Area Service Award

The Area Service Award is presented each year for overall contributions to CADA. Recipients should have been active on the Area Council, summer camp program, as a state officer, as a presenter at area conferences or state conventions.

2022 CADA Area Service Award Recipients 

AREA A: Deena Koral-Soto, Summerville High School

Deena Koral-Soto has been dedicated to education and her students for the past 16 years as a special education teacher. In that 16 years, she has worked at both the elementary and high school levels. When Deena transitioned to the high school level, she found her passion in student activities. She started as a class advisor for three years and knew she wanted to be even more involved in the program. For the past 11 years, Deena has been the Activities Director and leadership teacher at Summerville High School. When she attended her first Area A advisors conference, she knew she had found her people. She has been part of the Area A Council for eight years. Although she has presented at both the advisors conference and CADA State Convention, she prefers behind-the-scenes activities. Her favorite part of council is being able to watch their plans come to fruition with everyone working together and having the opportunity to work with and meet the most talented activities directors in the state. She is so proud to have been able to help grow Summerville’s ASB leadership class, a zero period course meeting at 7am to include 14% of the entire student body. Her ASB program has received numerous CADA/CASL Outstanding Leadership Program Awards, and been named a NATSTUCO Gold Council of Excellence for the past three years. Deena and her students are dedicated to bringing new innovative, and inclusive activities to all students and staff on the Summerville High campus. When Deena is not at school, she can be found spending time with her daughter Madison, her husband Matt, and the rest of her family at home or often in Disneyland or Disneyworld. Deena is thankful for friends and family support in everything she does.

AREA B: Brian Glaze, Arroyo High School

Brian Glaze is a physics teacher at Arroyo Grande High School. He has been teaching for 15 years and has been a part of CADA for over 13 of those years. His passion for student activities and leadership started his first day of teaching when he became a class advisor. Through CADA, that passion has grown from helping student leaders to now assisting other activity directors and their programs. As a part of the Area B Council, Brian has felt it’s been a great honor to help and learn from so many amazing, talented, and spirited people.

AREA C: Shawna Sousa, Central High School

Shawna Sousa has been the Activities Director at Central East High School in Fresno, for seven years and a CADA member for eight years. She has presented at the Area C Student Conference about staff spirit teams, the Week of Giving, and unique spirit weeks. At the 2021 virtual state convention, Shawna presented at a workshop about collaborating with feeder schools. Shawna joined the Area C Council while at the 2020 CADA State Convention. After experiencing her first year of council meetings on Zoom, Shawna is excited about any in person meeting and was especially excited to be back in Reno for the 2022 CADA State Convention.

AREA d: Mark Dover, Salinas High School

Mark is completing his 10th year at Salinas High School as their Activities Director. He previously held the same position at North Monterey County's High School for 11 years. He serves on the Area D Council and has presented sessions in the state convention in past years.

AREA e: Casey Shotwell, South Pasadena High School

Casey Shotwell has taught at South Pasadena High School for the past 32 years. In his second year, he became the junior class advisor for the first of three years before moving on to a stint as senior class advisor for the next seven. For the last 22 years, he has proudly served the students of SPHS as their activities director. During this time, Casey has annually helped with the Area E student conferences in addition to working at new advisor conferences, STARS conferences, and participating in a few CASL state conferences. In addition, his leadership class has won the CADA/CASL Outstanding Leadership Program Award 15 times and hosted multiple Leadership Development Days. Throughout his time in activities, Casey has enjoyed maintaining the traditions of a school over a hundred years old while responding to today's interests and needs of today's students. This has resulted in a revamping of the homecoming court, the remodeling of the Tiger Patio (main quad area) and the expansion of the leadership class to include two Health & Wellness representatives, a Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity rep and a Challenge Success rep.

AREA f: Ricky Castro, Kreamer Middle School

Ricky Castro has been the Activities Director at Kraemer Middle School for the past five years. He is incredibly proud to be working at Kraemer because he was once a former student and also a member of their leadership program. He was recognized as the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Teacher of the Year in 2016. Since then, he has presented at the CADA Convention in 2020 and has also presented at various CADA Zoom events. Recently, Ricky became one of the adult advisors for CASL.

AREA g: Valerie Tapia, Sage Creek High School 

Valerie Tapia has been the ASB Director at Sage Creek High School in Carlsbad since 2018. She works hard to root the work of ASB in servant leadership, equity, and inclusion and loves to see how the program has transformed with these things at the forefront. She loves seeing her students work through the planning and execution of student events and activities, but she especially loves seeing them learn, grow and want more for their school. Valerie has attended the CADA State Convention since 2019 and has taken her ASB class to every Area G Student Conference. She attends the Area Advisor conferences to continue to learn and grow as a professional and has earned her Master Activity Advisor Certificate. Valerie presented for the first time at the CADA Fall Student Conference in 2020 and again at the most recent Area G Advisor conference. Her involvement in all things CADA has truly helped her to grow in her role.

Past Area Service Award Recipients