Emma Pogge will celebrate her 100th birthday with a party from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. today at Lawrence Free Methodist Church. Friends are invited to stop by and visit with her.

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Tyler Miles, of Tonganoxie, a senior in pre-professional secondary education at Kansas State University, won third place and $100 in the Victaulic Sales Invitational. The competition was a part of K-State Sales Week, a four-day event organized by Dawn Deeter-Schmelz, director of the National Strategic Selling Institute in the College of Business Administration. It featured students from K-State, Oklahoma State University and Fort Hays State University. Each student competed in a selling role-play for cash prizes.

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Army Pfc. Matthew E. Smarsh graduated from the Field Artillery Automated Tactical Data Systems Specialist Advanced Individual Training course at Fort Sill, Lawton, Okla. The course is designed to train soldiers as specialists to operate the advanced field artillery tactical data systems for both cannon and multiple launch rocket systems. Skills training included methods of computing target locations using computers or manual calculations, ammunition handling techniques, and operating and performing maintenance on related equipment, vehicles, generators, and artillery tactical and data systems. Smarsh is the son of Ed Smarsh, Lawrence.

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More than 25 outstanding graduate students at Kansas University were recognized April 24 at the annual Graduate Student Awards Ceremony in the Kansas Union Ballroom. Area honorees: Philip Duncan, Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Excellence in Teaching Award, Honorable Mention. Duncan, of Lawrence, is a graduate student in linguistics; Kelly Harper Berkson, Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award, Honorable Mention. Harper Berkson, of Lawrence, is a graduate student in linguistics;A.J. Mellott, Capital Graduate Research Presenter. Mellott, of Lawrence, is a graduate student in bioengineering; Laci Gerhart, Distinguished Service Honorable Mention. Gerhart, of Lawrence, is a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology. Representatives of academic programs throughout the university nominated graduate students for the teaching and service awards. Selection committees chose winners based on their departmental nominations and student evaluations.

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Evan Hunter, a senior studying music composition Kansas University, recently won the George Lawner Prize for a new orchestral work by a KU student composer. Hunter, of Lawrence, won for his original work “Overture Scintillante.”

Each year the KU symphony orchestra reads new orchestral works submitted by KU composers for the George Lawner Prize, an annual adjudicated competition co-sponsored by the music theory and music composition division and the KU Symphony Orchestra.

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Forty-five Kansas University students were initiated April 15 into Mortar Board, a senior honor society. Area students inducted are as follows: Shanah Gaskill, of Lawrence, a junior in business/marketing and management; Kelsey Leinmiller-Renick, of Lawrence, a junior in environmental studies; Karen Lewis, of Lawrence, a junior in environmental studies; Ursula Rothrock, of Lawrence, a junior in journalism and Spanish; Ali Rueschhoff, of Lawrence, a junior in human biology and pre-medicine; Sarah Stern, of Lawrence, a junior in Latin American studies and journalism; Megan Wells, of Lawrence, a junior in human biology and Spanish.

New Mortar Board members are selected by outgoing chapter members based on distinguished ability and achievement in scholarship, leadership and service. Students must have a 3.0 grade-point average and hold senior status during some or all of the academic year.

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Emily and Josh Johnson, of Lawrence, announce the birth of their son, Oliver Nathan Johnson, born April 15, 2012, at Kansas University Medical Center, in Kansas City, Kan. Maternal grandparents are Lois and Fred Mersmann. Paternal grandparents are Jerrie and Nate Johnson. Great-grandmother is Edna Holmes.

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Peter A. Williams, of Lawrence, took second place in the graduate division of the 56th Snyder Book Collecting Contest at Kansas University. The contest was established by Elizabeth Snyder in 1957 to cultivate and recognize students’ interest in collecting books. Williams won for “Beauty is a Rare Thing: A Collection of Works by, about, and Inspired by Ornette Coleman.”

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Army Pvt. Cody D. McMoran, of De Soto, has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. During the nine weeks of training, he studied the Army mission, history, tradition and core values, physical fitness, and received instruction and practice in basic combat skills, military weapons, chemical warfare and bayonet training, drill and ceremony, marching, rifle marksmanship, armed and unarmed combat, map reading, field tactics, military courtesy, military justice system, basic first aid, foot marches, and field training exercises.

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The Kansas University political science department honored its top students with awards and induction into Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society, on April 19 at the Adams Alumni Center. Criteria for induction include a 3.5 GPA in all political science courses with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.4 for undergraduates. For graduate students, the average must be at least 3.5. Area inductees include Laura Dean, of Lawrence, a graduate student who received the Walter Thompson Scholarship; Kevin Frantz, of Lawrence, a senior, inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha; Matt Miles, of Lawrence, a graduate student who received the Harris Dissertation Fellowship and Walter Thompson Scholarship; Quinn Ried, of Lawrence, a junior who received the Emmett Bennett Endowed Scholarship; and Lidiya Zubytska, of Lawrence, a graduate student who received the Walter Thompson Scholarship in Political Science.

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Pittsburg State University has honored Anthony Rosen, a Lawrence High School graduate, with the Judge Norman D. Thompson Scholarship, the Diversity Scholarship and the Greater Kansas City Football Coaches Association Scholarship.

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Several area students have accepted scholarships to attend Fort Hays State University for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Katrina Carman, Wellsville, accepted a $1,200 Miller Black and Gold Academic Award.

Richard Clancy, De Soto, accepted an $800 Hays City Silver Academic Award.

Megan Hummelgaard, Tonganoxie, accepted a $900 Academic Opportunity Award in psychology and a $700 Fort Hays Bronze Academic Award.

Jeremy Immenschuh, Perry-Lecompton, accepted an $800 Hays City Silver Academic Award.

Pace Leggins, Lawrence, accepted a $900 Academic Opportunity Award in art and design and a $700 Fort Hays Bronze Academic Award.

Beverly Moore, Bonner Springs, accepted a $500 Copper Academic Award.

Elizabeth Sigvaldson, Baldwin City, accepted a $900 Academic Opportunity Award in chemistry and an $800 Hays City Silver Academic Award.

Tyler Stockman, Tonganoxie, accepted an $800 Hays City Silver Academic Award.

Zackary Thompson, Lawrence, accepted a $700 Fort Hays Bronze Academic Award.

Carol Whaley, Baldwin City, accepted a $900 Academic Opportunity Award in geosciences.

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Sheena Hess, of Lawrence, is one of 10 students to receive graduate nursing degrees from the Washburn University School of Nursing. She will receive a Master’s of Science in nursing, with a concentration in clinical nurse leadership.