Tice Creek Teacher Named Teacher Of The Year

WALNUT CREEK, CA — Tice Creek School teacher Kari Stewart was recently named CCCOE’s Teacher of the Year (TOY). Stewart, who teaches 5th grade, received a visit from Contra Costa County Office of Education Superintendent of Schools Karen Sakata who personally congratulated her. Previously, Stewart taught at Buena Vista Elementary and Walnut Creek Intermediate.

“As a genetics major at UC Davis, I went to the career center in my junior year to find an internship,” reminisces Stewart. “I could work in a research lab, in forensics with the coroner’s office or shadow a genetics counselor. But my eyes kept being drawn to a posting for an at-risk tutor position at a junior high school in Dixon. I was a science major and needed to get in a lab, yet the prospect of working with 13-14 year olds seemed beckoning. When it finally came down to a decision between a pathology lab at the coroner’s office or tutoring, to my own amazement, I picked at-risk kids in Dixon. For the next three months I worked one-on-one with struggling students, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Stewart adds: “After this experience I began to wonder if teaching might be something I might be interested in. I did love science and thought it might be great to turn other children on to the subject I enjoyed so much. I spent the next two months at the local junior high school helping in a 7th grade science classroom with an amazing teacher.” Following this experience Stewart was sold, and the following year after graduation she applied to Saint Mary’s College to obtain her teaching credential.

Two other Walnut Creek teachers have been honored this year.

• Walnut Creek History Teacher Named Teacher of the Year
• Walnut Creek Teacher Named Teacher of the Year

On the evening of September 28, 2017, the 22 Contra Costa County TOYs, class of 2017-18, will be introduced and honored at the annual Teacher of the Year Dinner Celebration, held at the Concord Hilton. A crowd of some 500 are expected to attend.

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Throughout the school year, Superintendent Sakata makes it a point to visit each incoming TOY in their classrooms, prior to the Dinner Celebration. This is a great way for her to meet the teachers and their students, as well as take in the day’s lesson plan. When individually introducing the TOYs at the Dinner Celebration, Sakata will tell the audience about her visit and will quote one or two of the students’ remarks about their revered teacher.

Currently, there are approximately 8,400 teachers educating more than 176,000 students in Contra Costa County’s public schools. To recognize their efforts and bring much-deserved honor to the teaching profession, the participating school districts in the county named their TOY representatives in mid March. The incoming 22 TOYs represent 17 Contra Costa County school districts, the Contra Costa Community College District, and the Contra Costa County Office of Education (CCCOE). Most of these representatives, those who teach grades K thru 12, are eligible to compete in the Contra Costa County TOY competition. The two top teachers in the county TOY program will represent Contra Costa County in the California State TOY Program this coming fall.

-Photo caption: (l-r) Tice Creek School Principal Connie McCarley teacher Kari Stewart, Contra Costa County Superintendent of Schools Karen Sakata.

-Photo Credit: Terry Koehne, CCCOE

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