Cover Story

The word “hero” has been minimized, as it seems to be applied to anyone who safely crosses the street. But that doesn’t mean that heroes are not among us. Our third annual hero list is comprised of those whose good deeds have brought a spotlight to a cause, or made a difference, or will make an impact. A common thread is that most are teachers, either in the true sense that they work out of a classroom, or in the broader definition that they are leaders who happen to teach. Within these profiles, you will discover the magic of how each hero changes the lives he or she touches.


Jim Kollias
Where he lives: Tustin
Family: Wife, Doris; and 2 children, Harrison, 10, and Christina, 4
Hero defined: He is the Beckman High School division performing arts chairman, instrumental music teacher, and director of the band in Irvine.

In a very different venue, but with a gesture that speaks to who he is, Jim Kollias, the Little League umpire, last year turned to a playoff crowd and pronounced, “The outcome of this game will not change the course of history!”

Talk about a band director’s perspective…

The 41-year-old father of 2 holds a school-opening 3-day music camp to get the band ready for Friday-night football games and much more. Other directors stretch out this preseason tune-up to 3 weeks. For Kollias, that would just interrupt summer, and family and other things, although it doesn’t seem to affect the band’s talent base (latest news: the Patriot Marching Band has been invited to the 2008 National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in April in Washington, D.C.)

“It’s not about the music,” Kollias says, “but rather, what can we do through this medium?”

Truth is, the 150-member Patriot Marching Band is very competitive. The band’s orchestra last year played Carnegie Hall; and the popular marching band has performed in the Rose Parade. “On one side, there’s competition, and on the other, fun and learning,” explains Kollias, who plays both the clarinet and saxophone.

“Get a kid interested in school,” Kollias likes to say, “and then you have the kid in the seat, and you can teach him.”

Orange County-raised Kollias is in his 20th year as a teacher. “I want to make the band program part of the kids’ lives, but not their life.”

At Beckman High School, instead of the 3 Rs, there are the 4 As: arts, athletics, academics and activities (such as community service). Kollias, who formed the band in 2004 when the school opened, believes that students who accomplish all 4 goals are the ones who will excel in college, and beyond.

Kollias recalls a pep talk he once gave the band: “We just had Katrina, and (I told them), ‘All up and down New Orleans, there were high-school bands just like ours, and they would give their left ear to get out of the shelter and trade places with you, and just march…That kid in the shelter, he’d kick you if you had the opportunity to go out and play well, and you didn’t.’”

He understands that how he acts as a leader reflects on what students learn. “Kids don’t come out hateful. Why not be a good role model? If you’re not there, who will be?”

- By Craig Reem


Bruno Serato
Where he lives: Huntington Beach
Family: Mother, Caterina Lunardi; 4 brothers, 2 sisters and a nephew
Hero defined: Restaurateur, Anaheim White House

As owner of the acclaimed Anaheim White House, a landmark restaurant in Santa Ana known for its tasty cuisine, haunted dining room and beautiful frame of white lights, Bruno Serato has prepared memorable meals for many satisfied guests through the years, including a Who’s Who of celebrities: Gwen Stefani, Madonna, Brad Pitt, Sidney Poitier and even a few U.S. presidents. But the restaurant’s real VIPs are the underprivileged children in Orange County who Italian-born Serato feeds every night.

In 2003, Serato founded Caterina’s Girls Club in honor of his mother. Through this charitable organization, Serato feeds about 35,000 impoverished children every year. In the midst of serving up gourmet dishes for White House patrons, Serato’s culinary staff prepares about 100 pasta dinners night after night for the county’s “motel kids,” whose parents are so poor they live in low-cost motel rooms, and delivers them to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Anaheim in a 12-passenger van purchased exclusively for the meal deliveries.

“I think it is so sad that if I don’t serve dinner to the kids, they will not eat until the next day at school,” Serato says. “I don’t like to think about what happens on days when there’s no school!”

In the last 4 years, Caterina’s Girls Club has raised more than $250,000 for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Anaheim, money that has also helped provide free dental care, tutoring and piano lessons for the children.

