SECCC Honors
SECCCC Honorees 2025
Advocacy for Students
Bianca Andrade
"Bianca has always been an advocate for English Learners in science. She reminds her team of their needs and helps move discussions forward."
-- Kevin Dufault
"Ms. Andrade works endlessly to make sure all her students have a voice. She is a powerful advocate for her EL and Shelter students, and she puts forth amazing efforts to make Science content accessible for all her students. Ms. Andrade is an inspirational teacher, and I am so proud to work with her and be on her team."
-- Caitlin Liedtke
Kimberlee Margosian
Math 8 Teacher, PLT Lead, Instructional Coach, La Paz Middle School"Mrs. Margosian is always looking for ways to improve student performance through interactive activities that meet the needs of all subgroups. She groups her students in teams of four and assigns each individual a role to hold all students accountable. In her lesson students are required to read, write, and interpret data to support the students in developing their academic language skills. Students are required to present some work to support them in developing their spoken language. In addition to presenting their work, students are asked open ended questions to support the students in developing their conceptual understanding of the concepts covered."
-- Joaquin Echevarria
Diana Outwater
"This teacher was consistently shown a dedication to our students for numerous years. Diana is the first person to advocate for our EL, SWD, and vulnerable sub groups. Diana consistently tinkers and modifies her instructions using the latest research in science instruction. I can think of no better nominee."
-- Alan Carrillo
Empowerment of Colleagues
Erin Ramirez
Associate Professor, CSUMB Education and Leadership Department"Dr. Erin Ramirez is a current professor of mine who is astonishgly empowering in all areas. She sets high expectations and pushes us to do our best, be our best. The energy in the room when you are around Dr. Ramirez makes you feel like you can accomplish anything. I look up to her and aspire to be as confident and empowering as she is one day."
-- Viviana Vigil Villagomez
Mark O'Shea
"He has taught science in public high schools of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey and has served as a school supervisor and board of education trustee. For the last 20 years, he has been an administrator and faculty member in colleges and universities in Virginia, Colorado, New Jersey, and California. He has empowered hundreds of credential candidates to pursue STEM education. He was the grant writer and funded project administrator for more than $40,000,000 in major federal grants, which specialized in STEM work force development projects. He holds the national record for continuous funding in Teacher Quality from the U.S. Dept.of Education."
-- Corin Slown
Deborah Verhoeven
Science Teacher (chemistry, human anatomy & physiology), California Partnership Academy Coordinator, North Salinas High School"Deborah Verhoeven is one of the finest science teachers and mentors in our district. I have had the honor to know and work with Deborah leaning heavily on her mentoring skills. She host a resident teacher every year and manages to mentor other emergency and intern teachers for us as well. Few outstanding teachers make outstanding mentors but Deborah is one of them. Her ability to translate her skills as teacher to teacher candidates and her relentless efforts to emotionally support them through an arduous teacher preparation program is admirable. Mrs. Verhoeven sets the bar high for teachers and mentors."
-- Danny Greene
Innovation in STEM Education
Matthew Englund
"Matthew utilizes STEM in his lessons and his students are always eager to learn more. He uses multiple ways work with STEM. He strives to increase the amount of projects he has his students collaborate on during his science classes.
-- Frances Venegas
Frances Venegas
"Ms. Venegas consistently goes above and beyond to provide high quality STEM equation to her students. She constantly exposes students her to real-world phenomena and hands-on practice. She seeks out field trip opportunities so students can make connections between our curriculum and our world outside the classroom. She is a positive, enthusiastic and well-deserving educator."
-- Leticia Street
Help us highlight the 2025 conference theme, On the Shoulders of Giants, by nominating an educator on the Central Coast who embodies excellence in STEM Education through advocacy, empowerment, and/or innovation. Click on the image below to open the nomination form.
SECCC looks forward to hearing more about the amazing work of your colleagues!
