Golden Acorn award winners named Golden Acorn award winners named (October 27, 2004)

A science teacher, a Kiwanis volunteer, the owner of a stationery shop, a college freshman, and a school foundation: these are the latest winners of the Golden Acorn Awards from the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce.

This is the 32nd year for the annual awards, which honor groups and individuals that make "outstanding contributions" to the Menlo Park community, said chamber president and CEO Fran Dehn.

The awards will be given out at an October 28 dinner.

John Akers, a science teacher at La Entrada School, has been tapped for the education and public service award. He has 30 years of teaching experience and is said to be "masterful at using real-world applications and engaging students in their learning," Ms. Dehn said.

Longtime Menlo Park resident Ed Brandle, a member of the Kiwanis Club of Menlo Park, is receiving the Gary T. and Elissa Williams Memorial Award for Community Service. Mr. Brandle has spent hundreds of volunteer hours supporting scholarship programs at Menlo-Atherton High School and also works to find safe refuges for battered women, Ms. Dehn said.

Kerry Hoctor, the owner of Village Stationers, has been chosen for the Albert J. Giannotti Award for Business Excellence. Chamber officials praise him for his store's personal service and for his work mentoring small business owners.

The chamber's community service scholarship will go to Shoshauna Baer, who graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School and now attends the University of California at Berkeley. She is being honored for her academic achievements as well as her self-discipline and leadership, for which she credits her ballet training, Ms. Dehn said.

In addition, the Menlo Park-Atherton Education Foundation has been chosen for the chamber's nonprofit organization award. The foundation has raised more than $10 million over the last 20 years for the four schools in the Menlo Park City School District, according to the chamber.

INFORMATION

The Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce will hold its Golden Acorn Awards dinner Thursday, October 28, at the Quadrus Conference Center's main meeting room at 2400 Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park. Social hour begins at 6 p.m. and the dinner at 7 p.m. The event is open to the public at $65 a person. For more information, call the chamber at 325-2818.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.