Serato has issued a challenge to other restaurateurs in the country to create similar programs, but so far, no takers. “If they knew how much it helps, they would probably do it, also.”

What began for this kind-hearted businessman as a charitable cause for children has grown into a lifelong passion. “I plan on running this program for as long as God gives me the strength, and until every kid is able to have dinner and eat at night.”

- By Lynn Armitage


Chip Prather
Where he lives: San Clemente
Family: Wife, Katie; daughter, McKenzie, 20, and son, Charlie, 19
Hero defined: Orange County Fire Authority Chief

When the fire in Santiago Canyon broke out last fall, more than 2,000 firefighters came to the rescue to douse the 28,400-acre blaze (later determined to be caused by arson that resulted in an estimated $10 million in damage). Orange County Fire Authority Chief Chip Prather was the point person for local firefighters who were first responders to a Southern California up in flames.

Every day, Prather commands a group of close to 800 OCFA firefighters. He decides on a plan of action and the safety measures to be taken.

“No 2 days are the same,” says Prather, whose father and grandfather were also firefighters.

In the profession for 36 years, Prather has been fire chief for 10 of those years. He has always been based in Orange County.

Despite a 12-hour workday that starts at 6 a.m., Prather still manages to go on a bike ride or short workout in the morning and spend time with his family sailing the Pacific Coast.

Prather’s goal is to “improve public safety” and “overall community education,” he says.

Focusing on safety awareness, OCFA is partnering with school districts to educate students on fire prevention. Several programs and classes are available through OCFA.

“We understand the kinds of risks the community faces and the people who live there; and we have the training and equipment to meet that,” Prather says.

The OCFA covers 22 cities and protects more than 1 million residents. Yet the motivation to do the daunting job at hand comes from the intrinsic desire of a firefighter, like Prather, to protect neighbors, homes and businesses, even when the situation is most dire, as it was this past October.

- By Ashley Eliot


Dominique Keith
Where she lives: Lake Forest
Family: Widow to the late Chuck Keith, former assistant principal at University High School in Irvine; 2 grown children, Eric and Chantal, both teachers
Hero defined: French teacher, Trabuco Hills High School

The beloved Dominique Keith has not only brought one of the finest French language programs to Orange County, but she’s also brought “the world” to her students.

Born and raised in France, she came to the United States as a foreign-exchange high-school student, foreshadowing her life as a French teacher and later meeting her husband-to-be.

Keith immigrated to the United States almost 35 years ago and has been teaching at Trabuco Hills since the day it opened in 1985. Since then, she has chaired the Foreign Language department and has created an extensive French program consisting of more than 300 students.

Keith also stresses the importance of culture to her students. “Mission Viejo is a beautiful place and we love it, that’s why we live here,” she says. “But there’s a whole world out there. And I try to bring the world to Trabuco.”

Marking its 17th year, Keith has run International Week, an event she created to bring understanding to the bigger picture. During this celebration, Keith invites 60-80 foreign-exchange students and United Nations participants to make presentations about countries and cultural topics.

“The kids love it,” Keith says. “And they realize it’s a small world after all.” Events also include a flag parade, a food fair and most recently, an international fashion show.

Keith also leads summer tours to France and other European countries; sponsors the French Club, the French Honor Society and the ESL Club; and works with the college board as an advanced-placement French test-grader conducting workshops for AP teachers across the country.

“Can you imagine if we were all eating the same food, wearing the same clothes, listening to the same music...how boring our world would be? We need to be different, but it’s not easy.”

- By Colleen Corkery


Donde McCament
Where she lives: Newport Beach
Hero defined: Deputy district attorney, Juvenile Sexual Assault Unit

Pushing her curly, auburn hair behind her ear, Donde McCament glances around the warm and inviting room. An oversized
Clifford stuffed animal rests on a table, and children’s books and movies fill the bookshelves.

“I don’t think I ever thought about doing sexual assault cases,” she says, “and I never thought how gratifying it would be.”

As the deputy district attorney for the Orange County Juvenile Sexual Assault Unit, McCament works with children, ages 4 to 7 years old, who often have been the victim of molestation. During her first visit, McCament simply plays to make the child feel at ease. In the next visit, she may take the child into the courtroom to show him or her what it’s like. Often, they will spend the time together, coloring.

