B.W. COOK -- The Crowd

Costa Mesa’s Amy Angelo, an Orange Coast College student and founder

of an International Youth Ambassador program, welcomed a contingent of

royal young women from Japan as she turned over the office of Orange

County Youth Ambassador to successor Meredith Chinn, a senior at Newport

Harbor High School.

The young women from Japan were all princesses from Okazaki, Newport

Beach’s sister city. This international exchange program included visits

from Princess Yuko Murasaki, Princess Eriko Nagasaka and Princess Ayano

Kobayaski.

Angelo, who has recently been named the youngest member of the Coast

Community College District Board of Directors, planned a local tour for

the visiting dignitaries that began with a weekend shopping jaunt on

Balboa Island, a stop on the Corona del Mar beach to enjoy the

sandcastle-building contest and a tour of scenic Laguna.

A formal presentation was made to the Newport Beach Public Library as

a gift from the city of Okazaki was put on display. Then Newport Beach

residents Sally and Lou Nockhold opened their home hosting a dinner for

the young ambassadors. The Nockholds are very involved with the Newport

Beach Sister Cities program, which counts Okazaki among Newport Beach’s

international associates.

By founding the Youth Ambassador program two years ago, Angelo wanted

to encourage young people in the Newport-Mesa community to get involved

in public affairs through both cultural and civic exchange. The program

has grown in two years to become a significant part of Orange County

Protocol with young local ambassadors, including Angelo and Chinn,

representing Orange County youth as official hosts to foreign guests in

the role of goodwill emissaries at events countywide.

Chinn hopes to attend UC Davis majoring in textiles and business. She

is a member of the Assistance League of Newport Mesa, president of the

student political action committee at Newport Harbor High School, and

holds a 4.0 grade-point average. Chinn had the honor of representing

Newport Harbor in Washington, D.C., along with Principal Bob Boise, in

accepting the National Blue Ribbon Award.

* * *

The Assistance League of Newport-Mesa presented to society 15 of its

Senior Assisteen young women at the organization’s 2001 Medallion

Debutante Ball recently. Each teen received an Assistance League

medallion. The Irvine Hyatt Regency Hotel was the setting for the

presentation of the young women, all wearing traditional white gowns.

Each of the 15 graduating seniors has completed four years of

community service in Assistance League-sponsored programs, including the

Children’s Dental Health Center, Operation School Bell, Kids On The

Block, Assistance League Thrift Shop and Treasures On Consignment.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.