Gilroy
– Though she tries her best to shy away from recognition, it has
finally caught up to Elia Scettrini.
Gilroy – Though she tries her best to shy away from recognition, it has finally caught up to Elia Scettrini.
In the past three months, Scettrini has received an award for being Gilroy Teacher of the Year and was a nominee for this region’s 2006-2007 Educator of the Year by the California League of High Schools.
“I think it is certainly a deserving recognition,” said Suzann Muccigrosso, who taught at South Valley Middle School, where Scettrini worked as a paraprofessional for 14 years.
Scettrini currently teaches Spanish at Gilroy High School, where in the past 12 years she has helped boost the Advanced Placement program to new heights.
“She’s a masterful teacher,” said GHS Principal James Maxwell, who nominated her for the awards. “(Her students) are always actively learning.”
To do this, Scettrini makes certain her students are always challenged.
“The minute you walk into this classroom, you’re in AP Spanish,” Scettrini told her first year students back in September. “AP Spanish doesn’t start at the fifth level, it starts at level one.”
She also uses creative writing to connect to her students. In order to encourage her students to read and write in Spanish, she herself writes short stories to share with them.
Thanks to these creative and involved teaching strategies, her students have consistently scored higher than the national average on the Spanish AP exam, a national test used to measure proficiency and college readiness.
Scettrini also collected the stories she wrote during these years and published a book recounting her childhood in Morelia, Mexico. Her publishers have asked her to translate the biography, Amor Elia, into English.
Maxwell stressed that it was not only what Scettrini did in the classroom, but also what she does outside of school, that makes her so exceptional.
“All teachers go above and beyond expectations but she even exceeds that,” said Muccigrosso.
Scettrini helps run two after school Spanish clubs, has offered evening classes in English as a Second Language to adult learners and tutors students for free.
“She’s always there for the students,” Muccigrosso said.
Despite the awards and abundant praise, Scettrini remains humble.
“I’m not the only one that won this award,” she said, gesturing towards where her fellow teachers sit. Then, with a shrug, she added, “Maybe there’s other people that work harder than I do.”
