Chamber dinner honoring awardees held on Jan. 25
Published in the November 27, 2013 issue of Morgan HillLife
By Marty Cheek
Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Chariman Rich Firato congraulates 2014 Student of the Year Josh Toch in his AP calculus class at Live Oak High School Nov. 20.
Rich Firato stood in front of AP calculus teacher Kristopher Boursier’s classroom Wednesday morning and got everyone’s attention. “Well, there’s an individual in the class today that’s in a little bit of trouble,” the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce board chair said in a stern voice. “And so we had to call his father to come here. So that student please stand up if you see your father here.”
Nervous laughter rumbled in the Live Oak High School classroom as Josh Toch, seeing his father Randy Toch next to Firato, stood up from his desk. A deer-in-the-headlights look filled the high school senior’s face.
“Josh, on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce,” Firato told him, “we want to recognize you as Student of the Year for your contributions. And we want to recognize you in front of your whole class with your father, your grandmother, the school superintendent, the principal and the president of the Chamber of Commerce.”
John Tarvin finds out he’s the 2014 Morgan Hill Man of the Year
Newly-minted Student of the Year Toch became one of six recipients last week of the Chamber’s Celebrate Morgan Hill awards for 2014. The other honorees are Cecelia Ponzini as Woman of the Year, John Tarvin as Man of the Year, Central High School Principal Irene Macias-Morris as Educator of the Year, Recology General Manager Phil Couchee as Volunteer of the Year, and Heritage Bank of Commerce as Business of the Year. The group will be formally given their honors at the Chamber’s annual award banquet at the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center the evening of Jan. 25.
Central High School Principal Irene Macias-Morriss crys when she finds out she’s the 2014 Educator of the Year
The Chamber surprised the various recipients at their school or places of work with plaques and flowers. Recipients reactions were caught on video which will be broadcast on YouTube as well as shown at the Celebrate dinner.
After learning of her honor as Woman of the Year, Ponzini described her reaction: “I didn’t expect this, and it’s hard for people to fool me and surprise me. I’m usually on top of everything…. I’m just totally shocked, I really am. For once I don’t have too much to say.” She turned to her husband Gary Ponzini and asked: “Did you know about it?”
Gary shook his head: “I’m just a worker bee.”
Macias-Morris thought she was going to have a Tuesday afternoon meeting with Chamber President/CEO John Horner and was shocked when so many other people filed into her office with him.
“Hopefully, this will be the first and last time we had to lie to you,” Horner told her with a laugh. “That’s not usually how we do things. Sometimes, on very special occasions it’s OK.”
Senior Vice President Jeff Perkins and staff celebrate the announcement that Heritage Bank is the 2014 Business of the Year.
After he received the announcement that Heritage Bank was the Chamber’s 2014 Business of the Year, the bank’s Senior Vice President Jeff Perkins told Horner. “I wondered when they said you were coming over and I asked ‘What’s it about?’ and they said, ‘He didn’t say,’ so I figured you were going to try to convince me to become a board member.”
The look of pleasant shock on Tarvin’s face proved he was truly “flabbergasted,” the word he kept telling the Chamber’s announcement crew. He received the 2014 Man of the Year award for his work with the Senior Center and creating the Tuesday Night Bingo Game to raise money for the center.
“It’s unbelievable,” Tarvin said. “I don’t feel worthy. I don’t feel like I do anything that I just don’t feel like doing.”
Couchee learned he was Volunteer of the Year in the lobby of the company’s Gilroy headquarters.
“John Horner said he’s coming down here to interview me for the newsletter. I was expecting a newsletter article,” he said.
“You’ll be in the newsletter, trust me,” Horner told him.
Lorraine Welk, the Chamber’s past board chair, was involved in the selection committee that met in mid-November to choose the “celebrants” to be honored at the 2014 Celebrate gala. “We look at the nominations carefully and it’s a difficult decision because they’re all so worthy,” she said. “So we feel very rewarded when we finish and we make our selections and we say these are our honorees for the year.”
“We’re very fortunate as a Chamber to be in the middle of recognizing some of our many incredible people throughout the community,” Horner added. “It’s a hard job for the selection committee to narrow it down, but it’s a real thrill to be able to say ‘These are the people we’re highlighting this year.’ It’s really exciting.”
2014 Celebrate Winners
Man of the Year – John Tarvin
Woman of the Year – Cecilia Ponzini
Volunteer of the Year – Phil Couchee
Business of the Year – Heritage Bank
Educator of the Year – Irene Macias-Morriss
Student of the Year – Josh Toch
