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Humboldt Education Foundation Announces Teacher of the Year Awards

Humboldt Education Foundation Honors 11 Teachers In Humboldt Unified School District

Eleven teachers covering all nine schools in the Humboldt Unified School District were honored Tuesday night, March 26th, at the 20th annual Humboldt Education Foundation Humboldt Unified School District Teacher of the Year Awards Banquet.

Granville Elementary fifth grade teacher Joshua Schreiner and student Kodie Scharrer (left), Bradshaw Mountain High School CTE Teacher David Capka and student Taylor Shivers (right). Photo by Torrence Dunham / Signals.

Students at each school nominate a teacher by writing a letter and each individual school decides the winning teacher and student. The nomination is then sent on to the Humboldt Education Foundation board that picks two teachers, one covering the kindergarten through sixth grade level and another covering the seventh through twelfth grade level, for the respective Teacher of the Year awards.

Granville Elementary fifth grade teacher Joshua Schreiner won this year’s Teacher of the Year for the K-6 grade levels, while Bradshaw Mountain High School CTE Teacher David Capka was awarded Teacher of the Year for 7-12th grade.

“I just appreciate the district having such great faculty, staff members, administration and students,” Capka said after being named Teacher of the Year. “I’ve worked in three districts and this is probably by far the best district I’ve been at.”

At the awards ceremony, the student who nominated the teacher reads aloud their letter to a packed room filled with community sponsors, Humboldt Education Foundation board members and Humboldt Unified School District staff.

Taylor Shivers nominated Capka because of his continued support.

“He’s just been supportive since day one and I’ve just connected with him as a teacher and as an individual,” Shivers said. “If you don’t have those teachers that you can connect with and feel comfortable with and talk to, then the years go by and feel worthless.”

Meanwhile, Granville Elementary School student Kodie Scharrer nominated Schreiner for the award.

“He’s really nice and he is always there for me,” Scharrer said. “He takes the time to get to know every student and doesn’t just teach us about social studies. He teaches us other important lessons. It’s good to know what goes on in the real world and to be prepared.”

A teacher for twelve years, six in the Humboldt Unified School District, Schreiner incorporates life lessons into his curriculum.

“You try to take relationships and take connections you have with students and you try to show them that hidden curriculum, not only the curriculum you’re teaching in your classroom but you’re also teaching manners, you’re teaching respect,” Schreiner said. “That’s what you’re trying to do and a lot of students hang onto them.”

“Just having the nomination is flattering, it takes your breath away to be nominated and be here with such fine educators,” Schreiner continued.

As a Humboldt Education Foundation Board Member, teacher and a parent, Lydia Cademartori enjoys hearing the students read aloud the letters they wrote to nominate their favorite teachers.

“I just really like that we are able to hear it from the student’s voice,” Cademartori said. “That was the best part, reading through those letters and just hearing the love they have for education, which is the whole goal. We want them to love learning. We want them to love school…it touches your heart.”

Each nominee got $100, while the two Teacher of the Year winners received $250 each.

Below is all the nominations from across the school district.

SCHOOL TEACHER STUDENT NOMINATOR
Coyote Springs Elementary Jennifer Ruiz Madison Goodwin
Granville Elementary Joshua Schreiner Kodie Scharrer
Humboldt Elementary Melissa Walker Serenity Smith
Lake Valley Elementary Morgan Petersen Kaleb Jordan
*Liberty Traditional School Troy Carreras Emma Tucker
*Liberty Traditional School Jason Redmon Madison Fugitt
Mountain View Elementary Shannon Gansz Russell Parks
Bradshaw Mountain Middle School Bryan Tubera Matthew Pruitt
Glassford Hill Middle School Diane Peters Jessi James
*Bradshaw Mountain High School Nancy Vallely Margarita Cruz-Carillo
*Bradshaw Mountain High School David Capka  Taylor Shivers
*Liberty Traditional School had two due to covering both grade levels, while Bradshaw Mountain High School has two because of faculty size.
Photo Gallery by Torrence Dunham / Signals

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