TEACHER OF THE YEAR   Temple Lodge No. 14 is the proud sponsor of the annual "Teacher of the Year" award for outstanding achievement in the Sonoma Valley. The goal of our Teacher of the year program is to continue a long Masonic tradition of support for public education, and to honor all members of the teaching profession. One of our ways of achieving that goal is to publicly honor a man or woman each year who has demonstrated excellence in teaching. Our criteria for selecting a Teacher of the Year are fairly simple. First, we look for experience; we want someone who has been teaching long enough to have honed their skills and established a solid reputation, and yet, after years in the classroom, still looks forward to going to work each morning. We look for talent: an ability to communicate in ways which make kids want to learn and strive to do their best. We look for dedication and commitment to innovation: teachers who are always looking for new ways of doing things, and who themselves continue to learn. We look also for loyalty - to their school and their community, but most importantly to their students. The following recipients, meet and greatly exceeds - each of these criteria. Stephanie Cusick STEPHANIE CUSICK 2007 TEACHER OF THE YEAR   The following excerpt is from the Teacher of the Year Award Address written and delivered on June 1, 2007 by David J. Reber, Past Master and Chairman of Temple Lodge No. 14 Public Schools Committee   Although born in Evanston, Illinois, Stephanie is a California girl, having been raised in both Northern and Southern California, graduating from Rolling Hills High School in Los Angeles County. She has lived in Sonoma for 29 years, with her husband, Glen, a construction manager, and their two children. Their son, Dr. Seric Cusick, is just now returning to Sonoma, along with his wife and their two children (with a third on the way); he is completing a fellowship at UC Irvine, and has accepted an appointment to the faculty of UC Davis Medical School. Daughter Leah followed in her father's footsteps, but on the East Coast: she is in construction management in Boston. Stephanie is a graduate of Sonoma State University, and received her teaching credential there in 1989. Immediately thereafter she become a substitute teacher for the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, and in 1991 became a permanent teacher. She has spent her career at El Verano Elementary School, teaching First Grade. Stephanie takes twenty kids every year, and gives them the gift and the freedom of the written word, the ability for the rest of their lives to learn, to think, to travel, to transcend, to image - the intellectual equivalent of walking erect. This she does patiently (how else does one deal with twenty six year olds all day long), animated by a love of children, motivated by the light in their eyes as they begin to master reading and writing, still as enthusiast as a neophyte after seventeen years in the classroom. It is those six year olds who keep Stephanie going, despite the bureaucracy, the politics, and the frustrations of public education...the light in those eyes, illuminating a future path full of possibility...all because of what happens in First Grade. Although few articulate it as such, universal education is the foundation of freedom and prosperity; that is the reason Freemasons support public education. That freedom and prosperity is a raging bonfire, enkindled first in the minds of small children, sparked by dedicated teachers like Stephanie Cusick. Each year, we conclude this address by reciting something found on posters and cards in many classrooms across America: "A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child." Each year, Temple Lodge No. 14 honors a Teacher of the Year who exemplifies that faith...faith that, even though they may never know it, they will have made a difference. This year, with pride, with pleasure, with our history of 156 years in Sonoma, Temple Lodge No. 14 honors Stephanie Cusick as the 2007 Sonoma Valley Teacher of the Year. We do so because with her we know our children are in good hands; we do so because, one hundred years from now, we indeed have faith that the world will be a better place because of Stephanie, and so many other fine teachers like her; we do so because, in the highest tradition of her profession, and the truest expression of humanity and faith, she epitomizes selfless devotion - to her community, to her school, to her students. Stephanie, today in this place, we have gathered your family, your friends, you colleagues, your students, and the brothers of this lodge to say, for your seventeen years in our classrooms, THANK YOU and WELL DONE. Ladies and gentlemen, our 2007 Sonoma Valley Teacher of the year, STEPHANIE CUSICK. Doris Estudillo DORIS ESTUDILLO 2006 TEACHER OF THE YEAR The following excerpt is from the Teacher of the Year Award Address written and delivered on June 2, 2006 by David J. Reber, Past Master and Chairman of Temple Lodge No. 14 Public Schools Committee   Doris Estudillo is a local, raised in Marin. She is a graduate of San Rafael High and Marin College, and earned a BA in Social Science from UC Berkeley. She resides in Sonoma with her husband of 34 years, Charlie Estudillo, and they have two grown daughters: Katie, an architectural designer in Santa Barbara, and newlywed Kristina, who is an environmental planning consultant. Doris and Charlie still live in the same home they helped build in 1978. Doris has spent her entire teaching career - all 28 years - in Sonoma Valley. She began at El Verano Elementary School, where she was a substitute before being hired as a full-time teacher at Flowery Elementary School, where she has spent the past 19 years, and where she now teaches 4th grade.  