Two public high school science teachers who refuse to let their students give up — or think that tough courses are too hard — won the nation's top teaching prize yesterday in surprise assemblies at their schools that brought tears to their eyes and student ovations.

Farrington High physics and chemistry teacher Bebi Davis and Waipahu High's Carl Matsumoto, who not only teaches science but also coaches junior varsity basketball, won Milken National Educator Awards, which include a $25,000 monetary prize.

As a shocked Davis stepped to the stage yesterday in the Farrington auditorium, wiping away tears, she told cheering students: "I'm here for you; I love working with you."

Later Davis, 37, said she tells her students to "leave 'I cannot' at the door, and think 'I can.'

"As soon as you believe you can, we'll go from there," she tells them.

It took just a couple of clues for Waipahu students to figure out who had won the Milken award there. Before state schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto announced his name, members of the basketball team were already cheering and pointing to Matsu-moto, who slapped hands with the students on his way to the stage.

"Good teachers come from good students and I'd like to thank all my students," Matsumoto told the whooping crowd, which included his parents, in town from Rhode Island for a visit. The couple changed their flight plans at the last minute to attend the ceremony.

After the crowd thinned, Matsumoto, 33, explained why he has stayed at Waipahu for all of his nine-year career.

"This is pretty much a very large part of my life," he said. "If it's working out well, and I like the students, why should I leave?"

For Matsumoto, part of being a teacher is encouraging students to remain involved beyond the classroom, so he pushes them to participate in extracurricular activities, including the "Club Med" that he founded for students interested in the medical field.

"It keeps them out of trouble," he said. "If there's no positive influence outside of school, they can have a positive influence inside."

Farrington graduate Chester Centino, 19, who is a freshman in engineering at Kapi'olani Community College and was one of Davis' students, said the teacher inspired him to understand physics through things he loved, liked tinkering with cars.

"She makes us think," he said. "At first she thought I was a guy who'd fool around. But she made it easy (to learn) because she relates physics to everyday things. I was interested in building things, but she was probably the major influence in me wanting to be an engineer. ... She watched after me. She didn't want me to quit."

Another former student, also attending KCC, said Davis was relentless in her expectations, so much so that he went from being a student who was always late to class to one who began arriving early every day.

"She kept pushing me," said James Simon, 19, who said it was Davis who inspired him to enter the science fair and bridge-building competition last year. He won first place in the bottle rocket contest.

Students at Waipahu said Matsumoto provided the same kind of encouragement and motivation.

Mason Namu, 18, who plays for the Waipahu varsity basketball team, said Matsumoto is remarkable in his intensity. "He's always there to help you out," he said. "He's always rallying and trying to get your hopes up."

Christine Pasion, 16, said she had a class with Matsumoto in her freshman year and is taking a class from him as a junior. And even though he wasn't her teacher in the 10th grade, "he was always there behind my back getting me to focus on my career pathway."

Davis, who earned her first degree at a community college before going to the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, came to Hawai'i seven years ago from Guyana, South America. She tell her students: "Do you think I had 100 percent on all my tests? No. ... You learn from your mistakes. You have to believe you can do these things."

Farrington principal Catherine Payne, herself a former Milken award winner, said Davis "believes in her students" and gets them involved in competitions. Davis, who works full time at Farrington, teaches part time at KCC and Honolulu Community College, and is pursuing her Ph.D., said she never gives up on anyone.

Her husband, KCC biochemistry professor Harry Davis, seconds that.

"She's unbelievable. She doesn't give them a chance (to misbehave.) At the same time she's teaching them about life and responsibility," he said.

At Waipahu, principal Patricia Pedersen described Matsumoto as a risk-taker and a pioneer, and noted that he volunteered to help pilot the school's "small community" program that groups freshmen and sophomores into "learning houses."

"He believes in it," she said. "He believes the students can do better."

Superintendent Hamamoto said she believes inspiring teachers like these find each student's strengths and teach accordingly.

"You have to know what makes a kid tick," said Hamamoto, "and motivate them that way."

Taken by surprise, Matsumoto said he had no idea what he would do with the prize money.

"I don't think I've ever had more than $1,000 in my checking account in my entire life," he said.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com and Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.