A Close-Up Look At People Who Matter : CSUN Students Win Design Contest Awards

Two Cal State Northridge students won awards in the Walt Disney Co.’s Imagi-nations design competition for women and minority students. The students, either engineering or art majors, hope to parlay their enthusiasm for Disney movies and cartoons into jobs with Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, where ideas for Disney theme parks and attractions are born.

Kenneth E. Nwabueze, 25, an industrial engineering major whose entry, “Safari Jungle Ride,” featured a 360-degree movie theater and computer-generated holographs, was nominated by the National Society of Black Engineers and won first place in its category. Jose Cuevas, 20, a sophomore engineering student, finished third among finalists from the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers for his “Beauty and the Beast Adventure.”

Cuevas and other third-place finishers will get a chance to interview with the company for a six-month internship. First and second winners earned the internships automatically. The company also handed out grants of either $2,000, $1,500 or $1,000 to all of the contest’s 24 finalists.

Lore Anne Unt, 25, of Tarzana graduated as class valedictorian of USC. An international relations major who attended Van Nuys High School, Unt will move on this fall to Harvard Law School. Unt earned a 3.99 GPA at USC.

A Valley student from Scripps College in Claremont is among 39 from Scripps and 1,400 nationwide who has been selected for the 1993 edition of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. English major Leticia Hernandez of North Hollywood was chosen on the basis of academic achievement, service to the community, leadership in extracurricular activities and potential for continued success.

Several Valley residents were honored recently at Mission College for winning scholarships ranging from $50 to $500. The scholarships are given annually by community members and groups such as the Associated Student Organization and the Sylmar Women’s Club, which gave three students $500 each. Valley winners were: Jean Casarino-Fajardo, Carolyn Hopkins, Mark Sanders, James Burke, Duc Huynh, Rehana Ali, Teresa Nowlin and Anita Raphael of Sylmar; Hilda Cano, Juanita Garcia and Cecilia Gamez of San Fernando; Sarita Galvan, Kinh Ngoc Dao and Melissa Minier of Sepulveda; Jan Shear and Eduardo Florian of Granada Hills; Jose Andrade of Sun Valley; Samatra Phillips and Nanci Caillouet of Van Nuys; Mary Ann VanOver of Chatsworth; Kiva Beamon of North Hollywood; Razeh Amin of Reseda; and Christine Wagenbrenner of Northridge.

Valley University Women, which each year awards scholarships to high school graduates throughout the Valley on the basis of grade point average, school and community service and part-time jobs, has chosen 16 high school seniors and three college freshmen as its winners for 1993. Recipients of the $1,000 scholarships are: graduating seniors John Morga and Nancy Loo of Monroe High; Christine Bullock, Sue Dao, Loan Hoang, Adrienne Miller and Jessica Ordonez of John Burroughs High; Myra Bastidas and Joy Morales of Reseda High; Janice Guzman of Francis Poly High; Monica Faye, Annette Phan and Jacqueline Tran of Cleveland High; Marina Dorian of El Camino High; Teresa Jean Mayer of Taft High; Linda Falsafi-Hasghighi of Van Nuys High; and college freshmen Helen Issa of UCLA (Monroe), Teresa Fiertag of UCLA (Cleveland Humanities Magnet) and Myra Sprague of Occidental College (Burroughs).

The Burbank Art Assn. honored four area art students--Amber Deones of Burbank High, Luis Torres of John Burroughs High, Giovanny M. Penate of Jefferson High and Dalbert Buitrago of Providence High--with annual awards. Each student received a check for $150, a certificate designed by art association president Dan Hoxsie and an art book donated by Swain Graphics of Glendale.

People recognizes people who have made noteworthy accomplishments. Please address prospective candidates to Valley People, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Or fax them to (818-772-3338).