The award recipients were chosen from several hundred applicants, said Tam Taylor, spokeswoman for the Center for Civic Education, one of three institutions to sponsor the three-year-old awards program. "She has a natural rapport with her students because she has a great deal of respect for them as individuals. She finds she can work with them to use their own motivation, their own curiosity and their own interest to delve into issues that can be complex but also are essential to understanding our system of government" Taylor said. For the past several years, Cook-Kallio has headed Irvington High's We the People team. Full Article at Inside Bay Area