Most perpetrators of the crimes, McCament says, are between the ages of 14 and 17. The system works toward rehabilitation of the perpetrator and includes intensive sexual-offender therapy.

“It is emotional, especially when you speak with a victim’s family and see how it’s affected them,” McCament says. “At the same time, it can be cathartic at times, when they hear the disposition [settlement]. Sometimes with victims, after they’ve testified, you see an empowerment, just knowing that the suspect had to sit there and listen to what they went through.”

Spending time with her significant other of 16 years, and playing with her dog helps McCament step away from the stress of work. “About a year and a half ago, I got a chocolate lab puppy and we take walks on the beach.”

McCament handles 80 to 90 cases at a time. A young victim’s mother nominated McCament to be an Orange County hero. Her words touch upon how McCament affects the lives of many, and inspires others:

“She never forgets her responsibility to the victims and she never gives up,” the mother wrote. “She is my hero, she is my daughter’s hero, and I am sure she is a hero to countless other families.”

Says McCament: “To me, the best thing you can do in this life is be someone’s hero.”

- By Marie Loggia-Kee


Eulalia Moreno
Where she lives: Orange
Family: Three children, Francisco, 19, Julio, 17, and Nataly, 11
Hero defined: Instructional assistant, John Muir Fundamental Elementary School in Santa Ana, working with autistic children

Within moments of meeting Eulalia Moreno, her overwhelming heart, strength and spirit shine through. After immigrating from Mexico 14 years ago, Moreno faced a tough decision: giving up her career as a physician in order to support her family. As a single mother of 3 children, Moreno didn’t have the resources to obtain a license to practice medicine in this country. Instead, she worked at Mitchell Preschool as an instructional assistant.

“I started working with special-ed children by accident,” Moreno says, “but once I started, I loved and enjoyed working with our kids.”

One of the biggest challenges of working with autistic children is that many do not talk. “But when they say something simple like, ‘Thank you,’ or ‘I want’ or ‘cookie,’ you feel like they are giving you this speech.”

Moreno often sees how frustrated these children are and wants to reach out to them. Once, she was swinging some kids in circles. One boy looked on, and he obviously wanted a turn.

“There were tears in his eyes,” Moreno explains. “I knew he wanted to take part so badly, and I told him, ‘Raul, say ‘spin.’” Finally, his face scrunched up, and he said, ‘Spiii-innn!’”

“I wanted to cry, because he had never said anything before.”

Moreno says that she has been blessed with the help of her mother and with having good children. After leaving school, Moreno picks up her daughter and brings her home, and then goes to her second job as a medical assistant.

“Before I leave, I make sure that they’re doing their homework,” Moreno explains, “and when I get home, I check it, and then get ready for the next day.”

Moreno would like to see more educational programs available for parents with children with disabilities. “I don’t think it’s hard to do this. Whatever you do, you have to do with a lot of love because that’ll give you the energy to keep going the next day, and the next day.”

- By Marie Loggia-Kee


Margaret Carlberg
Where she lives: Huntington Beach
Family: Married to David; 2 grown sons, Marvin and Howard
Hero defined: Chemistry teacher and Gardens Beautification Coordinator, Cornelia Connelly High School

There is a reason why Margaret Carlberg is affectionately referred to as “Mamma Nucleus.” Keeping in touch with more than 120 of her “little electrons,” more than 90% of those students have entered into successful science careers. And this is a credit to her love and dedication for teaching chemistry.

As a freshman in college, Carlberg was only 1 of 2 girls in her chemistry class of 250 students. She didn’t let that discourage her from pursuing a field she adored. Her love of chemistry and helping people understand it at an early age influenced her decision to become a teacher. In 1980, Carlberg was presented the opportunity to teach the subject she was once an “outsider” in, at Cornelia Connelly, a private prep school for girls in Anaheim.

“In my 40 years of teaching, I felt most successful in my 20 years teaching at an all-girls school,” she says.

