Stefanie Frith Five year old Katie Senske...

Stefanie Frith

Five year old Katie Senske said she’s her favorite teacher.

Six year old Hannah Mishow said she helps her a lot and she’s nice.

Morgan Stewart, 6, said she likes her because she smiles.

There weren’t enough kind words available Sunday afternoon to describe

Eastbluff kindergarten teacher Amy Ball during a party in her honor. The

25-year-old teacher recently received the “Eastbluff Teacher of the Year”

award from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, and more than 60

parents and students gathered at parent Kim Mishow’s home in Newport

Beach Sunday to celebrate.

“She’s fabulous with the kids,” said Brian Stewart, Morgan’s father.

“She’s very patient and enthusiastic. She gives a ton of time to the

students and goes to their birthday parties and brings them presents on

their birthdays and at Christmas. Morgan talks about her more than any

other person she knows, I think.”

Ball said she is simply overwhelmed by the amount of attention and

support her 23 students and their families have given her. At the party

Sunday, banners hung in the front yard bearing the words

“Congratulations” and “We Love You Miss Ball.”

Shelley Sweeney, whose son, Thomas, is in Ball’s class, made a pink

sash for Ball to wear that read “Teacher of the Year.” Students and their

siblings even decorated their bikes and scooters with “We Love Miss Ball”

signs and had a bike parade with Ball serving as grand marshal.

Inside the house, another banner with pictures and handprints of each

of Ball’s students hung in the living room while a cake with her name was

ready to be cut.

“I couldn’t do this without the parents,” said Ball, adjusting a pink

plastic crown she had been given to wear by a student. “The parents are

incredible. This is really my dream job. I have wanted to be a

kindergarten teacher since I was three years old and I used to play

school with my dolls. These students are my family members.”

Ball grew up in Newport Beach, attending Harbor View Elementary and

graduating from Corona del Mar High School. She graduated from the

University of San Diego in 1999, immediately going to work for the newly

reopened Eastbluff Elementary School. She said being nominated for the

award so soon was very special.

“You get nominated by staff and parents and then you go through the

application process,” said Ball, pausing a moment to hug another student

who had been hovering nearby. “They ask you tons and tons of questions.

And then the district called my parents and they called me. They were so

happy for me.” She added that each school within the district has their

own separate teacher of the year award.

Ball’s parents, Julie and Dave Ball, and her sister, Lisa Ball, who

also attended the party, said they were all very excited and proud of

Ball.

“I think [my] mom’s more excited than she [Ball] is,” Lisa Ball said

with a laugh.

Denise Yue said her daughter Lauren, 6, cries when she is sick and

can’t go to school.

“She wants to go to school just to see Miss Ball,” Yue said. “She’s

really amazing. She gives a hug to every child before she lets them in

the classroom and she really knows them all so well. She takes care of

everything right away and is very concerned. She’s like an extended mom.

You really feel safe with her.”

Five year old Jack Gail said he just likes Ball because “she’s nice.”

“She makes me happy because she makes me smart,” he said.