Army Staff Sgt. Vernon Bell, a 1999 graduate of Lawrence High School and the son of Layce and Doris Bell of Lawrence, is an instructor with the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence in Fort Lee, Va. Bell is responsible for training service members on the basics of cooking, as well as serving food and operating and maintaining a dining facility and field kitchen.

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Amanda Beem has been promoted from private first class to lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. Beem attended Eudora schools before graduating from Lawrence High School in May 2008. She is the daughter of Mary Rose Beem, Eudora, and the late Matthew L. Beem, and the granddaughter of Mary E. Beem and Mayme Freeman, both of Eudora. She is stationed with the 7th Command Battalion in Okinawa, Japan.