Kathy Borges, a teacher at Cesar Chavez Junior High School in Ceres was named “Teacher of the Year” for the Junior High 7-8th category during the recent 2026 Stanislaus County Teachers of the Year award luncheon.
“This is this is huge,” said Borges. “I’m still kind of riding that wave. I still can’t believe it.”
Borges was nominated for “Teacher of the Year” two other times but never made it to the county level.
Borges feels the honor may stem from “a lot of different things that I’ve done over the past 35 years. It’s being involved with the students. For the most part, I’ve always had a club, and so doing extracurricular groups with the students.”
Borges is an adviser to the student club PHASTjv, which stands for Protecting Health and Slamming Tobacco, a countywide program. She and her students have gone to Ceres elementary schools and related to sixth-graders why smoking and vaping is a health risk.
In her capacity as the Ag Club advisor, she guided members to read to second-graders at nearby La Rosa Elementary School for the annual Rotary Read-In event.
Raised in Santa Barbara, Borges spent her first two years of teaching at Patterson High School. That was followed by a short tenure at Ceres High School. In 1993 she got married and moved over to Mae Hensley Jr. High for a year, then to Blaker Kinser Junior High School where she remained for 18 years. She’s been at Cesar Chavez Junior High ever since.
Borges now teaches a Family Life class, which centers on human reproduction and healthy relationships, and also teaches agriculture.
“Basically we learn a lot about California agriculture and the different commodities that California grows.”
One of her favorite lessons was teaching about persimmons since a friend had an overabundance of them from her tree. The kids had no idea about the fruit.
“It was so cool because we got to learn about what they were and then they got to actually fry them, and I said, ‘You know, if you don’t like it, don’t eat it.’”
Her other favorite lesson involved making butter in a dairy science unit.
“In the classroom, I think it’s really important to do hands-on types of activities to get the kids really involved, and within the lesson,” Borges said.
The teaching style she employs is to approach students to meet them “where they’re at.
“Some are not reading at grade level. Some have emotional issues. Some are just trying to find out, well, ‘who am I?’ So just recognizing the fact that you need to teach the lesson but you also need to make it so it’s accessible to all the students.”
Borges’ passion is teaching agriculture.
“Important to me is teaching the students where their food comes from, and how it is actually grown, and how diverse California is and just the fact that it does not come from the grocery store. And that is such a thing that I have just really kind of driven home with the students. It’s like, no, somebody planted this, and somebody picked it … you have the rewards of that.”
She gets especially excited when she hears about students starting their own garden in their backyards modeled after the school gardens made from watering troughs.
This is the 27th year that Modesto Rotary and Stanislaus County Office of Education have joined efforts to honor teachers in Stanislaus County. The program not only honors local teachers and celebrates excellence in education but also provides an opportunity for teachers to receive state and national recognition. Two of the Teachers of the Year will be selected, through an interview process, to represent Stanislaus County in the State Teacher of the Year Program. One state winner then proceeds to the national level.
“Teachers shape the future of Stanislaus County through their dedication and care for students, and we are grateful to Modesto Rotary for their continued partnership in honoring some of the very best among them,” said County Superintendent of Schools Scott Kuykendall.
Other 2026 Teachers of the Year are: Lindsay Nguyen of Stroud Elementary School in the Empire Union School District – TK-3rd category; Turlock’s Crowell Elementary School education specialist Tami Compton for the 4th to 6th grade category; and Aimee Shepherd-Matlock from Modesto High School in the Modesto City Schools District – High School 9-12th category.
The four selected as Teachers of the Year each received a $1,000 cash award from the Modesto Rotary Club Foundation.
Mocse Credit Union also sponsored the event and provided funding for the awards.
The Jane Johnston Civility Award was presented to Richard Rocha from Bret Harte Elementary School in the Modesto City Schools District. Rocha received a $1,000 cash award from the Education Foundation of Stanislaus County for exemplifying one of the 12 traits of civility. The Civility Award is in honor of Jane Johnston, former SCOE Assistant Superintendent and Education Foundation member.
