Excellence among students honored

Michael Miller

When Chiara Reese-Hilborn received an outstanding student award

Friday, she didn’t take long to name her most influential teacher.

The ready choice was her only teacher for most of the last eight

years: her mother, Rita Reese.

Since the fourth grade, Chiara has been schooled at her home in

Newport Beach. During that time, she has maintained a 3.9 grade-point

average, joined the national diving team, coached younger divers and

learned the flute and the piano -- all while attending school about

two hours a week, at the Monte Vista Alternative Education Center.

“Chiara came to me and said, ‘Mommy, I want to home school,’”

Reese recalled. “I think she’s had a wonderful education because of

that decision.”

Chiara has spent a little more time in class her senior year --

she also takes a math course at Corona del Mar High School -- but

she’ll soon be done with at-home education for good. This fall,

Chiara will attend UC Berkeley as a biology major, planning for a

career in orthodontics. On Friday, she was one of 20 Costa Mesa

students recognized at the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce’s 26th

annual scholarship recognition breakfast, held at the Hilton in Costa

Mesa.

The ceremony honored seniors from Estancia, Costa Mesa and Orange

Coast Middle College high schools, as well as students from Orange

Coast College and Vanguard University. Recipients of the outstanding

student awards received plaques and recognition in front of a roomful

of school and city officials.

“What a lovely way to start a Friday the 13th,” quipped Debbie

Davis, the Monte Vista principal who honored Chiara.

Receiving high school honors were Chase Raymond, Marci Kirchberg,

Tom Fryslie and Yvonne Zaidler from Estancia High; and Daniel Gomez,

Jacqueline Havens, Brandon Aleson and Carley Millian from Costa Mesa

High. The ceremony also recognized Peter Hartwich and Monica White

from Orange Coast College’s Middle College High School.

Taking the college honors were George Dosoglu and Anne Ward from

Orange Coast College; and Alexander Jones and Samantha Spoo from

Vanguard University. The colleges also named outstanding athletes of

the year: Humberto Rojas and Michelle Esquivel from Orange Coast,

Matt Hess, Lisa Faulkner and Olga Hlushchanka from Vanguard.

All the high school seniors recognized at the breakfast were

college bound. Fred Navarro, the principal of Costa Mesa High, noted

that all four of his honorees were heading to East Coast weather in

the fall.

“I’m worried about them because every time they come in my office,

all they’re wearing are those little flip-flop shoes,” Navarro said.