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Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Cathy Katz has spent 21 years with the Fremont Union High School District.
Katz honored for her education excellence
By Michelle Alaimo
Monta Vista High School guidance resource teacher Cathy Katz recently received the highest honor her peers could give her. Teachers named Katz teacher of the year for MVHS on March 21.
"She is just phenomenal," assistant principal Mo-Yun Lei, said. "She just cares a lot about the students and it shows."
Katz said she has wanted to be a teacher since she was in fourth grade.
"Ever since I was a young child, I loved school," Katz said. "Playing school was one of my few pastime activities."
Helping people comes naturally for Katz, who said she is very lucky to have a job that allows her to help young people on a daily basis.
Katz has been teaching for 23 years, with 21 of those years in the Fremont Union High School District. She began her career as a resource specialist and, in 1992, made the move to her current position. As a guidance resource teacher, Katz monitors how well students are meeting their graduation requirements and helps students set goals for life after high school.
"She goes out of her way to find the exact resource a student needs," Lei said.
Katz, a mother of two MVHS teenage girls, also serves as Regional Occupational Program Coordinator, helping students become involved in occupational programs while still in high school.
"It's a way for students to see if they will like a certain topic before they choose it in college," Katz said. "The students love the programs because they are fun and hands on."
As a ROPC, Katz learned of a program involving biotechnology and helped write a grant to gain funding for her school. She said that students at MVHS are very engaged in science, and since biotech is the way sciences are going, she applied for the grant. She added that the biotech option is another way to get students connected to a career path while still in high school.
Officials said Katz goes out of her way to help staff as well as students. As part of the biotech program, Katz took teachers on field trips to NASA-Ames Research Center, Hewlett-Packard, and Berkeley High School's BioTech Academy. The trip allowed teachers to learn first hand the skills employers are looking for.
Lei said Katz looks after her peers in other ways too. Katz is known as a very caring person who always asks people how they feel, Lei said. And when she learns that someone doesn't feel well or is having a bad day, Lei said, Katz always follows up with that person to see if his or her situation has changed.
Katz is married to FUHSD board member Avie Katz, a teacher at the Santa Clara Office of Education. She said it's nice to have a husband who shares the same profession and feelings about society.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
