Former Miss Stanislaus wins runner-up for state

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Jenna Michelle Harvey, who was Miss Stanislaus County in 2004, won first runner-up in the Miss California 2009 contest, held June 27 in Fresno.

The 23-year-old Davis resident, newly graduated from the University of California at Davis, competed as Miss Silicon Valley.

In a letter to family and friends, Harvey referred to this year's competition as her "third time's a charm trip." In addition to representing Stanislaus County in 2004, she competed last year as Miss Central Valley Coast Regional.

Modesto Bee - Jenna Harvey, 21, of Modesto. X-File feature. Thursday, July 17, 2008. (Debbie Noda/The Modesto Bee)

Miss Yosemite Valley, 21-year-old Kristy Cavender of Orange, was chosen by judges to represent California in the Miss America Pageant in January in Las Vegas.

More than 50 women competed this year in the Miss California contest. It included four days of competition and featured the top dozen women showing off their talents by dancing, singing and playing instruments, as well as displaying their physical fitness in swimsuit competition and their glamour in evening wear. The top five had to think on their feet by answering onstage questions posed by Miss California 2001 Stephanie Baldwin.

Harvey, a 2004 graduate of Beyer High School, has done volunteer work in Costa Rica and Romania. Her Miss California platform was global volunteerism. In the competition, the pianist won a talent award and the $1,000 Miss America Outstanding Community Service Award.

Yosemite National Park archaeologist Laura Kirn won the 2009 Goucher College Master of Arts in Historic Preservation Alumnae Prize as the outstanding first-year student in the historic preservation graduate program. Goucher is a private college in Baltimore.

Kirn, a 1981 graduate of Mariposa County High School, holds a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Santa Clara University and works for the National Park Service in Yosemite as branch chief for anthropology and archaeology.

The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors has appointed Jaime Lomeli Jr. to an interim seat on the South Modesto Municipal Advisory Council and Connie Fiscalini Pires to the Stanislaus County Free Library Advisory Committee for a three-year term.

In business:

The National Certification Council for Activity Professionals has awarded Turlock resident Diana Lynn Kaysen a national activity director certificate. She earned specialization designations for assisted living facilities and educator. Kaysen is an activity director at St. Thomas Retirement Center in Turlock.

The Ronald V. "Bud" Stone Most Inspirational honor was recently awarded to Audrey Hermanson, a Realtor with Prudential California Realty Modesto. The award is named in honor of the firm's co-founder.

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