From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for May 29, 1988:

• A statistical snapshot of the graduating seniors of Lawrence High School showed the females slightly outnumbering the males (52% compared to 48%). Sixty-five percent of the graduates were planning to attend a 4-year college, with 39% planning to go to Kansas University. Most of the students said they had worked at a job during senior year, with just over half reporting a weekly spending income over $20; 63% labeled themselves as sexually active and 18% said they smoked cigarettes daily. Just under one-third of the graduates said that they planned to live in Lawrence.
• At least one young man in Lawrence was hitting the books especially hard this week. For a couple of hours a day, 13-year-old Cyrus Mody was studying lists of words for the upcoming National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Mody’s journey had begun months ago with an eligibility round for the Douglas County bee, held in February; he had then clinched the state title in April. Mody said that the words he was studying for the national Bee were getting more and more difficult. Regardless of the outcome of the contest, Mody was looking forward to a visit to the nation’s capital, where contestants were to tour the city, the White House, and the Smithsonian.