KU News Release

KU to honor top seniors from nine high schools, volunteer alumni Oct. 23

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Alumni Association and KU Endowment will honor students from nine Kansas high schools Monday, Oct. 23, along with longtime alumni volunteers Bill and Anne Blessing of Leawood.

A total of 208 seniors from nine high schools in Johnson County will be recognized for their academic achievements and named Kansas Honor Scholars at a 7 p.m. reception at Blue Valley West High School, 16200 Antioch Rd., Stilwell.

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.

During the ceremony, Karen Miller, senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs the KU Medical Center and dean of the Schools of Nursing and Allied Health, will speak to students, parents and guests. Each student will receive an American Heritage Dictionary in hardback and CD versions, presented by Heath Peterson, Kansas programs director for the KU Alumni Association.

Peterson will also present the Blessings with a Mildred Clodfelter Alumni Award for their years of service in Johnson County on behalf of the university. The Blessings have coordinated the Johnson County Kansas Honors Program for more than 20 years. Both are Alumni Association life members. They have advocated for the needs of higher education as Jayhawks for Higher Education volunteers and have recruited KU students by attending college fairs as Office of Admissions and Scholarship assistants. Bill, who graduated from the KU School of Business in 1977, is the senior vice president of corporate strategy and development at Embarq and was on the Edwards Campus and Business Management advisory boards. Anne, who graduated from the KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1976 and from the School of Law in 1979, is a retired attorney and was on the Law Society Board of Governors from 1992 to 1994.

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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