Favorite Sons & Daughters

Andrea Truscello received the 2011 3VE-GAVA Educational Scholarship from Three V Enterprises, a Las Vegas-based corporation that develops platforms to honor, educate and inspire architects, designers, builders, manufacturers and developers.

Truscello is a student at UNLV. She earned the scholarship as part of an internship program.

Interns from this program have assisted in editing the GAVA winner's books, organizing award receptions and distributing media materials.

An awards celebration was held Dec. 4 at City Center.

Edoardo Lacala has achieved Eagle Scout status in the Boy Scouts of America.

A member of Troop 848, he restored a section of desert at the Springs Preserve to its natural state for his Eagle Scout project.

Lacala, a senior at Las Vegas Academy, participates in orchestra and jazz band. He is a member of the Las Vegas Youth Orchestra and UNLV's Upward Bound Program.

Lacala is the son of Luciano and Ann Lacala of Las Vegas.

Karissa Georges has been named a division finalist in the Music Teachers National Association's Senior Woodwind Competition.

Georges, who plays the flute, won the competition at the state level and will next compete at the national level Jan. 6-8 at UNLV.

A senior at The Meadows School, Georges is on the honor roll and has been a varsity cheerleader since her freshman year.

She started playing the piano at age 3 and the flute at age 7.

Georges is the daughter of Lori Georges of Las Vegas.

Beneroso Baltazar, 15, was named Petty Officer of the Month for October by the Navy's Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Beneroso is a petty officer, third class, and a sophomore at Centennial High School.

Beneroso is the son of Vincent and Vanessa Yuzon of Las Vegas.

Sean Sweeney has graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.

A 2009 graduate of Arbor View High School, Sweeney is the son of James and Debra Sweeney of Las Vegas.

Michael Amico, a 2008 graduate of Faith Lutheran Jr/Sr High School, has earned first-team All-American Mideast Conference honors playing soccer at Houghton College in Houghton, N.Y.

A two-sport collegiate athlete playing soccer and point guard in basketball for the Highlanders, he was also named first-team all-tournament in the team's opening tournament of the season in October and was the college's athlete of the week at that time.

Amico was a two-time nominee this season for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' National Player of the Week.

Kari Bales of Las Vegas was named to the dean's list for the spring semester at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif.

Keith Jackson Jr. has graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.

Jackson graduated from high school in Fordyce, Ark., in 2008.

He is the son of Keith Jackson of Las Vegas and Pamela Jackson of Fordyce, Ark.

Mellanie Rhae Tanada, a senior at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pa., was inducted into the Delta Lambda chapter of Sigma Iota Rho in October.

Tanada is an international studies major at the university.

She spent the fall semester of her freshman year at Stirling University in Stirling, Scotland, as part of the school's First Year Study Abroad Program.

She participated in the Harvard Model United Nations in Taipei, Taiwan, during spring break of 2010.

She traveled to Tanzania as part of a "Women of Tanzania" study at Fudan University in Shanghai during the fall semester of 2010, attended the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia, for the spring 2011 semester, and traveled to Istanbul during the summer of 2011 as a Robert College of Istanbul summer program counselor.

Aima Buenrostro has graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.

A 2010 graduate of Arbor View High School, Buenrostro is the daughter of Jose Buenrostro of Las Vegas.

Trey Perkins has graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.

A 2010 graduate of Burk Horizon High School, Perkins is the son of April Perkins of Las Vegas.

Isabella Mitchell and Miranda Derossi, students at Foothills Montessori School, were awarded honors in the "If I Were the Mayor ..." essay contest.

Announcements were made at a Henderson City Council meeting and the "Henderson City Hall at the Mall" event on Nov. 15.

Isabella's essay read: "My name is Isabella Mitchell. If I was mayor of Henderson, I would build a city garden. People who want a plot can pay for their share. I would also make a day called "Hallohelp," the day after Halloween on November 1. It would be a day where kids dress up like a civil servant in the community (police, fireman, doctor). Kids would go door to door and collect toiletries, blankets and canned foods. The collection would be donated to the needy. If I was mayor, I would make this city proud."

Miranda's essay read: "If I were the mayor of Henderson, I would prompt people to not only live here, but to enjoy living here. I would enforce a basic law of recycling. Are people losing jobs? Not a problem! I would hire a conglomeration of citizens who had lost their jobs to help clean our city and recycle or trash any loose garbage they found in the streets. I would budget my money wisely, and donate a generous amount for a shelter to keep homeless people and animals off our roads. I would tackle Henderson's problems with a can-do attitude. Henderson forever!"