KU News Release

KU to honor high school seniors from three Kansas counties, Garden City volunteer

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Alumni Association and KU Endowment will honor students from five Kansas high schools along with a longtime KU volunteer Tuesday, Oct. 24, in Garden City.

Sixty-one seniors from high schools in Finney, Hamilton and Kearny counties will be named Kansas Honor Scholars and alumna Rebecca Crotty will receive the Mildred Clodfelter Alumni Award during the program, which begins with dinner at 6:30 p.m. at the Southwind Country Club, 77 Grandview Drive, Garden City.

The Kansas Honors Program began in 1971 and will honor its 100,000th student this year. Scholars rank in the top 10 percent of their high school senior class and are selected regardless of curricula, majors, occupational plans or higher-education goals. Honorees’ names are listed below.

Paul Carttar, special assistant to the chancellor, will speak to the students, their parents and guests. Honored students will be guests of the Alumni Association and KU Endowment; parents and area alumni are welcome to attend at a cost of $15 each. Each student will receive an American Heritage Dictionary in hardback and CD versions, presented by Heath Peterson, director of Kansas programs for the KU Alumni Association.

Peterson will present Crotty with a Mildred Clodfelter Alumni Award for her years of service in Garden City on behalf of the university.

Crotty, chair of the Board of Tax Appeals, is a Jayhawk Society member of the Alumni Association and earned an education degree from KU in 1972. She has organized the local Kansas Honors Program for 19 years. In addition, Crotty has helped KU’s Office of Admissions and Scholarships with student recruitment activities, helped gather alumni at the Garden City Golf Tournament and advocated for KU to the Kansas Legislature as a Jayhawk for Higher Education volunteer.

Crotty is the site coordinator for the high school students attending the Garden City program. County coordinators are Dana Nanninga and Debbie Campbell, both of Garden City, for Finney and Kearny counties and Rob Gale Jr. of Syracuse for Hamilton County. Community volunteers collect reservations, coordinate details and serve as local contacts for the event.

The Kansas Honors Program is made possible through KU Endowment and proceeds from the Jayhawk License Plate program. The Mildred Clodfelter Alumni Award, created in 1986 by the Alumni Association, honors volunteers who serve as KU ambassadors in their home communities. The award is named for Clodfelter, who received a bachelor’s degree in 1941 from KU and worked at KU for 47 years, 42 of them at the Alumni Association. Clodfelter, known to countless Jayhawks nationwide, retired in 1986 and passed away in 2005.

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