Teachers Honored for Excellence

El Camino Real High School’s Ron Sima and Hale Middle School’s Jacqueline Kodish were among 24 Los Angeles Unified School District teachers recognized at the recent Los Angeles Excellence in Education Awards ceremony.

Sima, 59, a history teacher at the high school in Woodland Hills, was nominated by former student John Elder, whose two-page nominating essay cited Sima’s accessibility and wisdom.

“I was very touched,” Sima said.

A teacher for 38 years, Sima is known for introducing the popular Humanitas program to the campus 10 years ago when he joined the staff. Developed at Cleveland High School in Reseda in the 1980s, the program integrates history, science and English with planned units among five teachers. Study includes trips to such places as the theater, Chinatown and even Hollywood’s House of Blues for a music lesson.

“The classroom has no walls,” Sima said. “[My students’] amazement is exciting to me. It’s like . . . showing something to someone who has never seen these things before.”

Sima said he hopes students develop an “enthusiasm for learning and that they see connections between subjects and ideas.”

Kodish, 52, has been a teacher at Hale Middle School in Woodland Hills for 10 years. She said she was surprised to discover she had been nominated by Heidi Choi, a quiet eighth-grader she taught five years ago. Choi wrote in her nominating essay that Kodish had been “an unforgettable teacher in my life.”

“Sometimes, you never know when you affect a child,” Kodish said.

Choi landed in Kodish’s English as a second language class soon after her family emigrated from Korea.

“The language barrier was difficult,” Kodish said of the 10 languages spoken in the class.

She found ways to break through, including drawing pictures on the chalkboard to communicate thoughts and ideas.

“I tried to empathize with what the kids were going through, to make them feel comfortable and that everyone in the class was in the same boat.”

Kodish, who still teaches English and reading, called the award an honor.

“[It’s] one of those things that makes you want to keep teaching,” she said.

The winners were selected from more than 500 teachers and counselors nominated by students from elementary, middle and high schools. The awards are sponsored by the Fulfillment Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides mentoring, internships, college counseling and scholarships to promising disadvantaged students.

Other Valley teachers honored were Volia Aguire and Diana Sweeney, North Hollywood High School; Terry Fischer and Scott Holloway, El Camino Real High School; and Harold Soo Hoo, San Fernando High School.

KUDOS

No Debate: Nassira Nicola, 16, and Daniel Olmos, 17, both of James Monroe High School in North Hills, took second place and $2,500 each in the national Barbara Jordan Youth Debates on Health Competition held recently in Oregon.

The two spent months developing pro and con arguments on the topic of parental responsibility for children’s violent crimes.

“The atmosphere was electric,” Nassira said of the estimated 600 people in the audience at Portland’s Convention Center. “The competition was intense.”

Two-person teams from Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Oakland, Kansas City and Pittsburgh participated in the competition named for the late Texas congresswoman, who was an avid debater in her youth. The Pittsburgh team took first place.

Out of Africa: Alicia Onadja, a teacher from Canoga Park’s Christopher Columbus Middle School has won a J. William Fulbright grant to teach English as a second language during the upcoming school year in Benin, West Africa.

Onadja, who has worked as a Peace Corps lecturer in West Central Africa, has taught ESL in Los Angeles Unified School District since 1992. The Fulbright program, developed in 1946, has given nearly a quarter of a million students and professionals the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research abroad.

Valuable Essays: Thao B. Tran, a senior at Granada Hills/CSUN Magnet High School, and Betty Wong, a senior at North Hollywood High School Highly Gifted Magnet, were among 12 L.A. Unified high school seniors who won $1,000 in the American Honda/Mario J. Machado Academic Scholarship Essay contest.

The students were asked to write on one of three topics--honesty, respect and responsibility.

PROGRAM NOTES

The Cultural Academic Student Exchange is looking for families to host students from abroad for the 2000-2001 school year. Visiting students come from countries such as Brazil, Germany, Spain and Thailand, and they all speak English. Call (877) 846-5848 for information.

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