Listening to Doris Estudillo's colleagues speak of her is very much like thumbing through the "superlatives" listing in a thesaurus. Rather than point to any specific achievement, her co-workers describe someone who is dedicated and tireless, who cares about her students and does so many extra things for them, who still has a positive attitude and sense of fun about teaching, a teacher who just works really hard. If any of you have ever had an assignment to synthesize the essence of a long passage, you know how difficult such an exercise in summarization can be. Perhaps in the case of Mrs. Estudillo, such may be an easier task, for in the many compliments we heard from her colleagues, the two themes which animated their words and gave strength to their esteem were "compassion" and "professionalism."  Doris Estudillo's compassion for her students is readily apparent in the extra effort she puts forth. She started a homework club in her room, after school hours, recruiting high school students to come in and tutor Flowery children who need extra help. To provide enrichment in a fiscally challenged time, she just rolls up her sleeves and helps her students hold car washes on Saturdays, working alongside them so that they could earn money for field trips. When Mrs. Estudillo senses a child in need, she will call home and offer any help she can. Perhaps the most authentic expression of her dedication, she has become a mentor in the Stand By Me Mentoring Alliance, helping guide a 6th grade girl into a better life by again offering up her parental and pedagogical experience and wisdom, despite having shepherded her own children into honorable adulthood, and spending every working day of the past 19 years in a room of 9- and 10-year-olds. Professionalism can be defined as placing service above self, whether it is service to others, to organization, to country, or to God. Doris Estudillo's brand of professionalism is best illustrated by this comment from a former colleague: "She does what good teachers do...thinks of her kids first and how best to meet their needs." In other words, at a time when some teachers are burned out and thinking only of retirement, Doris Estudillo remains a consummate professional. Each year, we conclude this address by reciting something found on posters and cards in many classrooms across America: "A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child."  Each year, Temple Lodge honors a Teacher of the Year who exemplifies that faith...faith that, even though they may never know it, they will have made a difference. This year, with pride, with pleasure, with our history of 155 years in Sonoma, Temple Lodge honors Doris Estudillo as the 2006 Sonoma valley Teacher of the year. We do so because with her we know our children are in good hands; we do so because, one hundred years from now, we indeed have faith that the world will be a better place because of Doris Estudello, and so many other fine teachers like her; we do so because, in the highest tradition of her profession, and the truest expression of humanity and faith, she epitomizes selfless devotion - to her community, to her school, to her students. Doris, today, in this place, gather your family, your friends, your colleagues, your students, and the brothers of this lodge to say, for the 28 years in our classrooms, THANK YOU and WELL DONE.     Eileen Hale EILEEN HALE 2005 TEACHER OF THE YEAR The following excerpt is from the Teacher of the Year Award Address written and delivered on June 3, 2005 by David J. Reber Past Master and Chairman of Temple Lodge No. 14 Public Schools Committee Although born in Ohio, Eileen Hale grew up in Marin, graduating from redwood High School in Larkspur. She attended Southern Oregon College in Ashland, and then received both a degree and teaching credential from Sonoma State University. She first arrived at Prestwood as a student teacher for the 1970-71 school year. Clearly, she did well, because she was hired as a permanent teacher the next year, and has now spent an entire teaching career of 35 years at Prestwood. She has taught all grades except kindergarten and first, and now teaches a split 4th/5th grade class. She has achieved what few teachers ever do: honorary grandparenthood. By remaining at one school for an entire career, Eileen Hale is now teaching the children of former students. Mrs. Hale lives in Petaluma with her husband, Larry; they have two adult daughters, Alison and Joelle, and a 6 year old grandson, Jeremy, who, we are told, is doted on by his grandmother.  