Pasadena Rotary Club Names the 2016 Pasadena Unified “Teachers of Excellence”

The Rotary Club of Pasadena will honor the 2016 Teachers of Excellence Awards on May 18, 2016.  Lunch, meeting and presentation begins at 12 p.m. at the University Club of Pasadena, 175 N. Oakland Ave., Pasadena. The public is welcome to attend no reservations necessary check in at registration. Luncheon tickets are $31.

Pasadena Rotary Club is embarking on its 26th annual Teachers of Excellence Award Program together with the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD). The program ‘s genesis was the product of hard work and dedication on the part of Pasadena Rotary’s honored members, Joe Lonergan, celebrating his 56th year with the club, Al Lowe, and Christle Balvin, among others. They were inspired by the story of Jaime Escalante, the charismatic former East Los Angeles high school teacher who taught the nation that inner-city students could master subjects as demanding as calculus.

This year, the Rotary will honor the following PUSD teachers.

Consuelo Galvez – Marshall Fundamental
Natalie Palma – Field Elementary School
Laura Palmer – Sierra Madre Elementary
Beth Strehl – McKinley School
Sarah Thalmann – Marshall Fundamental

“Congratulations to these five exceptional educators who engage students and families in the learning process, stay focused on student learning, plan purposefully, and work relentlessly so that our students reach their full potential,” said PUSD Superintendent Brian McDonald. “I appreciate the Rotary’s support and recognition of our teachers, students, and schools.”

The goal of the program is to foster and encourage excellence in teaching and dedication to education in the Pasadena Unified School District. In addition, Rotary wishes to demonstrate in a concrete way that the community cares about the quality of public schools by conducting a competition to select those exceptional teachers that deserve special recognition.

With funding, primarily from the Pasadena Rotary Foundation, as well as the club’s budget, and contributions from individual members, awards of $1,500.00 are given each year to five teachers from the Pasadena Unified School District.  The sum of $500.00 is presented to each recipient’s school.  As a special part of the event, videos of classroom activity will be shown for each teacher.  Finally, we ensure that both Middle School and High School Teachers are among the five recipients.

Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide to provide humanitarian service and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. It is comprised of 1.2 million members working in more than 33,000 clubs in 200 countries and geographic regions.

The Pasadena Rotary Club has over 200 members that meet at a weekly at the University Club Pasadena with amazing, dedicated members contributing to the well-being and growth of the community, region, and world.

Pasadena Rotary will host a fundraiser on August 18 at the Pasadena Museum of California Art which is open to the public to help raise funds to support its programs, some include:  Happy Feet (providing shoes at the start of a school year for PUSD elementary school students); Adopt-A-School; Dan Stove Music Contest; 4-way Speech Contest; Community Grants; Done In A Day; Toy Drive; RYLA -Teen Leadership; Project Corazon Super Build; and Teachers of Excellence to name a few.

More information on Rotary Club of Pasadena visit www.pasadenarotary.com or (626) 440-0908.