They didn’t disappoint.

Ten years later, members of the Journal-World’s second class of eight area Academic All-Stars are still performing like the heads of the class.

There are: three doctoral candidates studying at prestigious universities; a visiting lecturer at a Nigerian university, who has already earned her doctorate; a prosecutor in the state of Washington; a computer programmer for Wal-Mart’s corporate office in Arkansas; a Lawrence pharmacist; and a Florida nurse practitioner.

Beth (Deterding) Dwyer

Beth (Deterding) Dwyer

Beth Deterding graduated from Wellsville High School in 1998 enthused about pursuing a pharmacy degree at Kansas University.

Ten years later, Beth Dwyer enjoys balancing her time as a part-time clinical pharmacist at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and the mother of two boys.

“I’ve been blessed to have a plan that has actually worked,” she said.

She married her high school sweetheart, Russ, a Wellsville accountant, and they live in Eudora.

In high school, Dwyer said she planned to pursue pharmacy as a major because she didn’t have the stomach for the “blood and guts” and because she had a cousin, her role model, who was in the profession.

After six years of school, she graduated with her pharmacy degree in 2004, and she said she couldn’t be happier working at LMH.

“We really are involved in patient care,” she said.

Her part-time schedule also allows her to spend time with her sons, Calvin, 2, and Oliver, who was born Nov. 23. Of the eight all-stars, Dwyer is the only one still living in the area, which she says is another blessing because her family is nearby.

That came in handy when Oliver was born with a heart defect and he underwent a successful corrective surgery.

As for hearing an update on the 1998 all-stars, Dwyer said the talented group fulfilled lofty expectations.

“I felt humble to be included in that sort of group because everybody was very highly qualified,” she said.

Elizabeth (Yoder) Chang

Elizabeth Chang is still in the medical field.

But she’s not following the same path she started in 1998, after graduating tied for first in her Lawrence High School class. Today, Chang is a nurse practitioner who works at two hospitals in Orlando, Fla.

“I really enjoy when I have patients that say that they appreciate what I do. I feel like I get to make a difference in the quality of people’s lives,” she said.

Upon entering Kansas University, when she was Elizabeth Yoder, she planned to become a doctor. But she switched to speech therapy and settled on nursing. She graduated from KU Medical Center with a bachelor’s degree in 2003.

“They’re all kind of related fields, but I just had to figure out where my niche was,” Chang said.

She eventually earned a master’s degree in nursing from Baylor University Medical Center, and she married Nathan Chang, a KU graduate from Olathe, in 2004.

He now attends seminary in Florida and plans to pursue a doctorate. The Changs are expecting their first child in June.

Upon hearing an update about her fellow 1998 all-stars, Chang said it showed the judges chose the winners wisely.

“I always felt like my education in Lawrence was very high quality, and I think that really prepared me to be able to achieve well as I continue on down the road,” she said.

Chang’s parents, Doug and Denise Yoder, still live in Lawrence.

Jacob Montgomery

Jacob Montgomery has had a hand both in researching politics and working with a campaign since he graduated tied for first in his Lawrence High School class in 1998.

Now that he’s pursuing a doctorate in political science from Duke University, Montgomery wants to work at a major research university where he can benefit those working in politics.

“My primary interests are academic. I’m hoping research will be useful to practitioners,” said Montgomery, who plans to finish his political science doctorate and master’s degree in statistics by May 2010.

When he left Lawrence for Wake Forest University, Montgomery had an interest in studying political science and possibly working as a lobbyist or an aide for a political group.

After he earned his bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest in 2002, he successfully managed the winning campaign of a North Carolina Democratic state legislator. Then he studied political science at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and worked for a North Carolina nonprofit organization in health care advocacy until he started graduate school at Duke in 2005.

He married Lisa Hoppenjans, whom he met at Wake Forest. She is now a law student at Duke.

Timothy Pierce

Timothy Pierce

Timothy Pierce can attest to the changing world of computers and mathematics.

They’ve been a part of the McLouth High School graduate’s life since he went to college in 1998.

“I got lucky that I sort of picked a couple majors out of a hat, and I ended up liking them,” he said.

Now, after he earned a double major bachelor’s degree from Pittsburg State University in 2002 and a master’s degree in math from Oklahoma State University, he works for Wal-Mart’s corporate office as a computer programmer in Bentonville, Ark.

His days entail problem-solving, and each one presents a new challenge, especially at such a large company, he said.

Pierce graduated first in his McLouth class in 1998, and he planned to study computer science and mathematics. Although he started work on his doctorate at Oklahoma State, he elected to take the Wal-Mart programming job instead.

