Santa Barbara County Education Office Names 2025 Distinguished Mentors and Distinguished New Educators

Six Top-Tier Educators and Mentors from Carpinteria to Orcutt Recognized for Their Teaching Talents

Surviving one’s first year as a special education teacher is nothing to sneeze at. Ryan Blasena at Hope Elementary School, however, made it look easy.

Blasena, who works with students in an Extensive Support Needs Program, transformed his classroom into a thriving learning environment, with many of his students transitioning from non-readers to nearly reading at grade level during his first year with them.

This, along with other first-year achievements, scored Blasena a 2025 “Distinguished New Educator” award from the Santa Barbara County Education Office. He is one of six of the county’s top-tier mentors and new teachers whose praises are being sung from Carpinteria to Orcutt.

“Ryan is a highly dedicated and talented educator who has made a profound impact on the lives of his students and colleagues during his first year at Hope School,” shared principal Anna Scharfeld.

[Click to enlarge] From left: Socorro Chávez, Noe Alberto Gomez

Also honored were Socorro Chávez, a mentor at Isla Vista Elementary School, and Noe Alberto Gomez, a new educator at Carpinteria High School. Chávez described herself as an inspiring “facilitator of learning” for both her kindergarten students and the new teachers she mentors.

Gomez has been everything from a scientist to an agriculture teacher, but is now teaching dual-enrollment chemistry — bringing “a wealth of knowledge to the classroom” and fostering students’ love for learning, according to his colleagues.

Fellow honorees from North County include second-year Ethnic and Gender Studies teacher Oscar Velasco from Santa Maria High School, an alumnus of the school; inspiring mentor and English Language Arts and concurrent enrollment instructor Jordan Willis from Orcutt Academy High School; and 1st-grade teacher and respected mentor Eugenia Vasilique Pappas from Santa Ynez Valley Charter School.

These 2025 “Distinguished New Educators” and “Distinguished Mentors” were nominated by their peers and selected by a countywide panel of educators, administrators, business, and community partners.

The selected educators will be honored at the 11th annual A Salute to Teachers gala in November hosted by SBCEO and Cox Communications.

Also to be honored are the 2025 Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year, Laura Branch of Righetti High School, and the 2025 Santa Barbara Bowl Performing Arts Teacher of the Year, Rich Lashua of Santa Barbara Junior High.

Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools Susan Salcido commended the awardees for their dedication to their students and excellence in teaching.

“At SBCEO, it is our privilege to elevate the teaching profession and recognize outstanding educators in our county’s schools,” Salcido said. “We look forward to sharing more about these inspirational individuals in the coming months.”
For more information about the awards or the A Salute to Teachers event, visit sbceo.org/salute.