COUNTYWIDE : 4 Teachers Finalists for State Honor

Four Orange County teachers have been selected as finalists in the 1992 California Teacher of the Year program.

The finalists are:

* Bonnie Sharp, an English teacher at Columbus Tustin Middle School in the Tustin Unified School District.

Sharp has been with the district for 20 years and has organized and led many activities on campus, including the Peer Assistance Leadership program, the ecology program and the school’s Academic Olympics program.

“I’m there for kids, and that has to show through,” Sharp said Monday. “I’m always ready and willing to go the extra mile.”

* Gena Chrisco, a Garden Grove Unified School District kindergarten teacher at Leo Carrillo Elementary School in Westminster. Chrisco has been with the district since 1970 and at Carrillo since 1988.

Chrisco, who has been heavily involved in art programs and contests, said she tries to encourage young people to go into teaching.

“I feel that the public needs to know that teachers are doing a good job and are working very hard,” she said. “I hope that’s an enticement for young people to go into the profession because it’s got many, many rewards.”

* Judy Sampson, an eighth-grade language arts teacher at Sierra Intermediate School in the Santa Ana Unified School District. Sampson has been with the district for 20 years and at Sierra for four.

Sampson is the eighth-grade adviser, works with the student council and is involved in various programs, including UCI Partnership, which encourages students to consider college. Last year, she coordinated Black History Month and the school fashion show.

Sampson said she thinks what makes her a good teacher is her confidence in students.

“I have high expectations for them and I try to make them share in those expectations,” Sampson said. “When students know that you care and believe in them, then their self-esteem goes up.”

* Maria Vigil, a bilingual kindergarten teacher at Las Lomas Elementary School in the La Habra City School District. Vigil has been teaching for 20 years, five of them in the La Habra district.

Vigil has been involved in bilingual education and training programs. Last year, she developed a workshop to encourage parents of bilingual students to participate in their children’s education.

Bilingual education is particularly important at her school, Vigil said, because many of the children entering kindergarten speak little or no English and often find it traumatic if the teacher cannot communicate with them. She said she focuses on boosting the self-esteem of children.

“If a child feels that he is worth something, that someone believes in him and accepts him, then it makes a difference,” Vigil said.