Saratoga Sampler

Educators share a great love for teaching

By Mary Ann Cook

TEACHERS OF YEAR: Here are the Saratoga-based Teacher of the Year recipients awarded by the county Office of Education and nominated by their respective districts: Mike Boitz of Saratoga High School and Julie Shultz of Redwood Middle School.

Boitz teaches instrumental music and directs seven (count 'em, seven) student bands, orchestras and ensembles. His love of music and his belief in its importance, his upbeat approach (pun intended) and his excellence in motivating students have made him one of the school's most respected teachers, said his district.

Shultz is a science teacher who instills a love of science in her students with her hands-on approach to learning. "Each rock and snowflake has keys to fantastic adventures," Shultz says.

She is a master teacher for NASA/Ames Aerospace Encounter, as well. And she has been a contributor to an Internet aeronautics textbook for grades K-8 .

Other local honorees were Joe Bolin, a second-grade teacher at Blossom Hill School who is also president of the Teachers' Association, Margarita Palmada, Spanish teacher at Leigh High School; and Louise Osborne, kindergarten teacher at Loma Prieta.

AT MONTALVO: Diane Ackerman never knows "what kind of book I'm coming down with next." That phraseology indicates her obsessive nature and the massive research undertaken whenever she starts a new project. Ackerman is a poet/essayist/naturist who read from her works at Montalvo recently.

Creativity runs in her family, she says. And stick-to-it-iveness, as well, evidently. She cites a recently deceased aunt who performed belly dances well into her 80s, despite mastectomies and encroaching age. "She just kept adding veils. And performed for older and older audiences who couldn't really see her anyway."

Ackerman's own path leans more toward nature than navels. One of her most recent books is A Natural History of My Garden, which describes with lyric grace and careful observation the deer and other wildlife, flora and fauna rampant through her wooded property in Ithaca, N.Y.

She has also written A Natural History of the Senses and A Natural History of Love. She gets unusual assignments: At the moment she is absorbed in writing a foreword about Shakespeare's brain. What was it that made him so creative?

About the preciousness of life: "Ransom each day" is Ackerman's advice. She says wonder is the strongest element in her personal periodic table. Rediscovering innocence and wonder is the primary aim, resource and bulwark for a writer and nature lover.

FEATURED: Wendy Puthuff Mattson will be featured in the November issue of American Artist magazine in an article about her studio and work. Mattson, a watercolorist, is an '82 grad of Saratoga High who specializes in portraits of children and florals.

She has exhibited in the Rotary Art Show for the past four years and her artwork headed the publicity for the '82 show. Her mother is Judy Puthuff, also an artist, and the founder of the Saratoga group, Community of Artists. A watercolor class Mattson took with her mother one summer got her interested in art.

Her degree is in fine arts from Principia College in Illinois. Mattson is married and lives in El Dorado Hills. Her work is represented by Studio 42 in Los Gatos, as well as Internet Gallery, Guild.com. She is working on a collection for SyberSay Communications Corp.

JUMP START: Jump Start, the auxiliary that benefits Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence, will hold a Renaissance Masquerade Charity Ball at the Silicon Valley Capital Club Athletics on Oct. 6. Sports and media notables will model historic costumes.

The honorary event chair is Alvina Gonzales. The evening promises live entertainment, dinner, dancing, and live and silent auctions. Tickets are $125 each. For more information, call Jump Start at 408.278.5032.

HIF FUNDRAISER: Realtors in five area cities have combined forces to fight homelessness in the South Bay, by holding their third annual "Home for the Holidays" fundraiser in late September. The event was expected to raise $60,000 for the Housing Industry Foundation.

H for the H was held at Sacred Heart Church and included auction, raffle, hors d'oeuvres, music and dancing. The grand prize was a trip to Hawaii. Robert Reid and Debra Patterson were the co-chairpersons. The five cities involved are Saratoga, Los Gatos, Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara.

"The funds will be put to work immediately to prevent local families from losing their housing," promised Reid.

MIXED MEDIA: Linda Spencer is the featured artist at Gallery Saratoga during the month of October. The artist uses such materials as Asian papers, wood bark and pressed flowers in her collages.

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