13 Senior Girl Scouts Win Highest Honor for Outstanding Achievement

Senior Girl Scouts Patricia Aldrich of Orange; Michelle Auld, Lisa Kutcher, Linda Valenti and Michelle Harms, all of El Toro; Dania Brenneise and Teresa Burgess, both of Costa Mesa; Melissa Federe of Garden Grove; Kristin Kinworthy of Cypress; Laura Liddicoat and Beth Thompson, both of Placentia; Karen Stone of Irvine, and Laura Teal of Tustin were presented Gold Awards, the highest honor in Girl Scouting.

The award required outstanding achievement in leadership, community service, skills development and career exploration, and the completion of a project of the girl’s design, according to Bernice Ward, president of the Girl Scout Council of Orange County.

“The efforts of these young women express a special commitment to themselves, their community and their future,” she said. “We take great pride in their accomplishments.”

Bette Reinhartsen, whose career has spanned three decades, retired this week as public information officer for the Anaheim Union High School District.

The veteran newswoman was on the staff of the Anaheim Bulletin, Orange Daily News and The Register. She was the only Orange County reporter assigned to cover the Apollo missions at Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral) and Houston.

Other historic events she covered included assignments on the last leg of the last voyage of the Queen Mary and the grand opening of the Tokyo Disneyland.

Newport Beach resident Lori Silver, a journalism major at Stanford University and former intern in the Washington Bureau of The Times, has been named a 1989 Time Magazine College Achievement Award winner, an honor given to only 20 of America’s most outstanding university juniors. She was selected for her experience and performance in journalism and received a $3,000 scholarship, an all-expense paid trip to New York and a day with the editorial staff of the magazine.

Leo S. Shapiro, an 84-year-old community volunteer, was named the first recipient of the President’s Medallion Award at Cal State Fullerton, an honor he earned for his work in creating a privately funded campus gerontology center.

The Brea resident, a retired Alpha Beta vice president, was also honored in 1984 as Cal State Fullerton’s Volunteer of the Year by the Coordinating Council of Support Groups, and in 1986 by the Orange County chapter of the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives.

Shapiro is founding president of the 450-member Continuing Learning Experience and co-chair of the fund-raising drive to erect the $2.5-million Ruby Gerontology Center.

Tom Brenneman of Costa Mesa placed third in the Toyota National Master Technician Skills contest at the company’s Torrance headquarters. Brenneman, a master technician at Toyota of Orange, received $1,000 and a commemorative plaque.

Sang Pak, 19, of San Clemente has been named winner of the annual Arthur Wiley Franch contest organized by Alliance Francaise de la Riviera Californienne and will be honored tonight by the Alliance at Neighborhood Congregational Church in Laguna Beach. Pak, a UCLA student, will be awarded a two-month trip to Paris.

Anaheim residents Brian R. Chee, a major winner in several journalism competitions, and Laurie D. Rau, the current Associated Students President, were named Man and Woman of the Year at Fullerton College.

Bethany Schramm, 16, of Mission Viejo has been named a 1989 Great Model Search Super semifinalist by Teen Magazine and is pictured in its June issue.

The yearlong search attracted 24,000 people from across the country. The contest will culminate with the selection of a winner from 12 finalists. Bethany is currently among 96 semifinalists.

The finalist will appear on the cover of the magazine and will receive $10,000 in cash and modeling contracts.

Loara High School senior Carmen H. Damasco has been named winner of the first Most Improved Student College Scholarship Award from the Brea-based Institute for Motivational Development of California, a national organization that works with underachieving students and their families. Damasco received a $500 scholarship and plans to attend Fullerton College.

Sahngmie Lah, an eighth-grader at Harbor Day School in Corona del Mar, won the Most Promising Young Writer Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. Lah, who competed with writers throughout the country, Canada and in American schools abroad, was judged on a creative short story entitled “A Purple Drop of Friendship.” She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jehmin Lah of Irvine.

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