VALLEY COLLEGE FORENSIC TEAM IS TALK OF THE TOWN.

Byline: DIANA PEYTON Community Columnist

Members of the Los Angeles Valley College forensic team have returned from the International Public Speaking Championships held in Prague, Czechoslovakia, with Fleur Forsyth placing 7th in the persuasive speaking category.

The new group was formed in September by advisers Jim Dobson and Duane Smith, who said that when he was a student at Valley College nearly a decade ago, the speech team changed his life.

``I had a 1.9 grade-point average and failed out of four junior colleges. Then I enrolled in LAVC and met (speech professor) Betty Ballew, and it changed my life,'' said Smith, who also teaches at Antelope Valley College and California State University, Los Angeles.

``I joined the speech team at LAVC and in 1992 and 1993 competed nationally and all over the state. It won me a full scholarship to Northern Arizona University.''

Adrienne Zahler, chairwoman of the Speech Communication Department at LAVC, asked Smith to initiate the program two weeks before the start of the semester this year. ``He's a beacon in the sometimes hazy background of education ... He really shines,'' she said.

At NAU, Smith met Dobson, also attending on a speech scholarship. Dobson happened to be moving into town at the time Smith was asked to start the program at LAVC.

Both men teach at AVC and had no students at Valley College when they took on the part-time adviser work. They convinced 26 AVC students to transfer and join the team. Since then, the team has competed in eight tournaments, taking 26 separate awards.

In April at the Phi Rho Pi National Championships in Jacksonville, Fla., team member Jeff Rector won a gold medal for prose interpretation of literature, and Reanna Irving won a silver medal for informative speaking.

The group's most improved speaker of the year is Josh Haley.

``They're hungry, and they work hard,'' Smith said.

Independence High School student Peter Gend has been honored with the People's Choice Award in the national Portfolio Review Competition of the Art Institutes.

Gend will receive an Apple computer donated by Saytek for his artwork.

The Reseda youth is also the recipient of a $3,000 regional semifinalist and first-place scholarship from the Art Institute of Los Angeles.

His portfolio can be seen online at www.artinstitutes.edu/.

San Fernando Valley students have been given recognition for their academic achievements.

Eighth-grade students Jeff Neal and Colleen Ibanez from St. Francis Xavier School in Burbank have been nominated to the California Junior Scholarship Federation Outstanding Student Award program.

Another student, Orietta Velasquez, has been named a United States Achievement Academy National Award winner. She is a student at Coutin School in Canoga Park.

Rachel Stone is a Dean's Scholar at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

Fulbright Elementary School teacher Bianca Sanchez graduated from Pepperdine University last week with a master of arts degree in education. The 22-year-old is a former Miss Honduras, holding the title for 1999-2000. Sanchez is the youngest in her graduating class.

Kirsten Shourt, a resident of Sherman Oaks, is on the Dean's List at St. Olaf College. The sophomore is an American studies major.

Eleven teens from the Valley were awarded scholarships from the Bank of America for academic achievement.

A first-place, $2,000 scholarship was given to Michelle Young from Providence High school.

Second-place, $1,500 winners are Nassira Nicola of James Monroe High School, and Hye Park of Herbert Hoover High School.

Third-place $1,000 awards were given to Devora Kalma of Grant High School, Cassandra Nickols of Van Nuys High School, and Tina Minh of Flintridge High School.

Finalists receiving $500 included Naris Mardirosian of Glendale High School, Jennifer Ingram of Verdugo High School, Sheila Laqui of Flintridge High, Artemis Deravanesian of Herbert Hoover High and Rebekah Graham of Village Christian High School.