The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center announces area graduates from its Mars Academy this summer in Hutchinson.

Mars Academy is a three-day residential camp for students entering fifth and sixth grades. Developed by Cosmosphere staff, the Mars Academy program introduces campers to space science, while also emphasizing teamwork and problem solving.

As part of the program, Mars Academy campers learn geology, climate and conditions on Mars. Campers also launch air-powered rockets and guide a student-made robot around an obstacle course.

The camp culminates in a simulated robotic mission to Mars. Each team creates a mission patch before its simulated journey.

Lawrence July 13 graduates include Quentin Spencer, son of Matt and Holly Spencer; Isabel Rummel, daughter of Donna Eads and Bob Rummel; Matthew Eagle, son of Chris and Susan Eagle; and Tristan Delnevo, son of Carol Eades Delnevo and Adrion Delnevo.

Lawrence July 20 graduates include Charlie Arnold, son of Tim and Lori Arnold; and Jackson Reed, son of Dean and Pamla Reed.

Lawrence July 27 graduates include Ellis Springer, son of Margaret and David Springer; and Brian Chang, son of Andi Chang and Yi-hsien Hu.

¢Several area students were honored at the 76th Kansas Junior Livestock Show Sept. 19-22 at the Kansas Coliseum in Wichita.

Winners from Douglas County:

¢ Baldwin City: Taylor Stanley, second in class 19, crossbred market lamb, fourth in junior sheep showmanship, and grand champion market lamb.

¢ Eudora: Alexis Leonard, eighth in class 16, crossbred market barrow; Justin Leonard, 11th in class 21, crossbred market barrow, and sixth in class 18, crossbred market barrow.

¢ Lawrence: Coy Leming, ninth in class 2, Hereford market steer; Cambry Lynch, sixth in class 23, Simmental breeding heifer; Grant Metsker, 10th in class 12, Yorkshire market barrow, sixth in class 2, Heavyweight market barrow; Holly Swearingen, 13th in class 18, crossbred market barrow, second in class 14, AOB market lamb, third in class 12, commercial ewe, third in class 19, crossbred market lamb, fourth in class 19, commercial ewe, and ninth in class 7, Hampshire market barrow.

¢ Lecompton: Nicolas Aguilar, 13th in class 23, crossbred market barrow, and 15th in class 9, Hampshire market barrow; Nikki-Lee Aguilar, 12th in class 26, crossbred market barrow, 13th in class 10, Hampshire market barrow, and seventh in class 3, Shorthorn market steer; Wyatt Schumann, second in class 8, Hereford breeding heifer, and third in junior beef showmanship.

¢ Perry: Michael Jamison, seventh in class 12, crossbred market steer.

¢ Piano students of Carol Cook, Jean Drumm, Carole Ross and Jung Spooner performed Sept. 25 at the Lawrence Arts Center. The recital was sponsored by the Lawrence Accredited Music Teachers Association.

Students performing were Anya Combs, Ellie Young, Omar Roth, Sydney Combs, Brian Chang, Naomi Kurata, Ingrid Bruss, Jessica Chen, Wyatt Bugh, Marlee Yost-Wolff, Di Xie, Elizabeth Bergee, John Weiss, Luke Rhodes and Rodi Torres-Gavosto.

¢Damon Smith, Lawrence, has been accepted into the Peace Corps.

Smith departed for Ukraine on Sept. 27 to begin training as an English education Peace Corps volunteer. Upon his graduation from volunteer training in December, Smith will be teaching English, working as a community organizer, and offering HIV/AIDS awareness education.

Smith is the son of Chip and Liz Smith and a graduate of Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Ill. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in geography and history from Kansas University in 2008. Smith previously volunteered at the KU Community Outreach Center.

¢State Farm presented a $15,000 check to Youth Entrepreneurs Kansas (YEK) to support student education at Dare to Dream. The check presentation was made by Eric Smith, State Farm agent, Sept. 24 at Kansas University.

Dare to Dream is the premier event focused directly on YEK students. Dare to Dream brings all students together for a day of motivation with a nationally known speaker and professional development workshops and activities that help sharpen business skills.

