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Kari Churchill
Educator of year selections go to Giles,Churchill
By Moryt Milo
Two teachers from the Campbell Union High School District are nominees for the Educator of the Year award.
The teachers, Susan Giles, a business instructor at Del Mar High School and Kari Churchill, an English teacher at Prospect High School, were stunned to receive letters from Region V California League of High Schools informing them of the nomination.
"I was shocked and highly flattered," said Churchill, who was nominated by Jennifer Paxton, an English teacher at Del Mar High School and someone Churchill mentored.
Churchill, an educator for more than a decade, said her teaching strength comes from becoming a teacher late in life. She chose teaching in her 30s, after enlisting in the Air Force and serving in Vietnam, working various jobs and becoming a mother.
Churchill, who has taught at Prospect High School for three years, believes in teaching her students to keep their options open when deciding what to do after high school. She expects them to finish high school with a strong sense of purpose and describes many of her students as going through transitions, calling them "Welcome Back, Kotter kids"--referring to the 1970s television comedy about students who were underachievers with lots of potential.
Susan Giles
Giles, who was nominated by Del Mar High School Principal Dr. Lisa Udell, was also surprised by the nomination.
"I was so surprised and totally humbled by the nomination," she says. "When I think of the woman who won last year--Del Mar High School teacher Linda Goyta, who taught for more than 25 years--I felt totally undeserving when comparing myself to her."
With a background in business education, Giles took the school bank--the high school bank account, which is used by teachers and clubs for various school funded activities--and organized it. Udell said the school bank was in disarray from high staff turnover .
Giles has been involved in education for more than two decades.
She teaches classes in beginning and advanced accounting and record keeping to 66 students per week and thinks that basic record keeping should be a school prerequisite.
The educators will be honored at a Region V dinner on May 22 at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas. The region, which includes Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties, selected 10 nominees.
One of the 10 nominees will be chosen to represent Region V at the annual California League of High Schools state conference, in Monterey Dec. 6.
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Campbell, California
