Manteca Soroptimists celebrated the achievements of women and girls in the community and presented scholarships during the annual awards night.

The annual event at the Manteca Senior Center spotlights women that are out in the community making a difference in the lives of others.

Loretta Tefertiller with the health services department at Manteca Unified School District received the Soroptimist Ruby Award For Women Helping Women.

This award honors women who have worked to improve the lives of women and girls through their professional and/or volunteer work.

Tefertiller has had a career in nursing for over 35 years, 17 years of which have been with Manteca Unified. Part of her work is dealing with pregnant or parenting teens. Her knowledge and love of babies and young people helped solidify her position.

She teaches the “Mommy and Me” classes which provide education on prenatal, infant development and nutrition, how to access services in the community, as well as general parenting information. By helping these teenage girls become better parents, she is helping to make better families and citizens in our community.

Another important aspect of Tefertiller’s work is her Teen Parent Panel, where she took a group of young mothers – and even some fathers – to classrooms to share with other students the life changes associated with becoming sexually active and pregnant while still in your teens.

The Woman of Distinction Award went to Caroline Thibodeau, who serves as director of health services for Manteca Unified.

The Woman of Distinction Award is presented to a woman who has made outstanding achievements in their professional, business or volunteer activities related to one or more of the six Soroptimist programs of service.

Thibodeau has been dedicated to the practice of nursing for the past 40 years. For the past 20 years her focus has been in a K-12 setting at Manteca Unified. She is an advanced practice nurse specializing in family practice and also a credentialed school nurse. She has been honored with a number of awards and recognitions, including most recently School Nurse of the Year for Northern California. She is a Vietnam veteran and retired U.S. Army Colonel after 24 years of service.

Katelyn Carbiener received the Violet Richardson Award.

This award recognizes young women between the ages of 14 and 17 who volunteer in the community or school.

Carbiener is a senior at Sierra High School and is commended for the following areas of service in her church and community:

•Assistant director of kids’ choir for The United Lutheran Church. She participates in planning and performance of all music groups including the adult choir, hand bell choir and praise team.

•Manages large group of children during vacation bible school

•Participates in Operation Christmas Child that reached distant parts of the world.

•Assists the Handicapped Wheelers.

Alison Haynes received the Women’s Opportunity Award.

This program assists women with primary financial responsibility for their families to obtain the skills training and education necessary to improve their employment status and standard of living for themselves and their family.

Haynes’ primary goal is to become a pharmacist. A couple of years ago she had been called to help out in the pharmacy at Rite Aid and assist as they became extremely busy. By working at Rite Aid and seeing what pharmacist’s day-to-day activities are, it has made her more driven. Since June 2010 she has been attending San Joaquin Delta College and is taking pharmacy pre-requisites in order to transfer to University of the Pacific where she will earn her degree in Pharmacology. She is also studying to earn her certification as a Medical Office Assistant. She would like to have the opportunity to become a medical office assistant and gain an experience in the medical field while she is working on her pharmacy pre-requisites.

The 2011 high school scholarship recipients are:

•East Union High: Sierra Freeman ($1,000) & Cassandra Waggy ($750)

•Manteca High: Joselyn Aguilar ($1,000) & Trisha Patel ($500)

•Lathrop High: Jorvic Ramos ($1,000)

•Sierra High: Ann McFerran ($1,000

•Calla High: Carottinia Willard ($500)

•Betty Bergthold Scholarship Award Winner: Manteca High’s Dallas Mould ($2,000).