CLARION — Clarion University graduate student Erin Neely of Mars, an intervention specialist major, received the Pennsylvania Council on Exceptional Children’s George O’Neill Memorial Scholarship.

The award recognizes student members whose involvement in special education was judged to be exemplary and who have achieved the highest degree of professional excellence and advanced the education of exceptional children.

Neely has served as vice president and president in Clarion’s Student Council for Exceptional Children and she serves as the PACEC student board’s secretary/treasurer.

Her academic achievements include dean’s list and induction into the honorary associations Kappa Delta Pi and Sigma Pi Epsilon Delta. She was named 2017 Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year for Clarion’s Department of Special Education.

Neely also volunteers with related organizations, including Clarion County Special Olympics and the Heavenly Gaits Therapeutic Riding Center.

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PITTSBURGH — The Atkins Endowed Center for Ethics at Carlow University announced the winners of its 2017 essay contest “Bleak New World — Ethics and the Dystopian Novel.”

Megan McClymonds, a Butler High School student, won first place and received a cash prize of $600.

The contest was open to high school juniors and seniors who explored and questioned the moral values inherent in dystopian fiction.

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MARS — Mars High School junior Jacob Smith was selected by solo audition to perform in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District Jazz Festival.

Smith plays trombone with the Mars High School Band.

The festival will conclude with a public concert at 2 p.m. Feb. 3 at Slippery Rock University’s Swope Music Hall. Tickets may be purchased at the door.

For more information, visit www.pmea5advocate.com.