Carlberg has also served for the past 13 years as chairwoman of the Education Committee of the Orange County Section of the American Chemical Society. In 2005, OCACS honored Carlberg with the Charles R. Bennett Service Through Chemistry Award, and in 1997, the California State Science Teacher’s Association named her High School Science Teacher of the Year.

As the part-time Gardens Beautification Coordinator at Connelly, Carlberg has created elaborately themed gardens, while exposing students to the chemistry and joy behind gardening.

Aside from the camaraderie and beautiful landscapes Carlberg has built with students of Connelly, she also plays a significant role in preserving a much larger sanctuary, the Bolsa Chica Wetlands. In 1968, Carlberg was a founding member of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, who work to preserve and restore the wetlands. Carlberg takes Connelly students on tours of the wetlands and has them participate in a service day.

Whether she’s in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, the Connelly Gardens, or the classroom, Carlberg urges students to expand their knowledge, always asking, “What in the world isn’t chemistry?”

- By Colleen Corkery


Mary Hoovestol
Where she lives: Laguna Niguel
Family: Husband, Calvin; and 3 sons
Hero defined: 8th grade English teacher at St. Anne’s School

The Holocaust. They are 2 powerful words that engender a gamut of emotions. Each person responds differently to the Holocaust according to his or her personal ties.

Some individuals are living survivors heavily marked by the severity of the historical event. Some are historians, moved by the strength and dignity of the Jewish community.

And some are students, grappling with the atrocities invoked by men.

One teacher, Mary Hoovestol, has taken it upon herself to instill in her students a deep understanding of history’s most infamous genocide. Hoovestol, an 8th grade English teacher, has developed the Holocaust project, which requires students to inspect society at a broader level.

While the Holocaust might seem an unusual topic for a writing teacher, Hoovestol would argue differently. Her style of teaching is one that focuses on exposing her students to the fullness of humanity – the good, the bad and the ugly. Through this raw exposure, Hoovestol hopes to teach her students to learn respect and admiration for others.

She also tries to evoke a love of history and technology. She fuses the past with the present in order to prepare her students for the future. Her Holocaust project requires students to create a PowerPoint presentation of survivors and rescuers using audio and movie inserts.

And her efforts have been recognized year after year at Chapman University’s Holocaust Writing/Poetry/Art contest. For the past 5 years, Hoovestol’s students have taken home first place.

But Hoovestol has inspired more than just a love of writing in her students. She has created a reverence for Holocaust survivors in each one of her pupils. Her young students have moved from being simple learners of the Holocaust to becoming educated teachers.

“My one philosophy, if I had to mentor a new teacher, is tell to them to be positive, always tell the students that they can do more than they actually can,” shares Hoovestol. “Humor is also extremely important. Teaching is like stand-up comedy. Teaching is about positive energy and the students will catch that. If the teacher is positive, then the students will stay positive.”

- By Kathleen Crain


Sam Calavitta
Where he lives: Yorba Linda
Family: Wife, Monica; 5 daughters, 3 sons and a baby on the way
Hero defined: Math teacher at Fairmont Preparatory Academy in Anaheim

Sam Calavitta has barely taken a lunch in 20 years. Understanding calculus is already an accomplishment, yet teaching AP calculus for the last 5 years at Fairmont Preparatory Academy and having the program receive worldwide praise is an impressive achievement. Calavitta welcomes students into his classroom at lunch, after school and even on the weekends for extra help.

He and his wife, Monica, are the parents of 8 children, ages 17 to 3 years old, with another one on the way. Also, they are guardians of 4 children who have already made their way through college. He says his wife, who also has a teaching credential, is the real hero. (She is also an ocfamily.com mom blogger.)

“I don’t have to teach, I only do it because I love it,” Calavitta says.

The author of “Calgebra” and “CAL-culus,” Calavitta has developed his own teaching method: “Create a meaningful, integrated learning environment. Never let them forget anything, but don’t drill them and kill them.”

With a family tree of several teachers, this former aerospace engineer has roughly
75 students visit his classroom at lunchtime to ask questions, go over problems and learn from the expert. Calavitta admits to having high standards, but it’s all with good intentions. He expects 100% accuracy on the 10 problems he assigns for homework each night.

