Fourth Grader Shares the Love - and the SusieCakes

Our weekly feature recognizes students for any number of academic, athletic, artistic or community service achievements.

But the achievement of this week's honoree, fourth grader Kaia Arvilla, resides in the art of sharing. She put huge smiles on the faces of her classmates by getting them a cupcake party and also helped her teacher, Michael Stachon, garner some well-deserved recognition of his own.

Arvilla and more than 100 students from around Marin participated in a Best Teacher contest organized by SusieCakes, a bakery with six locations in California, including here in Marin. Students nominated their teachers, and SusieCakes picked a winner among the most-nominated teachers and the students who nominated them.

"Stachon was the most nominated teacher because he is funny, nice and sincere," said Edna Maguire Principal Lisa Zimmer, who called Stachon's students into the office earlier this month under the guise that they were in trouble, only to notify them of their good fortune.

"It was great," said Brooke Jennett, the general manager of the SusieCakes store in Greenbrae.

As the photos at right indicate, Arvilla, her classmates and Stachon agree.