Mildred Rood will celebrate her 90th birthday on Sept. 25 with an open house from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the home of Marvin and Kathy Pine, 1741 E. 1500 Rd., Lawrence. Her children, Judy Palmquist, Kathy Pine, Jim Rood and Stan Rood, invite friends and family to help celebrate this occasion.

Students from 11 Kansas high schools will be honored by the Kansas University Alumni Association and KU Endowment. A total of 133 seniors from high schools in Douglas and Jefferson counties will be recognized for their academic achievements and named Kansas Honor Scholars at a 7 p.m. Wednesday program and reception at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.

The Kansas Honors Program celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Since 1971, the program has recognized 114,000 scholars, who rank in the top 10 percent of their high school senior classes and are selected regardless of occupational plans or higher-education goals.

During the ceremony, each student will receive an American Heritage Dictionary, in both hardback and electronic versions, presented by Stefani Gerson, coordinator of student programs for the KU Alumni Association.

Community volunteers collect reservations, coordinate details and serve as local contacts for the event. Teresa Dillon and Rheva Victor, both of Lawrence, are coordinators for Douglas County. Cynthia Lewis of Lecompton is the coordinator for Jefferson County. Area students, listed by their high schools are:

• Baldwin High School — Carson Barnes, Nathaniel Growcock, Megan Hazelwood, Allison Howard, Heather Karlin, Michaela Krysztof, Colton Lowe, Colby Soden, Chelsea Turk and Ann Wallsmith.

• Bishop Seabury Academy — David Lawrence and Marshall Taylor Thurman.

• Eudora High School — Joshua Bakarich, Jacob Beck, Tanner Fry, Mackenzie Hartwell, Julia Johnson, Cecilia Lehmann, Samuel Merrill, Anthony Mersmann, Faith Nightingale, Kaya Riemann and Kayla Walters.

• Jefferson County North High School — Lauren Ballinger, Katelyn Noll, Teresa Noll, Jacob Schrick and Elizabeth Wolfe.

• Jefferson West High School — Lysette Anderson, Mark Flood, Billy Garner, Tyler Holloman, Brooke Kahler, Laura Newberry, Sam Real, Daniel Sayles, Danielle Steffey and Marissa Wright.

• Free State High School — Cassandra Barrett, Kelcy Bowers, Patrick Carttar, Grace Clark, Jessica Devlin, Adriane Dick, Keil Eggers, Elizabeth Farr, Hannah Foerschler, Nolan Frank, Campbell Fritzel, Victoria Gilman, Nadia Hamid, Rachel Heeb, Erin Ice, Alex Kong, Jose Lemus, Beverly Liang, Annie Libeer, Tony Libeer, Will Libeer, Elise Loney, Jaclyn Mccullough, Amy Meyers, Kaitlyn Mosher, Rosemarie Murray, Colin Phillips, Chloe Portela, Ashley Russell, Sebastian Schoneich, Ian Simmons, Felix Sommerville, Kathryn Thellman, Jennifer Wilson and Hillary Yoder.

• Lawrence High School — Lindsey Alderman, Taylor Baloga, Morgan Banning, Kristen Bell, Grace Bova, Mei Butler, Jason Chang, Jihyok Choi, Emily Davidson, Orion Dollar, Trent Edwards, Megan Fleming, Christopher Gaston, Tate Goss, David Hammack, Zoey Hearn Feldman, Ross Johnson, Samantha Johnson, Rachel Kelly, Sara King, Daniel Knight, Ji Yeon Lee, Kathryn Lunte, Morgan Manger, Allison Mayer, Kiely Mosiman, Emmi Murao, Mallory Neet, Mia Phillips, Brittany Ray, Emma Reaney, Van Rem, Ilan Rosen, Jerry Sakumura, Karisa Sanders, Nicolas Shump, Darrin Sorem, Sarah Stuever and Jenny Xu.

• McLouth High School — Corinne Hoffhines, Jeri Holwick, Katy Perry and Logan Terry.

• Oskaloosa High School — Kristin Brey, Sarah Cunningham, Leah Dissinger, Shelby Leonard and Loren Wade.

• Perry-Lecompton High School — Taylor Akagi, Abbey Bays, Katherine Beckwith, Kourtney Foley, Rachel Haley, Sarah Haley, Hayley Miller, Rhiannon Pearson and Michelle Robles.

• Valley Falls High School — David Brown, Kelsey Heinen, Jordan Morrow and Ashlyn Tillery.

The Torneden Family Reunion will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 26 at Kanwaka Township Hall, 776 Highway 40, Lawrence. This year marks the 76th reunion of the descendants of John Bernard Carl Torneden and Caroline Friederike Emilie Altenbernd Torneden. Family members are asked to bring a covered dish, table service and memorabilia. Drinks will be provided. Torneden Family Tree updates/books ordered will be distributed. The host families for the reunion are Jeanne Torneden and family and Raymond and Caroline Flory and family.

This year’s annual Fall Benefit at Presbyterian Manor seeks to raise funds for residents who have exhausted their financial resources.

Besides the soup and pie dinner, the benefit will include a silent and live auction and golf tournament. The event starts with the silent auction from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday followed by the soup and pie supper from 5 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. The live auction will begin at 6:30 p.m. The four-person scramble golf tournament is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday at Eagle Bend Golf Course.

Tickets for the dinner are $5 per person and cost for the tournament is $125 per golfer. Dinner/auction tickets and registration forms for the tournament are available at the Manor, 1429 Kasold, or by calling 841-4262.