High School Graduates Win Prestigious Awards

Nine student graduates at Mission Viejo High School have been presented International Baccalaureate (IB) Full Diplomas as a result of examinations graded in Geneva, Switzerland, reports Jerry Chris, IB coordinator and humanities teacher at the high school.

The students, all in the Mission Viejo honors program and all in the IB program since their freshman year, are John Burpo, Renee Chien, Terry Chun, Ron Enge, Jennifer Jewell, Paul McLaughlin, Hillary Post, Young Tran and Gary Westerland. Each student had to pass six internationally graded examinations (in English, a foreign language, mathematics, history and two sciences), and sit for oral examinations in both languages, Chris said. They also had to write an original 4,000-word thesis, take a course in the “Theory of Knowledge” and participate in 100 hours of social service activity.

The award ranks as the most prestigious international academic honor available to high school students throughout the world, Chris said.

Tenants, friends and family members gathered around the pool in an Anaheim apartment complex to join Lillian and Rudy Miskulin in celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. The Miskulins, who manage the apartments, have three sons, 13 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Irvine resident Irving M. Chase has been elected president of the national college fraternity, Zeta Beta Tau, which has units at 92 American and Canadian college campuses and has an active membership of 100,000, including about 6,400 undergraduate students.

Garden Grove resident Stanley D. Taeger, a 15-year Elk and past exalted ruler of Garden Grove Elks Lodge No. 1952, has been appointed District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler of the Orange Coast District.

Taeger and other district rulers were sworn in at the 124th annual convention of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in Las Vegas.

Each of the more than 2,250 Elks lodges nationwide receive representation with the Grand Lodge through the district rulers. Taeger is currently visiting the lodges in the Orange Coast District to check their compliance with Grand Lodge statutes.

Saddleback College students John Enos, Jorge DiMartino and Milton Jones received awards of excellence for their landscaping projects in Orange County at the annual conference of the Xeriscape Committee of Southern California.

Xeriscape is a type of landscaping utilizing native plants that require minimal amounts of water.

The committee is co-sponsored by the Municipal Water District of Orange County, the Orange County chapter of the California Landscape Contractors Assn. and the California Department of Water Resources.

Deborah Medina of La Habra was named winner of the Membership Activities Award of the Purchasing Management Assn. of Orange County for her outstanding participation in committee work and attendance at seminars and workshops. She is a senior buyer in a Buena Park firm and attends Fullerton College.

Jeffrey L. Held, 18, of Huntington Beach has earned the Eagle rank, the highest award given by the Boy Scouts of America.

Bill Boettcher, director of risk management at the Santa Ana Unified School District for 12 years, has been elected president of the Orange County region of the California Assn. of School Business Officials.

UC Irvine Extension student Lynn Lonzo of Mission Viejo has won the National American Society of Interior Design Student Council Presidential Citation Award for distinguished service. She is a past president of the society.

The Orange County Transit District has received a Certificate of Achievement for excellence in financial reporting by the Government Finance Officers Assn. of the United States and Canada, the seventh consecutive year the district has earned the honor.