California Credit Union and Los Angeles Unified School District Award 2023 "Rookie of the Year" Teacher Awards

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Aug 22, 2023, 11:42 ET

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- California Credit Union, in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), recently honored 17 first-year District teachers through its 9^th annual Rookie of the Year program. California Credit Union, which is celebrating its 90^th anniversary of serving and supporting the education community, created the Rookie of the Year program in the 2014/2015 school year to recognize exceptional new LAUSD teachers within the greater Los Angeles community.

California Credit Union and Los Angeles Unified School District celebrate 2023 “Rookie Teacher of the Year” Award winners at Dodger Stadium on August 13, 2023. California Credit Union, which has served the education community with premier financial services for over 90 years, created the Rookie of the Year program with LAUSD in 2015 to recognize first year teachers within the greater Los Angeles community.

"California Credit Union was founded by a Los Angeles teacher in 1933, and we're proud to honor our heritage by continuing to support our education community for the last nine decades," said California Credit Union President & CEO Steve O'Connell. "We're excited to honor each of the 2023 LAUSD Rookies of the Year for their outstanding commitment to finding creative ways to engage and educate their students. We want to thank each of these new teachers and congratulate them on a wonderful start to their career."

"Congratulations to our phenomenal Los Angeles Unified Rookies of the Year who are 17 outstanding first-year teachers," Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said. "Thank you to these amazing teachers for making a difference in our students' lives. We believe in you and we know your pursuit of excellence, innovative teaching methods and support for your students will make a lasting impact."

Representing elementary, middle and high schools throughout the greater Los Angeles area, the 2023 Rookies of the Year are:

2023 Winner	School
Joseph Arechiga	Verdugo Hills High School
Heidi Ballard	Bonita Street STEAM Academy
Matthew Del Mundo	International Studies Learning Center
Andreea Gaona	Alta California Elementary School
Lindsey Garces	Ascot Elementary
Justine Gobble	Chatsworth Park UP/CD Magnet ES
Susan Kim	RFK Los Angeles High School of the Arts
Amy Eunyeoung Lee	Commonwealth Avenue E.S.
Angela Liu	Kingsley Elementary School
Sara Martino	Hancock Park Elementary
Alden Maynor	Main Street Elementary
Lauryn Merriweather	54th St. School
Anna Needham	Union Avenue Elementary
LeAnn Nguyen	Andrew Carnegie Arts, Media, Music and Entertainment Magnet
Edwin Ramirez	Camellia Elementary
Olivia Stehlin	Paul Revere Charter Middle School
Thomas Woods	Sherman Oaks Elementary Charter

The Rookie of the Year winners were recognized during a ceremony at Dodger Stadium on August 13^th, which included the teachers and their guests, as well as California Credit Union and Los Angeles Unified School District officials.

The winning teachers were selected based on a number of factors, including effectiveness in preparing and delivering instruction, providing a positive classroom climate with strong routines and procedures, adopting a dynamic and engaging teaching style, and showing high levels of professionalism.

California Credit Union created the Rookie of the Year program in partnership with LAUSD to acknowledge first-year District teachers who have shown exemplary commitment to education. Teachers are nominated by school administrators, and winners are selected by a LAUSD committee. Since the program began in 2015, California Credit Union has recognized 164 LAUSD teachers as a Rookie of the Year.

About California Credit Union
California Credit Union is a federally insured, state chartered credit union founded in 1933 with assets over $4.5 billion, nearly 200,000 members and 24 retail branches. The credit union serves community members and businesses in the California counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura as well as school employees throughout the state. The credit union operates in San Diego and Riverside Counties as North Island Credit Union, a division of California Credit Union. The credit union offers a full suite of consumer, business and investment products and services, including comprehensive consumer checking and loan options, personalized financial planning, business banking, and leading-edge online and mobile banking. Visit ccu.com for more information or follow the credit union on Instagram® or Facebook® @CaliforniaCreditUnion.