So what makes Mrs. Hale so special? What is her classroom like? These are the questions we ask of administrators, of fellow teachers, of students, of parents, and always of the person most knowledgeable in such matters: the school secretary. We received some wonderful responses to these questions. Mrs. Hale’s classroom, we found, is a place of challenge, a 30 x 30 space where complacency is never allowed in the door. Even after 3 ˝ decades teaching, Eileen Hale still looks for new and creative ways to teach, to make learning joyful, and to nurture the young souls in her charge. Her classroom brings the outside world in, and travels to the outside. She has for many years placed newspapers in her classroom on a daily basis, not only for reading enhancement but to stimulate curiosity about what happens outside Prestwood and outside Sonoma, and set her young charges on the road to informed citizenship. She has for many years coordinated outdoor education at Prestwood, taking classes of 5th graders on overnight or longer adventures to experience the outdoors and develop appreciation and respect for nature. Like every classroom of honorees past, we also noticed that Mrs. Hale’s classroom is an orderly place, maintained thus not so much by disciplinary authority as the authority of example and expectation. Mrs. Hale is never short of adult volunteers to help in her class because, as one volunteer told us, everyone wants to be a part of such a wonderful environment. It is not just her students who benefit. Resting on the laurels of seniority seems anathema to Eileen Hale; she does not hesitate to take new teachers under her wing, and her sense of humor often serves her colleagues as the antidote to the daily stress and tension of elementary school. A fine indication of Eileen Hale’s quiet excellence is that after 35 years – or roughly 6,370 class days, or around 1,025 students – Eileen Hale still looks forward to going to work each day. Although Prestwood is a school with many parent advocates, Eileen Hale has for 35 years been on a silent watch for those students who don’t have advocates, to unobtrusively inquire about their well-being, and then go to work getting them what they need – whether something as fundamental as food, as necessary as counseling, or as supportive as particular classes in middle school. Her advocacy sometimes speaks in the language of persistence; she has been known to call not just parents but grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, even neighbors to help one of her kids in need. There are students Eileen Hale has not just taught, but saved. One young student named David was bereft over the death of his father. Mrs. Hale took David under her wing, talking to him and bringing out his grief, eventually driving him to the Wilmar Center for Bereaved Children to be counseled, because his mother was unable to do so. This is why, year after year, former students – often adults – make a point of seeking out Mrs. Hale to tell her of their accomplishments in later life, very often crediting her with the motivation, even the very foundation, for their success.  Now, here’s a little secret Mrs. Hale has been known to share with her classes: she has always wanted to go to Hawaii. That little wish has been rippling in the intimate little pond which is Prestwood. One of Mrs. Hale’s former students, now in middle school, was vacationing in Hawaii with his family. He insisted on stopping everywhere they went so that he could shop for authentic Hawaiian items he could bring back to school, so he could share his Hawaiian experience with his favorite teacher. Perhaps even more illustrative of the reverence her students have for Mrs. Hale is this shameless commercial plug: there is an after school lemonade and cookie stand at 5th Street East and MacArthur being run by several of Mrs. Hale’s students (with their parents’ enthusiastic consent) to raise funds to send her to Hawaii. It is this youthful enterprise, more than any words we can possibly employ, which best describes the kind of teacher Eileen Hale is. And, judging from the faces in this room right now, it appears quite likely that a stand is going to have a significant surge in sales next week. Each year, we conclude this address by reciting something found on posters and cards in many classrooms across America:  “A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove…but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.” Each year, Temple Lodge honors a Teacher of the Year who exemplifies that faith…faith that, even though they may never know it, they will have made a difference. This year, with pride, with pleasure, with our history of 154 years in Sonoma, Temple Lodge names Eileen Hale the 2005 Sonoma Valley Teacher of the Year. We do so because with her we know our children are in good hands; we do so because, one hundred years from now, we indeed have faith that the world will be a better place because of Eileen Hale, and so many other fine teachers like her; we do so because, in the highest tradition of her profession, and the truest expression of humanity and faith, Eileen epitomizes selfless devotion – to her community, to her school, to her students.  Eileen, today, in this place, gather your family, your friends, your colleagues, your students, and the brothers of this lodge to say, for your 35 years in or classrooms, THANK YOU and WELL DONE.