COUNTYWIDE

The Orange County Hispanic Education Endowment Fund presented five teachers with Apple of Gold awards at its seventh annual recognition dinner at the Irvine Hyatt Regency on Friday.

The award for Excellence in Teaching went to Cypress High School math teacher and girls softball and tennis coach Lisa Castillo. Manuel Colon, a Spanish teacher from Katella High School, received an award in the same category.

The Most Promising Educator award was presented to first-grade teacher Marcial Jorge from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Santa Ana.

The Educational Leadership awards went to John Acuna and Sylvia Alva. Acuna is a college transfer counselor at Santa Ana College. Alva is a professor of child and adolescent studies at Cal State Fullerton.The fund was established in 1993 to sponsor educational scholarships.