann Nichols, Lawrence, plans to major in art education.

¢Several area students were scheduled to compete at the Collegiate Music Educators National Conference’s 35th annual Junior High-Middle School Solo Festival on March 10 at Washburn University. Participants included:

¢ Baldwin Junior High: Echo Craig and Kendra Hedges-Gorden, voice.

¢ Bishop Seabury Academy: Angela Thomas Grimes, voice.

¢ Central Junior High: Alexandra Guinzbroug and Nabila Formusoh, strings; Martha Allen, Kalee Forsythe, Shelby Winfrey, Keirstin Addington, April Evans, Helen Gent, Mattie Casad, Cami Ford, Carolyn Brown, Brittany Mailand, Angele Lund, Nabila Formusoh, Brandon Kissinger, Michael Smith and Michael Bruce, voice; Katy Thellman, Joe Smith and Tennery Carttar, trumpet; Claire Murphy Beach, Lisa Goering, Daniel Gonzalez, Nick Conrad, Matt Goering and Mallory Cox, trombone; Michael Bruce and Joslyn Underwood, saxophone; Grace Clark, Nora Byers, Zoey Hearn Feldman and Margaret Bireta, woodwinds; Brittany Mailand, percussion; and Yami Simpson, Claire Murphy Beach and Kylie Puckett, flute.

¢ Encore Home School: Sarah Gaskin, voice; Emily Bachert and Sarah Knight, woodwinds; and Emily Bachert, percussion.

¢ Home school: Luke Rhodes, piano.

¢ Perry-Lecompton Middle School: Charis Fisher, piano.

¢ South Junior High: Ulrich Johanning, strings.

¢ West Junior High: Alden Slote, Kylie Rovenstine, Alan Hornbaker, Zackary Thompson, Dravid Joseph and Nolan Frank, trumpet; Jake Walter and Will Martin, piano; Adriane Dick, Rosie Murray, Sydney Keiser and Kendra Moore, flute; Will Martin and Victoria Gilman, saxophone; Victoria Gilman, strings; Rachael Hodison, Stefan Kuczera, Timothy Stubbs, Elizabeth Marks, Adam Petz and Christopher Helt, woodwinds; Nicole Humphrey, Amy Stahl and Laura Garinger, percussion.

¢Nicky Henriquez, Lawrence, was a member of the Mathcounts team from Topeka Collegiate School that won first place in the state competition March 10 in Salina. Nicky is a seventh-grader. The students competed in a timed mathematics competition.

¢Magdalene Brooke, Law-rence, was named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif. Brooke is a senior majoring in German studies. Students who achieve an A-minus average or higher in four, letter-graded courses in one semester are named to the list.

¢Several area residents who are students at Washburn University participated in the university’s recent production of two American one-act comic operas, “The Gallantry” and “Trouble in Tahiti.” The students include William Brubaker, Amanda Mayo and Jayna McFarland, all of Lawrence; and Kyle Underhill and Kasandra Williams, both of Perry.

Brubaker, Mayo and Underhill are members of the Washburn Opera Orchestra. Brubaker plays the bassoon, Mayo is principal clarinetist, and Underhill plays the bass clarinet. McFarland played the part of a Billy Boy Girl in “The Gallantry” and also is a technical assistant for both operas. Williams had the role of Dina’s Analyst in “Trouble in Tahiti” and is a technical assistant for both productions.

¢Hugh Naughtin, Lawrence, sang in two performances of Lawrence University’s recent production of Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi.” Naughtin portrayed Pinellino, a mortician. The opera was set in a New Jersey suburb in 1980 and centered on a low-level mob family vying for the patriarch’s inheritance. Naughtin, a 2003 graduate of Free State High School, is a senior at the university in Appleton, Wis. He is the son of John and Paula Naughtin, Lawrence.

¢Sarah Stacy, a senior at Kansas University, was selected to join 9 other undergraduates on a KU spring break trip to Washington, D.C.

The group was scheduled to meet policy makers and learn about international organizations.

The students are participants in KU’s Global Awareness Program. The goal of the trip is to expose students to a variety of organizations that work internationally so they have an understanding of the preparation needed and opportunities available for international careers.

¢Rachael Mulford, a junior at Free State High School, was named to the 2007 Honor Band of America. She was a percussionist in the 100-piece ensemble.

The band’s performance was part of the Music for All National Festival, which was last week in Indianapolis.

Mulford is the daughter of Newton Mulford and Cynthia Tate.