Jeff Yalden, MTV celebrity and youth motivational speaker, spoke to the group of 103 students from Topeka High, Topeka West, Highland Park in Topeka and Lawrence High School.

¢Damon Hanshaw, son of Michelle Adam, of Lawrence, graduated from level 4 of the Future Astronaut Training Program at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center July 26 in Hutchinson.

Before attending Level 4, campers must have completed FATP levels 1-3.

FATP level 4 campers spend five days at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. While there, they visit Space Florida, where they work in teams to build a payload for a weather balloon. They launch and track the balloon, which can reach altitudes of more than 80,000 feet.

Level 4 campers also tour Kennedy Space Center and visit the Rocket Garden, Early Spaceflight Exploration Center and Florida Space Authority. In a private tour, campers see the launch pads at Cape Canaveral used for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spaceflights.

The trip culminates with a visit to the Astronaut Hall of Fame and time at Cocoa Beach.

¢Wichita State University announces area students who completed their degrees during the summer.

WSU presents summa cum laude honors to students who have attained a grade-point average of 3.9 or higher; magna cum laude to those with an average of 3.55; and cum laude to those with an average of 3.25.

Area students completing undergraduate degrees:

¢ De Soto – Dustin Hicks, Bachelor of General Studies in chemistry; and Molly McKechnie, Bachelor of Business Administration, cum laude.

¢ Lawrence – Brandon Mcguire, Bachelor of Music in performance-strings, magna cum laude.

¢ Ottawa – Holly Shepard, Bachelor of Arts.

Area students completing graduate degrees:

¢ Lawrence – Julie Shrack, Master of Physician Assistant.

¢The annual Flory reunion was Sept. 21 at Lone Star Church of the Brethren.

Attendees from Lawrence included Raymond and Caroline Flory, Craig and Rhonda Worley, Jim and Donna Flory, Jim, Etha and Frank Johnson, Gussie Flory, Jeff, Abbie, Jenna and Alaina Flory, Mary and Lanny Tate, Susan Turner, Mike and Dorothy Flory, Randy and Cheryl Flory, Jackie Flory, Vivian Johnson, Clint, Josie, Halley, Maris and Tyrus Flory, J.D., Angie, Lizzy and Jalin Flory, Steve and Susan Tate, Rusty Flory, the Rev. Steve Klinedinst and Tammie and Mathias Klinedinst, Don and Marjorie Ann Schick, and Robbie and Fran Johnson.

¢Gerald E. Gipp received a 2008 Alumni Fellow Award from the Penn State Alumni Association. Gipp, along with other 2008 Fellows, was honored Thursday in University Park at a dinner hosted by president Graham Spanier.

Gipp has an extensive background in the field of American Indian education and federal policy development. Early in his career, he served as a school administrator, teacher and athletic coach in the K12 public school system in North Dakota, the Busby School on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana, and the Cheyenne-Eagle Butte school system on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.

The National Indian Education Association honored him in 1984 as Indian Educator of the Year.

Gipp served as the executive director for the Intra-Departmental Council on Native American Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He was the first American Indian appointed as the deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Indian Education, within the then newly created U.S. Department of Education, and the first to serve as president of Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas, where he remained for nearly nine years. At Penn State, he was a faculty member in the Graduate School, the first person to earn a doctoral degree from the American Indian Leadership Program in the College of Education, and also its first director.

Gipp is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (Hunkpapa Lakota) from Fort Yates, N. D. He is a graduate of Standing Rock Community College and Ellendale State Teachers College.

He resides in Alexandria, Va., with his wife, Virginia, and daughter, Giselle.

The Alumni Fellow Award, a cast bronze statue and framed certificate, is the most prestigious award given by the Penn State Alumni Association.

¢Jason and Emily Ford, Overland Park, announce the birth of their son, Michael Allen Ford, born June 23, 2008.

Michael has a sister, Elizabeth Ann.

His maternal grandparents are Les and Cheryl Harrod, and his maternal great-grandparents are Gene and Jo Ann Van Hoesen, all of Lawrence.