Area Residents Selected to Serve in Ex-Soviet Republics

Four Peace Corps volunteers from Orange County have been selected to serve in former Soviet republics.

Leslie Howard, 65, of Laguna Beach; Sonya Hoelscher, 26, of Newport Beach; Edward Brown, 30, of Huntington Beach; and Arminda Pappas, 23, of Mission Viejo are among the first Peace Corps volunteers to go to the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Howard, a former Air Force lieutenant colonel, and Hoelscher, who has experience in accounting and as a billing analyst, are volunteering in the Ukraine.

Brown, an account manager in the transportation industry, is in Russia, and Pappas, who teaches English, is a volunteer in Armenia.

“CIS leaders have issued an urgent call for assistance, and Peace Corps volunteers are poised to help in what may be the most momentous program in history,” said Peace Corps Director Elaine L. Chao.

She said 6,000 Peace Corps volunteers work in education, agriculture, health and business programs worldwide.

Irvine resident Kathy White has been named director of Child Care Services at UC Irvine, stepping up from her earlier position as co-director of the university’s Infant/Toddler Center.

Robert B. Ramm, 18, of Orange; Jeffrey D. Swanson, 16, of Fountain Valley; and Paul Butki, 18, of La Palma were presented their Boy Scout Eagle Rank.

Ramm planned and organized the building and installation of shelves and cabinets to hold food and clothing in the storage room of the Evangelical Free Church as his community service project.

For his project, Butki organized the citywide distribution of an estimated 4,000 flyers for La Palma’s Celebration of the Arts program.

Swanson organized a troop program to make 600 emergency flags that were distributed to Fountain Valley residents. The flags will be displayed at residences in the event of a major earthquake to alert emergency workers to special problems.

Monique Huey, 15, of San Clemente has been named a Top 40 finalist in Teen Magazine’s 1993 Miss Teen-age America program, which attracted an estimated 10,000 entries.

The 40 participants were selected on the basis of their responses to questions relating to their home and school life, goals, and knowledge of current affairs. The winner will receive a $15,000 scholarship.

Monique’s picture will appear in the magazine’s December issue.

Irvine resident A.J. Shaka, a Rhodes Scholar and three-year letterman on the Harvey Mudd College tennis team, has been inducted into the Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd Scripps College Hall of Fame. He graduated in 1980.

Rabbi Steven Schatz, spiritual leader of Adat Ari North Orange County synagogue in Anaheim Hill/Yorba Linda, has been appointed to head the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Orange County.

In making the appointment, Federation President William Shane noted that Shatz has demonstrated interest in community activism during his terms as chairman of the Orange County Community Forum and as vice president of the Orange County Bureau of Jewish Education.

Earlier, Shatz served as rabbi at congregations in New Jersey, at Temple Eilat in Mission Viejo and Temple Isaiah in Irvine. He also serves as education director of Beth Zion-Sinai in Lakewood.

Jennifer L. Pantleo, 20, of Costa Mesa and an Orange Coast College student, has had her poem, “What If” published in “The Best Poems of the ‘90s,” compiled by the National Library of Poetry in Owings Mills, Md.

A number of Orange County residents have been granted lifetime membership in Alpha Gamma Sigma. They include Andrew Cunanan, William N. Fagin and Richard Jirjis, all of Huntington Beach; Jaynr E. Beghtel and George L. Bonvecchio of Costa Mesa; Jim C. Keller of Westminster; Gail Weidner of Lake Forest; Wilson A. Wu of Santa Ana; and Barbara M. Yunker, of Balboa.

The Orange Coast College students received the honor by earning 60 units within three consecutive years and compiling a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.3.

Third semester temporary membership was awarded to OCC students Alireza Basti, Ahmed I. Ghulamali and Phivan Nguyen, Costa Mesa; Rik Shahidf, Hoang T. Tran and Le Ha Tran, Santa Ana; and Zin Z. Khin, Newport Beach.

Whitney Rogers Bischoff, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William B. Rogers of Mission Viejo, is one of 16 graduate nursing students nationwide to receive scholarships from the New York City-based Nurses’ Educational Funds Inc.

The awards were given to candidates for master’s and doctoral degrees. Bischoff will study at the University of Hawaii in its Doctor of Public Health program.

Submit items and pictures to Three Cheers, The Times, c/o Herbert J. Vida, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626