Honors Awarded for Community Service

The Chatsworth Community Coordinating Council has named a schools advocate, a student leader and a teenage library volunteer as Chatsworth’s Citizens of the Year.

The 31st annual awards were handed out Friday at the Encino Glen Restaurant. The council also awarded certificates to 44 adults and children for their community service.

“It gives us an opportunity to thank and recognize the best in Chatsworth in terms of their providing volunteer service for others,” said Coleen Briggs, awards committee chairwoman.

Marsha Minassian was named Chatsworth Citizen of the Year and Christina Colp and Ann Marie Nguyen were named Chatsworth Co-Youths of the Year.

Minassian, a 25-year Chatsworth resident and mother of three, has split her time among PTA groups, school leadership councils, the Chatsworth Complex Instructional Cabinet and the Chatsworth High School Booster Club.

Ann Marie, a 17-year-old Chatsworth High School student, visits the elderly at local convalescent homes weekly and works with blind and mentally handicapped adults at the Therapeutic Learning Center in Reseda. She has also organized elementary school bicycle safety programs in Chatsworth.

Christina, 17, is president of the Chatsworth Library’s Teen Council, which provides insight for library staff members into materials that interest adolescents and teenagers. She has volunteered in everything from shelving books to working at the library’s circulation desk. Her service recently led to a salaried job there.