Contra Costa County Office of Education Teacher of the Year for 2018 was awarded to co-chair of the Los Medanos College Industrial Technology department Cecil Nasworthy by the Academic Senate Feb. 23.

Nasworthy received multiple nominations by fellow LMC colleagues who believe he is deserving of the award, but David Wahl, who is a part of the LMC Workforce & Economic Development program, made the official nomination to the senate.

“I think Cecil is an example of why the award was developed by the CCCOE in the first place,” said Wahl. “All of our faculty work hard and do their best for students, but Cecil adds the element of industry engagement like no one else I’ve ever seen.”

Having known Nasworthy for the past 10 years, and closely working with him for the past five due to the grant-funded Engineering Technology (ETEC) projects, Wahl has seen Nasworthy’s dedication to his students and to the ETEC program first-hand.

“Cecil is always willing to take on more work as long as his students will benefit,” said Wahl. “We ask a lot from our CTE faculty and Cecil never says he’s too busy to take on another project.”

Nasworthy has fully immersed himself into the ETEC program, and after 10 years at LMC, still feels very passionately about what he does.

“I feel like I’m a major part of this program,” said Nasworthy, as he looked around the ETEC building filled with his students. “This is more important to me than anything else.”

Nasworthy has also been an integral part of the Baywork and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Through the Utilities Commission, Nasworthy has worked to create pathways for Instrumentation Control Technicians and Electronic Maintenance Technicians for the Water and Wastewater Industry.

Catherine Curtis, Workforce Reliability Manager at the Utilities Commission, offered similar praise.

“Cecil Nasworthy has been invaluable,” said Curtis. “Not only does he offer one of the best programs for this trade in our industry, but his knowledge, professionalism, and personal connection with students and industry made him unique.”

It has been his hard work throughout the community, however, that has separated him from the average worker. With a growing and successful ETEC program at LMC, many people and companies, such as BART, have reached out to the program for assistance. When the San Francisco Foundation wanted to fund a bridge program for underserved students, they went straight to the LMC ETEC program and asked for Cecil.

This repetition of success in the ETEC program and Nasworthy’s unwavering assistance to help have contributed to an almost 100 percent employment rate for students upon their completion in the program.

Along with Wahl, Interim Dean of Math and Sciences, Ryan Pedersen was one of the staff members who nominated Nasworthy for Teacher of the Year and emphasized his commitment to students.

“Cecil has built a strong reputation for both the college and himself among our industry partners in the community,” said Pedersen in his letter nominating Nasworthy. “His dedication to their future success has paid off through the countless life-changing employment opportunities that he has provided them.”

His dedication has also paid off through him winning this prestigious award — an award that is only given to an LMC instructor every three years due to other ECCC colleges in the district who also nominate teachers.

“If you were to create a top 10 list of how to become a model community college CTE program, you’d describe Cecil and ETEC,” said Wahl. “If someone wants to know what it takes” all you have to do “is introduce them to Cecil Nasworthy.”