Teacher receives award for teaching excellence

Physics instructor Judith Stucky was awarded the California Casualty Award for Teaching Excellence Tuesday Nov. 10. After being nominated by the teachers union, she continued to fill out forms for the award even though she was unaware that she’d be receiving a check and the opportunity to travel to Washington DC and Peru.

“I was excited at first but not as excited as I should’ve been,” Stucky said. “I had no idea that I was going to get this $650. They didn’t tell us we were going to get to go to Washington D.C. They didn’t tell us we were going to get to go to Peru.”

Stucky will be traveling to Washington D.C. in February to receive training on global education and attend an awards dinner with 41 other teachers selected throughout the United States. She will then travel to Peru in July to talk with teachers, students and school administrators to contrast education systems. She views these trips as opportunities to continue educating herself so she can return with ideas to improve Westside.

“I do a lot of things beyond the classroom to educate myself, educate other teachers and to encourage them to keep ongoing professional development,” Stucky said.

While Stucky was the first teacher at Westside to ever be selected for this award, she hopes to see other teachers receive it in the future. She plans to nominate another teacher next fall and hopes that teacher will be selected to receive the same honor.