National First Year Teacher Award Goes to La Habra Bilingual Educator

Lorrie Giles, 25, a first-grade bilingual education teacher at Las Lomas Elementary School in La Habra, was honored as one of 100 American teachers to receive the Sallie Mae First Year Teacher Award.

“She is the type of teacher a child will never forget,” Principal Mary Jo Anderson said of Giles. “The award to her was wonderfully deserved.”

Giles received a $1,000 prize from the Student Loan Marketing Assn., a New York financial group that funds educational opportunities. She plans to use the money toward her master’s degree at Pepperdine University.

She is a Whittier resident and a graduate of Cal State Long Beach.

Boy Scout Gregory T. Garten, 14, of Garden Grove, who helped clean, scrape and paint 105 fire hydrants in the city, was awarded his Eagle Scout rank at a Court of Honor.

The hydrant work, a safety and beautification effort that involved 10 other scouts and five fathers, was his Eagle service project.

Gregory, a devotee of sound reproduction, particularly on stereo systems he designs, added to his service record by working weekends at a camp for Cub Scouts.

Joyce Lowder, a teacher at the Taft School for the hearing-impaired in Santa Ana, has been named 1989-90 president of the California Teachers of the Hearing Impaired.

Orange County developer James P. Baldwin was named the eighth recipient of the Orange County Council of Boy Scouts’ “Good Scout Award” and will be honored Oct. 13 at a luncheon at the Anaheim Marriott.

Baldwin, vice president of the Baldwin Co. in Newport Beach, was selected on the basis of his interest and participation in the Boy Scouts.

Mike Chitjian, a 17-year resident of Costa Mesa, has been elected chairman of the Costa Mesa Cultural Arts Committee, which advises the city on the state of the arts in Costa Mesa and its educational system.

Chitjian said the 12-member committee has awarded more than $550,000 to groups in the Costa Mesa area since its inception in 1984.

He is president of a Costa Mesa executive search firm.

UC Irvine was presented an Award of Excellence by Southern California Edison Co. for its achievement in energy management by installing high-efficiency cooling and light-control equipment in both existing buildings as well as in new construction.

In addition to the award, Edison presented the university $50,000 for the installation of two electrical chillers at the central plant on campus.

Orange Coast College has received gifts totaling $15,000 to help fund a campus literacy laboratory that will open in early 1990 to help improve literacy in the county marketplace.

The lab will work with county corporations, businesses and public service agencies in providing literacy training for current and prospective employees.

The Weingart Foundation in Los Angeles donated $10,000, and McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach gave $5,000.

Tustin Unified School District Trustee Merlin L. Henry Jr. was presented a Master of Boardsmanship Award from the California School Board Assn. Last week, he was mistakenly identified as being with another school district.

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