Pasadena Rotary to Honor 5 Pasadena Unified Teachers with Awards, Grants

Five Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) teachers will be honored beginning at noon Wednesday, May 4, during the Rotary Club of Pasadena’s 32nd Annual Teachers of Excellence Award Ceremony.

The educators were screened by a selection committee composed of Rotarians, previous award recipients, and a former PUSD teacher and administrator. The nomination packages included three essays from each nominee and three essays from their respective principals. Top finalists were first chosen and interviewed by the committee via Zoom, in lieu of the in-class evaluations that are typically conducted.

The five winners who will be honored are Erik Delgadillo from Sierra Madre Middle School, Anqi Deng from Field Elementary, Amethyst Juknavorian from Don Benito Fundamental, Ana Negrete from Alexander Hamilton Elementary, and Bharatchandra Parekh from John Muir Early College Magnet.

Congresswoman Judy Chu and PUSD Superintendent Brian McDonald will be joining the program as special guests.

The Rotary Club’s annual Teachers of Excellence Award Program fosters, encourages and recognizes excellence in teaching and dedication to public education at PUSD. Each Teacher of Excellence is awarded $1,500, with an additional $500 being awarded to their schools. Funding is provided by the Pasadena Rotary Foundation. The awardees additionally receive recognition from city and state officials.

The program started in 1990, a product of hard work and dedication on the part of Pasadena Rotary’s members Joe Lonergan, Al Lowe and Christle Balvin, among others. Their inspiration came from Jaime Escalante, the former East Los Angeles high school teacher who believed inner-city students could master subjects as demanding as calculus.

The May 4 meeting is open to the public with a reservation required; lunch charge is $40/person. RSVP to office@pasadenarotary.com. This meeting will also be available via zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85447667313?pwd=YmFGZnpIOGNMdWYyc2lEc29vTm9kUT09

Meeting ID: 854 4766 7313. Passcode: 036132

Rotary International 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 35,000 clubs in 200 countries and geographic regions providing over 16 million volunteer hours each year.

Rotary Club of Pasadena celebrated its Centennial year in 2020 and raised over $180,000 at the Centennial Ball. For our Centennial Project, we donated $75,000 to the Union Station Homeless Services to renovate their kitchen. We have 200 members that meet weekly at the University Club Pasadena with amazing, dedicated members contributing to the well-being and growth of the community, region, and world. Committees Include: Fight to Erase Polio, Dan Stove Music Contest; 4-way Speech Contest; Community Grants; International Projects; Done In A Day; Toy Drive; Shop with a Cop; and Teachers of Excellence to name a few as well as fun social events. Pasadena is the oldest and largest Rotary Club in the San Gabriel Valley and is part of District 5300. www.pasadenarotary.com