EDUCATION At the top of her game...

EDUCATION

At the top of her game

Newport-Mesa Unified School District nurse Merry Grasska was

honored by her peers Wednesday for winning the California School

Nurse of the Year award.

Grasska, a 16-year district employee and nurse at Hope Healthy

Start Clinic in Costa Mesa, was named Orange County School Nurse of

the Year in 2004 at a banquet earlier this month.

Grasska has spent most of her career working in schools. She is

one of the most tenured nurses in the district.

Her name is automatically entered into an upcoming national Nurse

of the Year competition.

* UC Irvine officials officially began the search for a new

chancellor last week.

Ralph Cicerone, who’s been the campus’ top officials since 1998,

is leaving at the end of the year to become the president of the

National Academy of Sciences.

The final decision on UC Irvine’s next leader will be made by the

UC Board of Regents, which is expected to choose a new chancellor by

June.