Class Act : Ingrid Boydston Moved Here to Be an Actress But Found Real-Life Role as Teacher of the Year

To her young students she is known as a teacher with a dramatic flair that makes learning fun.

To Santa Clarita theatergoers she is currently known as vampire slayer Bubu Padoop in “Dracula: The Musical?”

Now to the rest of California, Ingrid Boydston will be known as a Teacher of the Year.

One of five statewide--and the only one in Los Angeles County--selected for the annual award given by the California Department of Education, Boydston has taught at Santa Clarita Elementary School in the Saugus Unified School District since 1987.

“She was very theatrical and it really was impressive,” said Salvador Arriaga, who as coordinator of the award program observed Boydston teaching her sixth-grade class. “Her students seemed to be very excited and her teaching style was very, very effective.”

Boydston often wanders throughout the classroom reading out loud in practiced accents, as she did Friday when reading about the adventures of the Oompa-Loompas in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

Even as she presented a difficult archeological lesson on carbon dating, the concentration and interest expressed on the students’ faces never waned.

“She teaches us so that we see learning is fun,” said Emily Bush, 11. “We don’t wake up every morning and say, ‘Oh darn, we have to go to school today.’ ”

Boydston--a graduate of Mesa College in Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in theater, and a current member of the Canyon Theatre Guild--moved to Santa Clarita in 1986 to become an actress. She soon began substitute teaching to make ends meet.

“I did a few commercials and small things, but I really enjoyed substitute teaching,” she said. “I did it and I fell in love with it. It just truly has to do with making a difference.”

By 1987, Boydston had her teaching credential and her own classroom--Room 15, where she would teach for the next 11 years.

She has used the classroom as a stage, teaching her students not only the required subject matter but the rules of life as well.

Like her “golden rule,” which she has displayed in large bold black and gold letters on the classroom wall: “Your life is what you make of it, so make it the best you can.”

Selected by Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, Boydston was chosen from 54 statewide nominees for Teacher of the Year honors.

Others receiving the award are William Pence, a high school teacher in Contra Costa County, who is also nominated for National Teacher of the Year; kindergarten teacher Susan Haas and high school teacher Richard Herold, both of Riverside County, and Debbie Vigil, a physical education teacher at an elementary school in Sacramento County.

Boydston, who is married and lives in Santa Clarita, is no stranger to awards. She has received a Certificate of Recognition for Excellence in Education from the state Assembly and Mentor Recognition from the Santa Clarita Chamber of Commerce.

“She truly is that teacher among teachers that make a difference,” said Myron Groch, principal at Santa Clarita Elementary. “I’ve yet to see her not turn a difficult student around.”

But awards and praise are not the reasons Boydston teaches. She said she simply does it for her students and for those moments when it is obvious the children are learning.

“It’s just like this burst of pride, and it’s not just in me, it’s in them,” she said. “I just can’t ever see getting out of teaching. I don’t ever want to be away from the children.”