Attention all groups that issue Teacher of the Year awards. We
bring to your attention a nominee who merits serious consideration:
Gilroy High School history teacher Darren Yafai.
1. In-depth experience for students deserves public recognition
Attention all groups that issue Teacher of the Year awards. We bring to your attention a nominee who merits serious consideration: Gilroy High School history teacher Darren Yafai.
Do you look for innovation in the classroom? Yafai’s students are chronicling the achievements of World War II veterans who live in the Gilroy area. Twenty-six veterans, now in their 80s, are telling their stories to the sophomore history students, who are saving their stories in digital format.
Do you look for teachers who develop skills that will serve students well in their post-high school careers? Yafai’s students are learning about research by tracking down local vets, persuasion by convincing them to participate, interviewing by getting the vets to open up about their decades-ago experiences, and writing, video production, and computer skills by recording their stories.
2. Hard work and high achievement apparent in living history lesson
Do you look for high achievement? Yafai’s students are participating in a program called Stories of Service, a project of the Digital Clubhouse Network. Most other groups have collected a handful of veterans’ stories. With more than two dozen stories documented, Yafai’s students have done the most work of any high school associated with the program by far.
Do you look for recognition outside of the district? The stories produced by Yafai’s students are being featured on the History Channel’s Web site. “This intrepid teacher is setting an example for the rest of the country, Warren Hegg, founder and president of Digital Clubhouse Network, said. “Some of (the stories) will bring you to tears they’re so poetic.”
Do you look for teachers who inspire their students? Yafai’s students are learning about history from those who lived it, and gaining deeper understanding and newfound respect for the sacrifices made by the greatest generation.
3. The entire Gilroy community should applaud this effort
Mark Foley, 16, is part of a group that’s interviewing his grandfather, Luke Marden. ”It makes me respect him even more that he had that bravery,” Foley told reporter Sara Suddes. “This project has a lot more meaning because it’s about real people’s lives.”
We’re sure that Yafai takes great satisfaction from the praise of his students and Digital Clubhouse Network partners, as well he should. 
We wish that the school district could honor innovative, inspiring, intrepid teachers like Yafai with merit pay increases. Failing that, we hope that the local community will shower him with as many Teacher of the Year awards as it has to offer.
