Theater Arts Teacher Honored for ‘Les Miserables’ Production

Barbara Johnson, a speech and theater arts teacher at Hewes Middle School in Tustin, was honored by the Tustin Unified School District Board of Education for organizing and directing the school’s production of “Les Miserables.” The production won first place in its division at the 1989 Drama Competition sponsored by the Orange County Department of Education.

The play was presented by the eighth-grade theater arts class. The school has won four first places and four second places in the nine years the award has been presented.

Anji Clemens, who has received numerous honors for her work in schools and the community, has been named Distinguished Citizen of the Year by Soroptimist International of Westminster.

She was honored for her work at Westminster High School, including the development of a computer-assisted job placement program and an English-as-a-second-language program.

After receiving the award, Clemens said, “Education is the basis of life and survival for us all.”

The Westminster Chamber of Commerce named Debbie Ellis as Ambassador of the Year, Bob Bertels as Chairman of the Year and Horton Sherwood Committee Person of the Year.

Scott D. Brennan, 18, a business major who said “student power” will play a major role during his term of service, has been seated as president of the Fullerton College Associated Students.

The Whittier resident said his goals include placing student representatives on as many campus, district and state committees as possible “because that is where the decisions are made.”

Other executive board officers are Vice President Ruth Tausch, 19, of La Habra, and Treasurer Mary K. Byrnes, 20, of Brea.

Newport Beach-based Pacific Scientific Co. named Cheryl Constantino and Lynn Hamamoto as first- and second-place winners, respectively, in its 1989 national scholarship contest.

Constantino, who is from Cerritos, will receive $8,000 as her prize. She plans to study speech communications or education. Hamamoto, who is from Rowland Heights, received $6,000 and will study history and interior design. Both plan to attend Cal State Fullerton.

They were selected on the basis of grade-point average, citizenship, leadership and contributions to school and community.

Fullerton College was named grand winner of the Associated Cosmetology Teachers 36th annual Inter-Collegiate Hair Styling competition that featured 36 students from five Southland colleges. They competed in six categories ranging from daytime hair styling to sculptured nails.

Fullerton students Hanh Nguyen, Barbara Dodson, Ken Perea and Nikki Apodaca won first place in four of the six events.

The Mission Hospital Auxiliary presented scholarships totaling $51,450 to 73 area youths, bringing to $389,300 the total presented to 622 students during the past 17 years by the Mission Viejo-based group, according to auxiliary spokeswoman Elaine Renfro.

Marge Murphy, former president of the Los Alamitos Casa Youth Shelter Auxiliary, was honored for providing a fully landscaped recreational patio area at the shelter, which provides a temporary home for runaway teen-agers and young people in crisis.

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