He’s been married for more than four years as well.

Pierce said much has changed in his life since the Journal-World selected him for the 1998 all-star team, but he’s still proud to be part of a group of students who were motivated to succeed.

“There were some impressive intellects in that room. That was an impressive group,” he said.

Sarah Paul

As a sophomore at Perry-Lecompton High School, Sarah Paul was allowed to take a correspondence course from KU. In a discipline that hinges on discussion, Paul would read, study, write a paper and send it to “some mysterious person” for a grade.

“It was a funny way to be introduced to the subject,” said the Stanford University philosophy doctoral candidate.

But it worked for the 1998 Perry-Lecompton graduate, as she is now close to finishing her degree. She graduated from Carleton College in Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 2002. She also ran cross country and track there.

Then she spent a year in Germany teaching English on a Fulbright grant until she started graduate school at Stanford in 2003.

Paul hopes to finish her doctorate this year, and she’s also applying for jobs as an assistant professor. In 1998, she predicted she would end up working in academia.

Paul also credits her teachers and administrators at Perry-Lecompton High School, who allowed her to take college courses.

“They were really flexible with me in terms of letting me have a lot of time away,” she said.

When she was apprised of what the other 1998 academic all-stars had accomplished, Paul said it was exciting that they were now spread across world.

“It does seem like a lot of the academic all-stars are a little more adventurous,” she said.

Adam Kraus

Even in high school, the stars intrigued Adam Kraus.

Not much has changed in 10 years, as he’s on the cusp of earning his doctorate in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology.

“I’m happy with it. It’s a lot of work sometimes, but you’re getting to do some pretty unique stuff,” he said.

While taking classes at Perry-Lecompton High School, Kraus took astronomy classes at Washburn University.

After he graduated high school in 1998 as first in his class, Kraus was able to earn his bachelor’s degree from KU in 2003 with a triple major in astronomy, physics and mathematics.

In one area of his studies, he looks at how stars and planets form. It’s an interest he’s had since he was very young, and Kraus has managed to stretch it into a profession.

Kraus can explain the rush he gets from the field because he’s looking at things in a unique way.

“You’re breaking new ground on new ideas, which is pretty rewarding,” he said.

As he finishes his degree, Kraus is also looking for research positions. One day he will likely move into a faculty position at a university.

When he heard the status of the seven other academic all-stars from 1998, Kraus said he was not surprised most members of the group had moved instead of staying in northeastern Kansas.

“It was a really impressive set of all the things people find to do,” he said.

Megan Bredeweg

Megan Bredeweg’s plan was specific once she graduated from Free State High School in 1998.

She headed to Smith College, a women’s university in Northampton, Mass., but transferred after one year to be closer to her family in Washington state.

“Nothing went according to plan, but everything worked out,” Bredeweg said.

She can say that now from her office as a deputy prosecuting attorney in Benton County, Wash.

In 2002, Bredeweg earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Washington in Seattle.

After living in Europe for four months, she returned to Washington and applied to law schools. A class discussion sparked her interest at Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland.

“It was the way that people were thinking, and the realization that I could do anything I wanted with a law degree,” she said.

Bredeweg was part of the first senior class to graduate from Free State. She stayed in Lawrence for the year even though her parents had moved to Washington. She also values Lawrence’s commitment to education for getting her started on her path.

“Having that start is a tremendous advantage,” Bredeweg said.

Katrina Korb

Katrina Korb

Katrina Korb’s plans were elaborate as she graduated from Tonganoxie High School in 1998.

She wanted to earn an engineering degree and work her way up to chief executive officer in the business world.

Her focus is different now, but success has not eluded Korb.

She earned a doctorate in educational psychology in 2007 from the University of Iowa. Now she is a visiting lecturer at the University of Jos in Nigeria.

“During graduate school, I realized that the pursuit of personal status and influence was not a meaningful way to expend the abilities that I have been blessed with,” Korb wrote in an e-mail from Nigeria. “I began exploring ways to apply the skills that I was learning in my graduate program to assist others.”

Korb said as she began her undergraduate studies at Iowa State University in 1998, she realized her “personality was not well-suited to the engineering profession.”

She still had a passion for science, but she also missed working with children. This started her switch to elementary education studies, and she earned a minor in psychology.

Korb then spent five years studying at Iowa. In summer 2005, she worked with students in Kenya.

“Once I returned to the States, I decided to use the skills that I was developing to improve education in Africa,” Korb wrote.

Cooperative Studies placed her as a visiting lecturer, and when she is finished in Nigeria she plans to teach in southern Sudan.

“I believe that teachers are the most important group of people who will influence the future of the African continent,” she wrote.