Favorite Sons & Daughters

View welcomes announcements of recent achievements of Favorite Sons & Daughters who have graduated from local high schools. Achievements may run the gamut from earning a college degree to successfully climbing Mount Everest. Please include the name of the area high school and year graduated. Send announcements and photos by mail to: Melissa Martin, View, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125-0070; by fax to 477-3852; or by e-mail, referencing Favorite in the subject line, to mmartin@viewnews.com.

Rebecca M. Burns graduated from the United States Naval Academy on May 28. She earned a bachelor of science in chemistry and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force. She will be stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in California as a research chemist at the Air Force Research Lab. Burns is a 2000 graduate of Las Vegas Academy for the Performing and Visual Arts, and attended O'Callaghan Middle School and Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. She is the daughter of Paulette and Robert Burns of Henderson.

Michael Fernandez, son of Emilio and Maria Fernandez, reported to the United States Naval Academy on June 30. Fernandez, a Distinguished Scholar 2004 graduate of Bishop Gorman High School, will embark on a mission to become a future leader of our nation along with approximately 1,300 young men and women from all 50 states. His academic achievements include selection as one of the top 25 freshmen for the two-year High Honors Program offered at Gorman; a National Ventures Scholar; the National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C.; and membership to the National Society of High School Scholars. Fernandez lettered in football and track; he was an offensive and defensive lineman on the football team; and a track and field thrower. He received the Student-Athlete Award for Excellence in Academics and Athletics all four years. During his senior year, he was the coaches' selection for Most Improved Player and received Honorable Mention in the All-Sunset Region, Southern Nevada selections. Fernandez attended the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Conference in his junior year. He has served as an altar server and lector at St. Anne Catholic Church; served soup and coffee to the homeless through Catholic Social Services; and volunteered at Opportunity Village's Magical Forest. Fernandez received congressional nominations to the Naval Academy from Sen. John Ensign, Sen. Harry Reid and Congressman Jon Porter. He accepted an appointment to the academy, class of 2008. Fernandez plans to major in aerospace engineering.

Carl W.J. Lindner, a 2001 high honors graduate of Green Valley High School, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Vanguard University of Southern California in Costa Mesa, Calif., on May 8, where he majored in English and religion. He was a recipient of the President's Scholarship Award and was on the Dean's List all three years. Lindner is looking to attend Oxford University for his master's degree, and plans on a Ph.D. for a college professorship.

Patricia Wirig traveled to Quito, Ecuador, on June 3 to spend 12 weeks volunteering in orphanages. She will travel with other volunteers through Orphanage Support Services Organization, a nonprofit humanitarian organization that sends volunteers on a regular basis to help in local orphanages in Cuenca and Quito, Ecuador -- two of the country's largest

cities. The program began sending volunteers, mostly college-age adults, in May 1999. Since that time, it has dispatched more than 600 volunteers to help with various tasks. Wirig is a hospital volunteer in addition to working in homeless shelters and volunteering with the YMCA. At Centennial High School, she was student body vice-president and a member of National Honor Society as well as co-captain of the volleyball team. Wirig is a 2001 graduate of Centennial, and is currently studying nursing at the Community College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. Wirig is the daughter of Frank and Kathryn Wirig of Las Vegas.


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