State Flower:

Sunflower

State Bird:

Western Meadowlark

State Tree:

Cottonwood

State Flag:

The state flower, the sunflower, is shown on the state flag along with the state seal, which shows a picture of Kansas during the early pioneering days. Westward covered wagons pass a farmer plowing his field. A steamboat sails on the Kansas river and Indians hunt buffalo. The 34 stars indicate Kansas as the 34th state to join the Union. The state motto, "To the Stars through Difficulties" means that Kansans do not let difficulties deter them from doing their best.

Famous Person:

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was born July 24, 1897 in Atchison. She worked as a military nurse in WWI and as a social worker in Boston after the war. In 1928 she became famous as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, however, she was only a passenger at that time. But the bug got her. Four years later, she flew solo across the Atlantic. In January 1935, she succeeded in doing something no man had yet succeeded in doing: flying solo from Hawaii to California. All previous attempts on that dangerous route had ended in disaster. Her next challenge was to fly around the world. With her navigator, Fred Noonan, she set off in a twin engine Lockheed Electra and got two-thirds of the way before her plane vanished in the central Pacific, near the international dateline. To this day the cause is unknown. In 1939 her bereaved husband, publisher George P. Putnam, wrote her biography entitled, "Soaring Wings."