Soroptimist International of Huntington Beach will award...

Soroptimist International of Huntington Beach will award local

resident Laura Ponce with the annual Violet Richardson Award on April

28 at the Women of Distinction luncheon held at the Waterfront

Hilton. The award is given each year to a young woman, 14 to 17, who

is committed to making the world a better place by volunteering in

her community.

Laura is an honors student at Ocean View High School and

previously attended Oak View School, where she has volunteered in the

tutoring and literacy program since she was in fourth grade. In

addition to the recognition at the luncheon, Laura will receive a

monetary award.

Huntington Beach local Jennifer Tsakoumakis, a senior in the USC

Viterbi School of Engineering, won an undergraduate research prize

for building a carbon fiber violin with fellow senior Billy Kaplan.

Tsakoumakis, a mechanical engineering major, and her classmate

demonstrated that their violin could be manufactured faster and

cheaper, and be more acoustically reproducible than a traditional

wooden violin.

Tsakoumakis and Kaplan will share a $500 prize.

Two Huntington Beach residents will head committees for the

seventh annual Cattle Baron’s Ball fundraiser to benefit the Orange

County Region of the American Cancer Society. Margo Ferris and Bruce

Peters are volunteering their time for “Orange County Gold Rush for a

Cure,” which will take place Oct. 22 at the Newport Dunes Waterfront

Resort in Newport Beach.

Proceeds from the event will benefit lifesaving research,

educational programs and patient services supported by the American

Cancer Society. Tickets to the fundraiser are $150 to $250.

Information: (949) 261-9446, or www.cancer.org.

* NEIGHBORS is news about Huntington Beach people achieving and

doing good in

the community. To submit information to this feature, please send

it to the Independent, Attn.: Neighbors, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa

Mesa, CA, 92626; fax it to

(714) 966-4667; or e-mail

it to hbindependent @latimes.com.