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Riverside County Teachers of the Year selected
Kenneth M. Young, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools, today (May 28, 2008) announced the 2009 Riverside County Teachers of the Year. “These individuals represent the thousands of outstanding educators in Riverside County,” Young said. “They provide extraordinary service to their students, schools and communities. We salute each and every one of them.” The teachers are:
Sunny Kaura has taught science at Centennial High School in the Corona-Norco Unified School District for 10 years. He is currently teaching Oceanography, Natural Science, AP Environmental Science, and Astronomy. He has a bachelor of science and master’s degree in science from UCR, a teaching credential from University of Redlands. He is a member of the Corona-Norco Teachers Association, the California Teachers Association, is the Science Club Advisor, Science Fair Coordinator, Golden Bell winner, and recipient of a $10,000 award from BP Energy. Nominators said he “has a real burden for all students to succeed and is able to help them reach that goal."
Katie Kearney teaches 7th Grade Language Arts at James Day Middle School in the Temecula Valley Unified School District. She has 22 years of teaching experience, 10 of them at James Day. She has a bachelor’s degree from CSU Sacramento, and a master’s degree in school administration from National University in San Diego. She wrote a manual “Five Elements to Creative Writing” which is used in Temecula, Poway and Coachella schools, wrote a Math Replacement Units and presented at workshops, and has a GATE certificate. Nominators said she is a “Super Teacher . . . failure is not an option in Katie’s classroom . . . she plans lessons around students’ needs. She consistently goes the extra mile for her students.”
Loredana Wicketts teaches third grade at Eisenhower Elementary School in the Corona-Norco Unified School District. She has 12 years of teaching experience, four of them at Eisenhower. She has a bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly Pomona, and a master’s degree in education from the Claremont Graduate School. She is a literacy coordinator, member of the National Honor Society, Project Wild and the Reading Success Network. Nominators said she “identifies with the English Learner students and the challenges they face . . . the warmth and caring she gives her students is unsurpassed . . . she is diligent and does whatever it takes for her students to reach their highest potential. She refuses to let a child not be successful.”
These three teachers will represent more than 20,000 teachers from Riverside County’s 23 local school districts in the 2009 California Teacher of the Year competition. Winners are typically announced in November. Five state winners will be chosen. One of the state winners will enter the National Teacher of the Year contest, to be announced next May. Winners are chosen by a committee, which includes former Teachers of the Year. The selection is based on information from nominators and site visits. Locally, the 2009 Riverside County Teachers of the Year will be honored with administrators, confidential and classified employees in May 2009 at the Celebrating Educators event held in Riverside.
For information contact:
Rick Peoples,
Public Information Officer
Telephone: (951) 826-6642
Fax: (951) 826-6199
rpeoples@rcoe.us
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