{"id":129864,"date":"2020-11-02T11:24:29","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T21:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=129864"},"modified":"2024-03-15T13:30:31","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T23:30:31","slug":"coe-alumni-top-hawaii-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/11\/02\/coe-alumni-top-hawaii-teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Hawai\u2018i teachers are UH<\/abbr> College of Education alumni"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Lori
Lori Kwee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> alumna Lori Kwee<\/strong> was named the 2021 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> State Teacher of the Year<\/em><\/a> during a virtual awards ceremony on October 23. An Ala Wai Elementary School teacher for the past 20 years, Kwee earned a professional diploma and BEd<\/abbr> in elementary education from UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s College of Education<\/a> (COE<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n

As a finalist for this award, Kwee was the Kaimuk\u012b-McKinley-Roosevelt Complex area winner. Several other complex area winners are also COE<\/abbr> alumni, including: Kristen Eastvedt<\/strong>, Shannon Kealoha<\/strong>, Joanna Kobayashi<\/strong>, Keala Nunuha<\/strong>, Ashley Oyama<\/strong>, Elaine Higa<\/strong> and Heidi Jenkins<\/strong>. These teachers were selected from more than 13,000 educators within the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> State Department of Education.<\/p>\n

Following in her mom\u2019s footsteps, Kwee<\/strong> says that it has been her dream to engage children in discovering the joys of learning. “Betty, my mom, was a teacher and also a graduate of UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa. As a young girl, I saw the pleasure she took as an educator at Ala Wai Elementary School. Her positive influence steered me to my path into elementary education, leading me to Ala Wai School as a full circle in life,” Kwee said.<\/p>\n

As the State Teacher of the Year, Kwee will represent Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> in the National Teacher of the Year program.<\/p>\n

More on the complex area winners<\/h2>\n

Eastvedt<\/strong>, the Castle-Kahuku Complex area winner, holds an MEd<\/abbr> in educational psychology from COE<\/abbr>. A teacher at Hauʻula<\/span> Elementary School for the past 17 years, she says she always knew that becoming a teacher was her destiny.<\/p>\n

Baldwin-Kekaulike-Maui Complex area winner, Kealoha<\/strong>, received her professional diploma and BEd<\/abbr> in elementary education. She teaches eighth grade math at Maui Waena Intermediate School where she has worked since 2001.<\/p>\n

Kobayashi<\/strong> is the ʻAiea<\/span>-Moanalua-Radford Complex area winner and has been a teacher at Moanalua High School for 10 years. Having earned an MEdT<\/abbr> in secondary education, she says helping students understand how they can make positive impacts on our communities is what drew her to the field of education.<\/p>\n

A teacher at N\u0101n\u0101ikapono Elementary School since 2006, Nunuha<\/strong> is the N\u0101n\u0101kuli-Waiʻanae<\/span> Complex area winner. She holds both a BEd<\/abbr> in elementary education and MEd<\/abbr> in curriculum studies from COE<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

Oyama<\/strong>, who earned a BEd<\/abbr> in elementary education, is the Honokaʻa<\/span>-Kealakehe-Kohala-Konawaena Complex area winner. A fourth grade teacher at Konawaena Elementary School, she says she was inspired by her own third and fourth grade teachers to one day impact and change the lives of students.<\/p>\n

Higa<\/strong>, who holds a professional diploma and BEd<\/abbr> in secondary education, is the Kaʻu<\/span>–Keaʻau<\/span>-Pahoa Complex area winner (Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> District Office).<\/p>\n

Jenkins<\/strong>, the H\u0101na-Lahainaluna-Lanaʻi<\/span>–Molokaʻi<\/span> Complex area winner (Maui District Office), has a BEd<\/abbr> in elementary education.<\/p>\n

Read the full story on the COE<\/abbr> website for more on the winners.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These teachers were selected from more than 13,000 educators within the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> State Department of Education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[90,679,95,9,1626],"class_list":["post-129864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-recognition","tag-college-of-education","tag-uh-manoa","tag-women-of-uh","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129864"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183915,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129864\/revisions\/183915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}