COMMUNITY NEWS STUDENTS OFFERED FOR MILITARY ACADEMIES.

The following San Fernando Valley students have been nominated by Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, to attend U.S. military academies:

Michael Ahn of Granada Hills, Earl Lo of Northridge, Bryant Mata of Northridge, Michael Schwartz of Northridge and Brandon Scott of Chatsworth to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Ahn, Mata, Michael Maxwell of Burbank, Nadir Montano of Reseda, and Schwartz and Scott were nominated to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.

Ahn, Mata, Schwartz, and Michael Kim and Shant Shahnazarian of Northridge to U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

Lo and Mata also were nominated for the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y.

Los Angeles sheriff's Deputy Sgt. Brian Moriguchi earned the Anti- Defamation League's annual Sherwood Prize For Combating Hate awarded to those who fight the number and severity of hate crimes in their community.

Moriguchi has been with the department's Hate Crimes Task Force in the Antelope Valley since 1998. He was instrumental in educating his co-workers about the Sikh community, whose members became victims of increased hate crimes after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In 2005, the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission selected him as the co-chairman of the Network Against Hate program for a two-year term.

The Sherwood Prize ceremony is held annually at the Skirball Cultural Center.

Chatsworth High School students won three of four categories at the recent Nation Reflections PTA Program Competition. Nearly 300 students from across the Valley entered the contest, whose theme this year was ``I Wonder Why?''

Sophomore Julianna Taylor Chavez won the literature category with her piece, ``I Wonder Why Children Don't Want to Grow up.'' Senior Brian Cho won in music with his piano composition. And sophomore Breanne Lynn Gaytan won for photography with her presentation, ``Lives of Freedom and Justice.'' Yi-Chen Lin of Granada Hills High School won the Visual Arts category.

``This was a real-life topic, and when I won I was very happy,'' Gaytan said.

The PTA Reflections Program has encouraged millions of students to explore their artistic talents since 1969. Students at all grade levels submit entries in the four categories, and each PTA school has judging. Those who won in the San Fernando Valley will now go to the state competition, and the winners there will go on to the national level.

For the seventh consecutive year, students from Sutter Middle School delivered Valentine gift bags to and visited with senior citizens of Northridge Pointe Chalet.

Homeroom teachers Nancy Potempo and Nancy Rattner organized the event and said many of their 12-year-old students said it was the best Valentine's Day they'd ever had.

``It was a great blending of young and old,'' Potempo said. ``Nobody listens to our kids, and nobody talks to our seniors.''