81st President of Chamber

Rudy Griego has been installed as the 81st president of the Huntington Park Chamber of Commerce. Griego is co-founder and president of Americo International Immigration Inc., which assists immigrant families in the United States. He also is a past president of the Huntington Park Rotary Club and the immediate past chairman of the chamber’s industrial council. The installation ceremony, held at the Huntington Park Elks Lodge, was conducted by Griego’s niece, Penny Griego, a weekend newscaster for KCBS television. Other new chamber officers are Alma Hawkins, president of the women’s division; Jess Zamora, president-elect; Rick Terrones, vice president; Jay Morales, treasurer; Jay Rogers, presidential adviser; and Dante D’Eramo, executive manager.

Adult School Chief Retires

Harlan L. Polsky, 60, founding principal of the Compton Adult School, has retired after 24 years in the job and 33 years in Compton schools. He plans to pursue another career in the computer industry. Polsky was instrumental in convincing the Compton Board of Education of the need for an adult school in 1963. Polsky was appointed to administer the program and became its first principal, leading it from an average daily attendance of 75 students in its first year to about 1,700 now. Polsky is being replaced by acting principal Manfred R. Placide.

3 School Board Delegates

Three school board members have been elected to two-year terms on the delegate assembly of Region 13-14C of the California School Boards Assn. They are Justine Miller, of the Bellflower Unified School District; Diane R. Xitco, ABC Unified School District; and Shirley Elliott, Paramount Unified School District. The delegate assembly is a policy-making body for the collection of representatives from public school boards in the southern part of Los Angeles County.

Culture Panel Gives Awards

The Pico Rivera Arts and Culture Committee presented annual recognition awards to Grace Nakamura for volunteer liaison work between the schools and civic arts programs and exhibits, to Jenny Gomez for her recent selection as Mexican-American mother of the year, and to Rose De La Pena for her role in catering and decorating for civic arts activities. New Arts and Culture Committee chairman Lenie Medina received the committee gavel for the year from Hilda Lopez, outgoing chairman. Diane Gonzalez assumed the duties of secretary from Connie Alonzo, while Anna Maria Prieto retained her post as vice chairman.

Research Scholar Named

Mark Mayo, a biological science teacher at South Gate High School and a resident of Long Beach, has been selected as a summer research scholar at USC. He will work in the developmental biology laboratory doing computer assisted image analyses to trace the development of mammal organs. Mayo, a teacher for nine years, is head of the South Gate High science department.

Librarian Wins State Award

Mary Howard, intermediate library services clerk and worker in the instructional media center for the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District, has been chosen among nominees from school districts throughout the state to receive the 1987 Special Services Employee of the Year award. The award will be presented by the California School Employees Assn. at its conference Aug. 5 in Oakland.

Cerritos Deputy of the Year

Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Donahue has been honored by the Cerritos Optimist Club as deputy of the year for 1987. Donahue is the lead deputy for the City of Cerritos who trains other deputies from the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station assigned to law enforcement in Cerritos.

Art Student Wins 2 Golds

Visual arts student Debby Hyun-Jin Kwak, a resident of Cerritos and former student at Gahr High School, has won a gold medal on the national level and a gold key and blue ribbon on the state level of the 1987 scholastic arts awards sponsored by Junior Scholastic Inc. She graduated in June from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.

Library Volunteers Praised

Kay Hanstein, Jud Slonaker and Bill Edmonds were honored by the Rio Hondo Area Volunteer Center for their many hours donated one day each week during the past year working in the library for the Hillcrest Senior Day Care program in La Habra Heights.

Symphony Assn. President

Evelyn D. Leong of Whittier has been reelected and installed for a second term as president of the Rio Hondo Symphony Assn., the sponsoring organization of an 85-piece community symphony orchestra which has a 54-year tradition of presenting four free concerts each season. Leong, a recent recipient of a master’s degree in business administration from the Claremont Graduate School, previously served two years as treasurer of the symphony association, which has an annual budget of $45,000. Members of the association’s executive committee are Herbert M. Sussman, vice president; Anna Maria Prieto, secretary; and Anne L. Young, treasurer.

New Soroptimist Officers

President Jill Pierce heads the list of newly installed officers for Soroptimist International of East Whittier. Other officers for the 1987-88 term are Mary Evans Smith, president-elect; Yvonne Eytchison, vice president; Bette Howell and Anita Dunbar, secretaries; and Sherry Moffitt, treasurer. The club honored Mary Ann Sullivan, a nine-year member, as its outstanding member of the year. Sullivan received the award for her volunteer leadership in club events and community affairs, and for serving as liaison with other Soroptimist chapters.

Occupational Studies Dean

Osie Leon Wood Jr. is the new associate dean of occupational programs at Long Beach City College. Wood has served as assistant dean, acting dean, coordinator, supervisor and instructor at Los Angeles Trade Technical College for the past 10 years. Wood previously was a consulting instructor for the Los Angeles Community College District and a project director and coordinator at UCLA from 1973 to 1977.