Preschool Teacher Receives Top Honors

Los Angeles County Preschool Teacher of the Year and Redondo Beach resident Ginny Zywot is committed to molding her young students into productive members of society.

"I love this age because this is really the age where we can affect the human being," she said. "This is when we build the foundation of a human being's life -- human values, the emotional abilities and the cognitive abilities."

Zywot, who was one of six teachers honored by Los Angeles Universal Preschool at a presentation Tuesday, says she and her husband, Don Zywot, started their out of their Redondo Beach home when their son Adam was 2 years old.

"I just decided to keep the program" after Adam went to kindergarten, she said. "I love the program."

Twenty years later, Adam has graduated from , but his parents are still running the preschool program.

In fact, graduates of the program will go back and help out.

"I am most proud of having our teenage alumni return to do community services at our preschool," she said. "This shows the depth of their preschool experiences, and how an early education does make a lifelong difference."

High school senior Roshan Berentes, who nominated Ginny Zywot for the Preschool Teacher of the Year award, has volunteered at Smart Start for six summers.

"Ginny was instrumental in helping me build a strong academic and social foundation," Berentes wrote in her nominating statement. She praised Zywot for "her creative teaching methods, knowledge of early childhood developmental stages and love for children."

Zywot says the preschool's emphasis on community and family is what inspires alumni to give back.

"These families have really bonded and connected with us," she said.

Smart Start only accepts 12 children at a time, she said, so "we can have wonderful interactions with the children.

"We can really work with each child, and it's a joyful, purposeful space for the children and their families."