Traci Travis, a Costa Mesa resident...

Traci Travis, a Costa Mesa resident and a communications major at

Orange Coast College was recently named OCC’s Woman of the Year for

2002-03. She is also the recipient of a $30,000 Jack Kent Cooke

Foundation Scholarship for the upcoming school year. She has been

accepted to the honors program at UC Santa Barbara for the

forthcoming fall term ... Tim Richey, of Costa Mesa, a 28-year Orange

Coast College employee, has received an honorary associate’s degree.

He has volunteered thousands of hours to service community

organizations as well as working with the Costa Mesa Lions Breakfast

Club and the Costa Mesa High School Band Boosters ... Corey Cano,

Melissa Matsuoka and Austin Quon, fifth-graders from the Newport-Mesa

Gifted and Talented Education Program were honored in the Johns

Hopkins Talent Search 2003 ceremonies held at the University of

Southern California. The students were selected from a talent search

of over 16,000 participants nationwide ... Dixie McCorkindale, a

61-year-old grandmother and resident of San Bernadino, received her

AA degree from OCC May 30, graduating with a 3.93 grade-point average

... Ronald V. Davis, founder of OCC’s Guardian Scholars Program and

former president of Perrier America, was named Citizen of the Year at

OCC’s commencement ceremony May 30. The Guardian Scholars Program

supports emancipated foster care youth ... Genevieve Evarts, daughter

of Karen and Don Evarts of Newport Beach, received the $5,000 Judge

Robert H. Schnacke Scholarship. She is a member of the UC Hastings

College of the Law graduating class of 2003 and graduated from

Newport Harbor High School in 1994 Alice Eklof, daughter of Paul and

Sherry Eklof and 1995 graduate of Costa Mesa High School, received a

doctorate from Michigan State University on May 2 ... Dustin Do,

Keith Fegley, Shawn Grant, Omar Montoya, Oscar Ortiz, David Schwartz

and Richard Smith of OCC captured first prize in the college division

of the 14th annual Design/Build Competition at the Tustin Marketplace

(April 26 to 27). Students were required to construct a 6-by-8-foot

“yard barn.” Sponsored by Greystone Homes, the students won a $250

Home Depot coupon which will be put toward OCC’s Construction

Technology Program ... The Mesa/Newport area saw several winners in

the “Water is Life” poster and slogan contest, which was hosted by

the Municipal Water District of Orange County to promote wise water

use among children in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Fourth-graders Maria Swift and Alex Krohnfeldt of St. Joachim

Elementary won first place and honorable mention, respectively, for

their poster designs. Vineyard Christian School first-graders Rebecca

Moreno, Sharon Tang, Anthony Dean, Patrick Hanna and Savannah Fausto

all received first place for the slogans they created ... Lance Cpl.

Jonathon O. Bass, member of the Newport Harbor High School class of

2002 and son of Jeff and Jeanine Bass of Costa Mesa, has completed

six months of his MOS training in avionics in Pensacola NAS in

Florida and will complete his training at Oceana NAS in Virginia.

After that he will continue to his final duty station in Beaufort,

South Carolina ... Navy Seaman Cody R. Forsythe, graduate of the

Newport Harbor High School class of 2002 and son of Gene L. and

William R. Forsythe, has completed his recruit training with honors

... Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Russel O. Walker, whose wife

Christina is the daughter of Bonnie Arrigo of Costa Mesa, was

deployed on the USS Milius to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom

... Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Thorin Mayba, a 1998 graduate of Estancia High School and son of Wanda Leonard and Perry D. Mayba,

recently returned from duty after being deployed in July 2002 on the

USS Abraham Lincoln ... Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Nicholas B. Zeramby,

son of Sherry A. Zeramby of Costa Mesa and Scott A. Zeramby of

Albion, was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom while

assigned to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit based in Camp Lejeune.