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Amador Valley High School’s Kevin Kiyoi was named as one of the two Alameda County Teachers of the Year during the annual awards ceremony last week.
The math and science teacher in Pleasanton told the Weekly that while receiving the award during the event at the Castro Valley Center for the Arts on Oct. 5 was an overwhelming experience, having some familiar faces there to cheer him on meant a lot.
“I was fortunate enough to have a lot of support there,” he said. “Colleagues, family, a good number of the school board came so I definitely felt supported.”
Every year, school districts name a Teacher of the Year to represent the district at the countywide contest, with a chance to advance to the state or even national levels. The teachers who are chosen by their district submit an application and a series of essays in order to be considered for recognition at the county competition.
Two teachers are then chosen by a panel of educators local to those district areas to represent Alameda County for the 2024 California Teacher of the Year awards — the winners for the state competition will be announced in the coming weeks.
This year Kiyoi was chosen alongside Jessica Kerber, an English teacher at Encinal Junior and Senior High School in the Alameda Unified School District, to represent the county at the state level.
Three other local educators who won Teacher of the Year in their respective districts were honored at last week’s ceremony but did not advance in the competition: Irene Lucero from East Avenue Middle School in Livermore, Chelsie Avila from John Green Elementary School in Dublin and Randy Barnard from the Tri-Valley Regional Occupation Program.
“Educators create that magical space that makes a difference — a space where students can explore and discover better versions of themselves, Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Alysse Castro said in an Oct. 6 press release. “I am grateful for our teachers in this county and commend the work that they do in drawing out our students’ best each and every day.”
Kiyoi was previously recognized as the 2023 Pleasanton Unified School District Teacher of the Year after 20 years at the district and for his work with the Amador career technology education (CTE) department and for his work on the district’s Equity Committee, where he is involved in getting more disenfranchised students interested in computer science.
And after the ceremony on Oct. 5, he is now more interested in sharing some of the practices he does at Amador to policymakers throughout the state.
“One comment that somebody made (during the ceremony) was ‘You’re doing some really innovative things in the classroom, we need to get this to a state level and figure out how to get this curriculum in everybody’s hands,'” Kiyoi said. “So that’s kind of putting a little bug in my ear … who are the right people to talk to, and maybe we can start spreading ideas.”
“It’s wonderful for Pleasanton to be successful, but looking at the future there’s so much stuff that we’re going to need in terms of people who can work with artificial intelligence, and who are innovators,” he added. “We need more than just Pleasanton to be a part of that conversation.”
And while Kiyoi dabbles in an array of different projects around campus from advising the Amador Girls Who Code Club, to hosting computer programming family events for Pleasanton’s African American and Latino students after school, his main goals has been and continues to be one thing: help all students realize their potential in whatever career they choose.
“Congratulations to Mr. Kevin Kiyoi on this well-deserved, countywide recognition,” PUSD Superintendent David Haglund said in a statement to the Weekly. “Mr.Kiyoi is a model for educators everywhere for his commitment inside and outside the classroom to inspire and empower each student. He leads programs that have engaged hundreds of young women in the computer sciences and improved representation of many under represented student groups in the field.”
In the end, whether it’s computers and tech or some other career path, he said his goal is to do “whatever we can do to … diversify the students that are in the classes to push kids to dream bigger.”
“What I’m really trying to do is to get kids to consider options for careers,” he said.
He also said that it was never his main goal to win this award and that even when he was delivering his speech at the awards ceremony, he almost felt a little guilty being there because of the fact that teaching has never felt like work because of how much he loves his job.
“I’m just having fun. I’m just enjoying what I’m doing,” Kiyoi said. “I want to make sure that I’m … giving the best experience to every other student and every other parent’s children that comes through the class.”