“Believe in them long enough and hard enough, then they won’t give up,” Calavitta says. “Every mistake they make turns into a positive learning experience.”

Calavitta is also a private math consultant for the Placentia-Yorba Linda School District’s pre-algebra and algebra teachers. He started the first wrestling team at Fairmont Prep, he competes in Ironman triathlons, and he and family members run the Eternal Warrior Wrestling Camp, which takes place each summer and is coached by Olympians and national champions.

- By Ashley Eliot


Tait Lihme
Where he lives: Irvine
Family: Wife, Amee; and son, Ethan
Hero defined: Teacher, St. Margaret’s Episcopal School

As a child, Tait Lihme was not the passionate scholar he is today. Lihme dreaded school. To him, it was a horrible institution forced on him by his elders. Except for English, Lihme felt school was dull, lackluster and just plain...boring. It was not until college that Lihme found his niche – ironically, education. Once Lihme found his academic area of interest, his spirits were lifted.

Today, Lihme isn’t just any kind of educator, either, but rather, an innovator – one at the forefront of modern teaching methods who is reconstructing the way curriculum is implemented. He was the first to bring an educational initiative to St. Margaret’s that fuses both learning and technology. This program, 21st Century Learning, has been implemented in parts of the U.S., the United Kingdom and Canada, and aims to prepare children for a future in the technological workforce. The initiative offers new approaches to learning that draw upon “insights into the human brain, the functioning of human societies and learning as a community-wide activity.”

The school currently has an 8th grade 21st Century Learning program for history. And a 5th and 6th grade learning initiative is under development.

Lihme’s mantra is, “Teach kids how to think, analyze, collaborate, create.” He does not believe learning is a memorization game. Instead, it should be engaging and relevant to today’s youth.

Like St. Margaret’s, public and private
sectors across the United States are revamping their execution of education and they are doing it through technology. Hopefully, in the near future, more educational institutions will be on a similar learning curve.

Thanks to innovators such as Tait Lihme, the future of our children is off to a high-speed start.

- By Kathleen Crain


Sharlynne Legere
Where she lives: Riverside
Family: Mom, Cara; sister, Oceana, 15, and brother Malcolm, 4
School she attends: Sierra Middle School
Hero defined: Founder of “Crosses for Critters”

Sharlynne Legere has a big heart for animals, an artist’s eye and determination all her own.

The 12-year-old, who attends Sierra Middle School in Riverside, recently won the American Humane Association’s “Be Kind to Animals” contest for her business “Crosses for Critters.”

Sharlynne started “Crosses for Critters” to help raise money for animals in need of veterinary care. She makes beaded crosses, necklaces, bracelets and key chains, and sells them for a quarter, 50 cents or $1 apiece.

“She comes up with the designs herself,” says Cara Legere, Sharlynne’s mother. “She’s getting more creative all the time.”

Sharlynne won $2,000 in the American Humane Association contest and agreed to keep the money in a college account. “I want to be a veterinarian,” she says.

“Crosses for Critters” began when Sharlynne visited family friend Lynn Hildebrand at the Humane Society of San Bernardino Valley (HSSBV). Hildebrand is a humane educator, and has been a mentor and friend to Cara since she was a child.

According to dogsforkids.com, Sharlynne saw a dog that had been badly injured and was so concerned that she gave Hildebrand a box of pennies she had received from her grandfather. She knew the pennies wouldn’t be enough, so she vowed to do more. Her gifts blossomed from there.

A sermon inspired Sharlynne to sell her jewelry designs. A therapy dog named Havoc was her first crusade. Havoc, a Rottweiler, needed surgery to remove a tumor on her adrenal gland.
Sharlynne raised $200 and started a community drive which raised more than $14,000 for Havoc’s surgery. Havoc is now in excellent health.

To date, Sharlynne has helped several more animals. “Growing up in a single-parent household, she knows first-hand how expensive veterinary care can be,” says Cara. “We’ve faced some heartbreaking decisions with some pets in the past because I couldn’t afford expensive treatments.”

- By Susan Belknapp