West Hills Teacher Steals the Spotlight

With California’s first lady visiting the West Hills campus Wednesday, there was no way Jennifer Yoo could have known she was going to be the center of attention.

In front of an assembly of 500 children, teachers and news media, the unsuspecting Welby Way Elementary School teacher was presented a $25,000 award given to 100 of the nation’s best educators.

Yoo is one of four teachers in California and one of two in the Los Angeles Unified School District to receive the award. Jane Fung, a kindergarten/first-grade teacher at Lafayette Park Primary Center in Los Angeles, also won.

The National Educator Awards are presented annually by the Santa Monica-based Milken Family Foundation, a nonprofit group that seeks to promote the value of teachers and encourage more retention of talent in education. Since 1985, the foundation has honored 1,877 teachers and given out $46.9 million in awards.

Winners are chosen by a research committee that finds innovative educators who have inspired students and colleagues.

“I knew from second grade that I wanted to be a teacher,” said Yoo, 33. “There is no other job, no other passion I can think of having.”

After Gov. Gray Davis’ wife, Sharon, congratulated Welby Way students for their high test scores, Lowell Milken, chairman and co-founder of the foundation, then announced Yoo’s award. The students cheered and Yoo was immediately moved to tears.

“America is a very strong country,” Milken said. “But we don’t support and honor our teachers enough.”

Yoo, a teacher for nine years, is now a leading literacy coach for grades three through five and also trains colleagues. In her lessons, which are geared at achieving state educational standards, she said she strongly believes in rewarding children for achievement.

Yoo’s family left Seoul when she was 5 to seek better educational opportunities. They settled in Koreatown before moving to South Gate and then Downey.

As a student teacher in the early 1990s, Yoo helped put her brother through graduate school.

She said her family has inspired her to succeed. “I wish they could have been here.”

At Lafayette Park Primary Center on Wednesday afternoon, teachers and students attending an assembly saw Fung receive her $25,000 award.

“I had no idea at all,” Fung said. “This is really a great honor. I’m really lucky because I work with new teachers that have been quick to praise me and thank me.”

A native of Hong Kong and 16-year veteran teacher, Fung specializes in helping students learn English. She also mentors other teachers, stressing that education should be centered on the individual needs of a child.

Fung said she believes more Americans are recognizing the importance of teachers and how hard their job is.

“It’s not an 8-to-2 job,” she said. “We live and breathe this on weekends too. It’s a lifestyle.”

Maribel Garcia, a teacher at William Laird Adam Elementary School in Santa Maria, and Don Ogden, principal at Camellia Basic School in Sacramento, also were selected as Milken national educators.