Army National Guard Pfc. Joseph F. Chavez Jr., a 2008 graduate of Lawrence Free State High School, has graduated from basic infantry training at Fort Benning, Columbus, Ga. During the nine weeks, he received training in drill and ceremonies, weapons, map reading, tactics, military courtesy, military justice, physical fitness, first aid, and Army history, core values and traditions, among other subjects.

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Aaron Dardis has been named 2013 Coach of the Year on the 35th Annual Hays Daily News All-Area Basketball Team. Dardis, a Eudora High School and Kansas State University graduate, is a member of the Hoxie, Kansas High School faculty and head coach of the boys basketball team.

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Lawrence resident Eileen Richling has received academic honors from the Harpur College of Arts and Sciences at Binghamton University in New York by making the University’s Dean’s List for the fall 2012 semester.

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Cordley School garnered the second-place team trophy in the K-3 Unrated section of the U.S. Chess Federation Super Nationals Chess Championships April 5-7 in Nashville. Individually, Lawrence High School’s Robert Newman won the first-place trophy in the K-12 Under 800 rated section. Other Lawrence players earning trophies were Ben Shryock, Cordley, sixth in K-3 Unrated; Annelise Hoopes, Cordley, tie for 10th in K-3 Unrated; and Venkata Malladi, Free State High School, tie for 30th in K-12 Under 1600 rated.

Also winning trophies, for top finishes for players in their rating thresholds in the K-3 Championship section were Rita Joseph, Sunset Hill, first place for Unrated players; and Oliver Rubenstein, Raintree, second place for Under 600 rated players.

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Amber Hicks, of Lawrence, has earned a position on the Dean’s List at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark. To qualify, students must be in the top 10 percent of their class.

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Joshua Bakarich, of Eudora, participated in the sixth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), April 5-7 at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Navy Seaman Recruit Cody A. Smock, a 2011 graduate of Perry-Lecompton High School, recently completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill. During the eight-week program, Smock completed a variety of training that included classroom study and practical instruction on naval customs, first aid, firefighting, water safety and survival, and shipboard and aircraft safety, and physical fitness.

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Baccalaureate and graduate students of the Washburn University School of Nursing have been announced for spring 2013.

Candidates to receive Bachelor of Science in nursing degrees are:

Baldwin City: Alexandria Zordel.

Berryton: Caitlin Gordon, Alyssa Luedke.

Eudora: Callie Sanders.

Grantville: Ashley Eckhardt.

Lawrence: Kasandra LeAnn Birch, Lauren Weddell.

Meriden: Maegan Galle, Joshua Nicholas Schell.

Perry: Rebecca Prosser.

Candidates to receive Master’s of Science in nursing degrees are:

Lawrence: Maureen Cassidy.

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Two area Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science juniors at Fort Hays State University have won awards: Elizabeth Lewis, of Lawrence Free State High School; and Morgan Linder, of Baldwin High School. Lewis was first in engineering, and Linder took second place in the environmental science category. Lewis also won the Yale Science and Engineering Association Award.