Jennifer Foreman, an English teacher at North Monterey High School in Castroville, and member of the North Monterey County Federation of Teachers, Local 4008, was named a Unionist of the Year at the annual Monterey Bay Central Labor Council awards banquet in late April.

Cynthia Meza, a 13-year teacher at Flynn Elementary, and member of United Educators of San Francisco, Local 61, was named by the California Association for Bilingual Education as the organization’s 2016 Teacher of the Year. Meza says a bilingual education enables her students to celebrate the richness of their home countries, with language learned not in isolation, but at the crossroads of culture and everyday life.

Jeannine Thurston, a member of the San Rafael Federation of Teachers, Local 1077, was named San Rafael Chamber of Commerce’s Educator of the Month for April. Thurston has been a leader in transforming the English department at San Rafael High School to embrace the school’s diverse student body. She has helped launch the Media Academy eXperience — MAX — in which students use hands-on, project-based learning combining English, social studies, and media production.

Tina Solórzano Fletcher, a member organizer for the AFT Guild, San Diego and Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community Colleges, Local 1931, was honored with the PSRP Talking Union Award at AFT’s annual conference for paraprofessionals and classified employees in April. Fletcher is membership coordinator for the 6,000-member local union, which also won first place from CFT the last two years in a row for organizing the most new members.