Amie and Matt Withers, Polo, Mo., announce the birth of their daughter, Jocelynn Bailey Withers, on Dec. 3, 2010, at Liberty Hospital in Liberty, Mo.

Jocelynn has a brother, Bryce Withers, 22 months.

Her maternal grandparents are Richard Sedge, Mayview, Mo., and Penny Sedge, Liberty; and her paternal grandparents are David and Deborah Withers, Lawrence.

Her great-grandparents are Virginia Puckett, Wellington, Mo., and Lewis and Zelma Sedge, Topeka.

Jenny Loewen, Lawrence, was one of more than 100 students, faculty and community members who participated in the Cornell Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, and Orchestra performance of John Rutter’s “Magnificat” Dec. 11 at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Loewen performed in the Concert Choir/Soparano I section.

Cordley School and Central Junior High School won first place trophies in the K-3 and K-9 divisions, respectively, in the annual Cordley Chess Tournament held Dec. 11 in the Kansas Union at Kansas University. Second-place trophies were garnered by West Junior High School in K-9 and Quail Run in K-6. Third-place trophies were claimed by Free State High School in K-12, Sunflower in K-6, and Sunset Hill in K-3. CJH’s Eddie Wilson won the first-place individual trophy in K-9.

Medal winners were, in K-12: Venkata Malladi, FSHS, third; Andrei Elliott, FSHS, ninth; Jacob Wilson, Lawrence High School, 13th; Stephen Obiefule, LHS, 19th; and Alan Shi, FSHS, 23rd.

In K-9: Aaron Simon, WJH, second; Joseph Miller, WJH, third; Kaustubh Nimkar, Southwest Junior High School, fourth; Sam Beaulieu, CJH, fifth; Apramay Mishra, Sunflower, eighth; Caleb Ledbetter, WJH, 10th; McCarthy Fitch, CJH, 11th; Robert Newman, South Junior High School, 13th; Thomas Peterson, SWJH, 14th; Noah Brinton, CJH, 18th; Josh Carter, SJH, 19th; Kelsey Jian, Sunflower, 20th; Owen McFadden, SJH, 22nd; Tom Brooks, WJH, 23rd; and Zachary Moore, SWJH, 24th.

In K-6: Jackson Maher, Cordley, sixth; Shrivatsa Malladi, Langston Hughes, seventh; Ryan Duan, Quail Run, eighth; Ting-Ting Shi, Quail Run, ninth; Cole Burenheide, Quail Run, 12th; John Ely, Sunflower, 17th; Brian Myers, Sunflower, 19th; Ilya Schaeffer, Sunflower, 22nd; Diane Camarda, Sunset Hills, 23rd; Liam Hoey-Kummerow, Cordley, 24th; and Cameron Edgecomb, Sunset Hills, 25th.

In K-3: Caleb Prescott, Sunset Hill, second; Guthrie Bricker, Cordley, ninth; Wheeler Battaglia-Davis, Cordley, 11th; Austin Burenheide, Quail Run, 13th; Ben Hoopes, Cordley, 15th; Griffin Northrop, Sunflower, 16th; Giovanni Ventello, Cordley, 17th; Rajin Nagpal, Sunflower, 20th; Colin Greenfield, Prairie Park, 21st; and Santino Jasso, Quail Run, 24th.

The Youth Conservatory for Music at Park University held its fall 2010 recital concert Dec. 11 at Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel on the university’s Parkville campus. Sixteen students, ranging in age from 6 to 18, performed, including the piano students of Marina Sultanova, Suzy Chun and Ting-Ting Shi, both of Lawrence.