"When he first started, he did a good job, but it was basic supervision of children," said Valarie Junker, child-care director for the Central YMCA.

Since then, Junker said, Chavez has not only grown into his job but thrived as a supervisor in the YMCA's after-school program, first at Lowell Elementary School and now at Booksin Elementary School. Junker nominated Chavez for this year's Award of Excellence, presented by the California School-Age Consortium. The consortium honored Chavez with the award at a ceremony held last month in Pasadena.

According to Junker, who's known Chavez since high school, all her friend needed to excel as a child-care provider was a little training, which he and the rest of Lowell's after-school staff got through San Jose 4Quality, a collaboration between the YMCA, the San Jose Unified School District and the San Jose Parks and Recreation Department. After that, Junker said, "He started doing really hands-on, awesome things."

One of those "awesome things" was helping to develop a literacy program in which children participate in activities related to the book they're reading in the after-school program.

Chavez transferred to Booksin after the YMCA had to close its after-school program at Lowell. While he got to know the children at Booksin, Junker said, Chavez also made sure that the families he'd come to know at Lowell found other child-care options.

"He became an advocate for all the children," Junker said. "It was easy for me to nominate him because I'd seen him grow in his work."

And she added, "With a lot of these children, we're with them more than their families."