Salmon Creek — Dora Hernandez and Julie Hanke were presented with Distinguished Woman of the Year awards by Washington State University Vancouver on March 31. Hernandez, who won the student award, is president of the Latin@Association and a student diversity peer mentor. Hanke works as a case manager for the Vancouver School District Teen Parent Program. In 2006, Hanke opened a homeless shelter for pregnant and parenting teens called Vida’s Ark. Rebekah Juhala and Golnaz Irooni Koloushani received honorable mention awards in the student category and Pavithra Narayanan and Rhona Sen Hoss received honorable mentions in the nonstudent category. Other nominees included April Lappin, Katherine Olson, Jennifer Ortiz, Tahira Probst, Patricia Sayer and Suzanne Turnauer.
