MILLENNIUM MOMENT

The director of Costa Mesa’s Save Our Youth (SOY) Center, Oscar

Santoyo, is committed to helping local kids grow into happy, responsible

adults. To push them onward, Santoyo, who took the helm at SOY in 1993,

created a scholarship program to ensure that kids earn strong marks in

school.

Santoyo grew up in Costa Mesa, attending Estancia High School and OCC.

He recently was forced to endure a head-shaving in fulfillment of a

promise he made to kids who come to the SOY center.

“I told these kids that if they raised their grade point average I

would shave my head,” Santoyo said. “They gave me a ‘Mr. T’ cut. It

looked pretty awful, but a deal’s a deal.”

* MILLENNIUM MOMENT celebrates the people who have made a major

contribution to the Newport-Mesa community during this century.