Completes basic
Army Reserve Private James D. Baker has graduated form basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.
During the nine weeks of training, the soldier studied the Army mission, history, tradition and core values, physical fitness and received instruction and practice in basic combat skills, military weapons, chemical warfare and bayonet training, drill and ceremony , marching, rifle marksmanship, armed and unarmed combat, map reading, filed tactics, military courtesy, military justice system, basic first aid, foot marches, and fieled training exercises. He is the nephew of Iren Swift of Strong City and a 2006 graduate of Northern heights High school in Allen.
Gets scholarship
Holly Thomsen of Hartford accepted a $1200 Black and Gold Academic Award to Fort Hays State University for the 2007-2008 academic year.
Thomsen, a 2007 Hartford High school graduate, was involved in volleyball, basketball, track, Future Business Leaders of America, Letterman’s Club, student council, forensics, Scholars Bowl, band and choir, was senior class vice-president, student council secretary and Future Business Leaders of America president and was on the High Honor Roll.
She is the daughter of Chris and Diana Thomsen of Emporia.
Pitt State scholarship
Derek L. Jackson of Americus earned the Barney K. Baker Scholarship and the Academic Achievement Award at Pitt State. Jackson is a construction engineering major and is the son of Daniel and Cindy Jackson of Council Grove.
On winning team
A team of five students from Kansas State University, including Trisha Culbertson, a graduate of Burlington High School, won the Student Design Competition at the 2007 American Ecological Engineering Society’s annual meeting, May 21-25, at K-State. The winning project was a rain garden microcosm.
The Konza Prairie Biological Station was the inspiration for the group’s project. The native tallgrass prairie preserve near Manhattan is owned by The Nature Conservancy and K-State, and is operated as a field research station by the K-State Division of Biology.
“We have this tallgrass prairie ecosystem that we model a lot of our work after,” said Culbertson, a member of the team and a graduate student in biological and agricultural engineering. “The goal was to design an ecologically engineered structure that absorbs water into the soil very quickly, but holds as much water as possible. These small-scale systems are modeled on the natural landscape and help control storm water runoff.”
According to the competition organizers, the K-State team’s exceptional infiltration dynamics and other design elements earned the team this year’s competition award. Culbertson says her experiences at the competition, conference sessions and time spent on the Konza Prairie gave her a better understanding of the long-term sustainable solutions for the upkeep of prairie ecosystems with engineering components.
“I will definitely keep attending this conference in the future,” Culbertson said. “It’s a really great opportunity to network with practicing professionals and consultant engineers and hear about the obstacles they face in a real urban setting.”
Culbertson is the daughter of Bob and Carol Culbertson of New Strawn.
More than 150 university students, faculty, engineers and practicing professionals attended the annual meeting at K-State’s Fiedler Hall.