Four Southern Nevadans graduate from West Point

Dick Benoit

Thursday, June 8, 2000 | 9:41 a.m.

Four Southern Nevada residents graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in ceremonies last month at the West Point, N.Y., campus.

Anthony Douglas, the son of Earl and Frances Douglas of Las Vegas, is a graduate of Cheyenne High School. George S. Giouzelis, the son of Sotirios Gouzelis of Las Vegas, is a graduate of Rancho High School. Travis Tilman, the son of Paul Tilman of Henderson, graduated from Basic High School. And Nathanael Hunterton, the son of Stan Hunterton and Nancy Hunterton of Las Vegas, graduated from Bishop Gorman High School.

The four Las Vegans are among a group of approximately 940 graduates out of 1,210 new cadets who reported to the class in the summer of 1996. The class was selected from nearly 13,000 applicants from every state in the union. They were commissioned as Army second lieutenants.

ROTC annual awards

Several Reserve Officers Training Corps cadets from UNLV and the Community College of Southern Nevada were recognized recently during annual awards ceremonies. College ROTC in Southern Nevada is sponsored cooperatively by UNLV, the community college and the U.S. Army ROTC at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Physical fitness awards were presented to Taunya Ford, Conrad White and Stephen Col. The Battalion Commander's Community Service awards were presented to Robin MacBride and Lisa Mendez, and the Battalion Commander's Recruiting Award went to Angie Oliveros.

MacBride and Mendez also received color guard awards, along with Marci Roiter, Ramon Johnson, Guillermo Jaime, David Gregory and Andrew Wilson.

Junior ROTC awards

Annual awards were recently presented to Junior ROTC cadets in ceremonies at area high schools.

Western High School officials awarded Mary Oberlin with the Senior Aerospace Science Instructor Award. Sinntia Segovia was presented with the Clint Mankie Leadership Award and Yessenia Segovia received the Team Leadership Award.

Outstanding cadet awards went to Franklin Brown, Sarah Ludwig and Rossmary Rosas. The Drillmaster Award was presented to Matt Harper. Yessenia Segovia, Sandy Scott, Matthew Harper, Tiffany Gusto, Nancy Wheeler, Dameon Wilson, Rossmary Rosas, Andrew Brown and Jeremy Harper were awarded the Superior Performance Ribbon.

At Rancho High School, Casey Boutwell, Brent Leavitt, Susan Njuna and Miranda Sierra were the outstanding cadets. The Distinguished Cadet Award was presented to Bobby Marin, and the David Kinkaid Memorial Citizenship Award was presented to Kara Sartori. The Roger Jacks Magnet School Aerospace Ram Award went to Zach Glants, and the Medical Ram Award was presented to Nicole Shumway. Zuly Benitez received the Senior Aerospace Instructor Academic Award, and Aerospace Science Instructor Awards were presented to Michael Settembre and Maile Naito.

The Rancho High School Cadet Senior Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Miranda Sierra.

Valley High School's Outstanding Physical Fitness Award went to Chad Oliver and Cecily Valdez. Academic excellence awards went to Katrena Brewer, Zurisadai Maya, Ashley Oliver and Andy Chung, and the Distinguished Cadet award was presented to Donata Ford.

College ROTC scholarships were given to Ford and Chung along with Jesse Tafoya, Daphna Thompson, Glenn Maliban, Josue Navarro Dana Hyer, Eriberto Carbajal and Chris Lilley.

Dick Benoit covers individual and unit accomplishments of Southern Nevadans serving in the active duty and reserve armed forces. He can be reached at (702) 641-8664 or by e-mail at dickb@vegas.com