SHIRLEY KIMBERLIN Everything I list turns to SOLD! 805-886-0228 skimberlin@aol.com
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From left, Lion Jeff Moorhouse congratulates Deputy Dave Maupin for earning the 2014 Public Service Officer Award.
Lions laud Deputy Maupin
The Carpinteria Lions Club honored Deputy Dave Maupin of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department with its 2014 Public Service Officer Award. Maupin, who works out of the Carpinteria Substation, was nominated by Sergeant Garret Te Slaa for his excellent service to the community. “Deputy Maupin continues to excel at his ability to identify and proactively seek out and intervene in on-going criminal activity. During 2014, his ability to self-initiate contact with criminal suspects has no doubt prevented dozens if not hundreds of Carpinterians from becoming victims of crime,” stated Sergeant Te Slaa. At age 2, Maupin was adopted by a Las Vegas couple and moved to the United States from Malaysia. He grew up in the Las Vegas area then earned a degree in Computer Information Systems from Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks in 2002. After a few years as a firefighter with the Forestry Division, Maupin joined the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office in 2005 working in Goleta, Carpinteria, in Court Services and back to Carpinteria, which he considers the best area to work in. He currently serves as a deputy and field training officer and aspires to one day become a sergeant. Lion and longtime chair of the Public Service Officer Award program, Jeff Moorhouse said, “I am very impressed with Deputy Maupin, his professionalism, his dedication to the job and his commitment to his family. Carpinteria is very lucky to have Deputy Maupin serving our community!”
Pictured, from left, are Lowell Milken of the Milken Family Foundation, Canalino School Principal Jamie Persoon, CUSD Interim Superintendent Jeff Chancer, teacher Brandon Sportel, CUSD School Board President Andy Sheaffer and California State Superintendent Tom Torlakson.
Canalino teacher honored with Milken Educator Award
Brandon Sportel earns prestigious recognition and $25,000 BY PETER DUGRÉ
Canalino School teacher Brandon Sportel said he was nervous going to school on April 8. He was tasked with playing guitar during the school song for an assembly featuring special guest California Superintendent of Public Schools Tom Torlakson. The event would be big, the state’s top educator in a room packed with representatives of the school, school district and City of Carpinteria. Shortly after the assembly began, another special guest, Lowell Milken of the Milken Family Foundation, took the microphone. There was a secret reason the assembly had been called, Milken said, and after a cleverly crafted build up, he divulged that Sportel had been selected for the Milken Educator Award, a prize of $25,000, also known as “The Oscars of Teaching.” After the announcement, a thrilled Sportel was thrust into the spotlight. He said, “I came in with nerves ... nothing compares to the way I feel now.” The Milken Family Foundation had identified Sportel as a deserving teacher through its search, and according to Milken the award “is not a lifetime achievement award. We’re looking for individuals early in their career with the potential to accomplish
even greater things.” Sportel is a special education teacher for kindergarten through fifth-graders in Carpinteria Unified School District, where he has worked for 10 years. He was also recently awarded as a Carpinteria Valley Chamber of Commerce Educator of the Year for 2014. In his comments, Sportel shared the glory. He works with “the most loving and caring people,” he said, and “Those are the type of people I need to work with in order to accomplish what I want to do.” The students, as well, he said, keep him fresh. “I’m always surprised and am always learning from my students.” An integral part of the award is the assembly and exposure, meant to draw attention to educators as deserving and influential individuals. “I believe that teachers and principals have the most important job in our country,” Milken said. “We celebrate sports figures and entertainers ... but the teaching profession has not been part of that celebration. I find that very odd. Greatness in education should be recognized too.”
AWARD continued on page 9