Dave Elliott was appointed associate vice...

Dave Elliott was appointed associate vice president of university

relations at Vanguard University. Elliott will focus on expanding the

university’s influence through business, community organizations,

church and government ... Louise Bellisimo and Jo Corbett of Corona

del Mar and Debbie Holmsen of Newport Beach completed 30 hours of

state-mandated training for the Court Appointed Special Advocates, a

nonprofit organization dedicated to providing intervention and

advocacy services for abused children through trained and supervised

volunteers ... On Friday, Orange Coast College will honor 2,025

students during its commencement ceremony. Associate in arts degrees

will be awarded to 1,524 students and 501 students will be granted

certificates of completion. A crowd of more than 6,000 is expected to

attend ... Tyler Magnusen, 12, of Costa Mesa won second place in the

children’s 12-and-under championship strawberry pie eating contest

held during the fourth annual Strawberry Sunday Funfest and Classic

Car Show at the Orange County Market Place in Costa Mesa ... Orange

Coast College’s social science honorary society, Phi Alpha Mu,

recognized students for outstanding scholarship. Students from Costa

Mesa were Eva Cadez, Victoria L. Davis, Mio Fukushima, Andrea Gaspar,

Martha J. Hernandez, Isabelle Huguet, Linh C. Huynh, Marisela

Mendoza, Barmak Naraghi, Montgomery Norton, Sara M. Steinfurth,

Tobias Wacker, Dorothy Wasilewski, Marlena K. Weisbrot and Jing

Zheng. From Newport Beach, Dawn L. Bricker, Rebecca S. Foster and

Katerina A. Sorrell were honored ... Nine students were named winners

in the annual Americanism Essay Contest sponsored by the Newport

Harbor American Legion Auxiliary Unit No. 1 291. Winners who wrote on

the topic of “America the Beautiful” were Krissie Adnoff of Newport

Elementary, Ryan Jacobs of St. John the Baptist School and Savannah

Bell of Newport Elementary. Those who received recognition for

writing on “Who Keeps America Safe” were Nichole Slykhous of and

Andrea Dumovich of Corona del Mar Middle School. Winners who wrote

essays titled “My America” were Kevin Whitaker, Evan Basurto and

Mandie Marquez, all from Davis Education Center.

* NEIGHBORS spotlights achievements in the community. Please

direct noteworthy information to Coral Wilson by fax at (949)

646-4170, or send e-mail to coral.wilson@latimes.com.