{"id":195245,"date":"2024-04-09T13:46:48","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T23:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=195245"},"modified":"2024-04-09T13:46:48","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T23:46:48","slug":"milken-award-inouye-pham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/04\/09\/milken-award-inouye-pham\/","title":{"rendered":"2 UH<\/abbr> alums earn $25K<\/abbr> Milken Educator Award"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Inouye shares a celebratory Facetime call to his family with Lowell Milken, chairman of the Milken Family Foundation. (Photo credit: Department of Education)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A pair of University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> alumni were presented with the Milken Educator Award<\/a> in April. Regarded as the “Oscar Award of Teaching,” the award celebrates exceptional teachers and comes with an unrestricted $25,000 cash prize.<\/p>\n

Rory Inouye<\/h2>\n
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Inouye pauses for a selfie with his students. (Photo credit: Department of Education)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rory Inouye—a mathematics teacher at Wai\u0101kea High School—earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in education<\/a> from UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa and a master\u2019s degree in education<\/a> from UH<\/abbr> Hilo. The Wai\u0101kea High alum\u2019s passion for teaching is a family strength with his father, mother and brother all serving as educators.<\/p>\n

Inouye\u2019s leadership shines throughout the school where he serves on the Wai\u0101kea High School Freshman Academy faculty, manages after-school tutoring programs and advises the Homecoming Committee. Inouye, a former Wai\u0101kea High baseball player, also coached the team to consecutive appearances in Division I championship games in 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n

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Inouye received a $25,000 prize as part of his Milken Educator Award.
(Photo credit: Department of Education)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“I got into teaching not to win awards and not to be recognized, but to help the students, to give back. I remember being a student at Wai\u0101kea High School, and I wasn’t the strongest student. For me, that really inspired me to be a math teacher. We want to show students you don’t have to be afraid of math,” Inouye said after receiving his award. “To be awarded this it’s just shocking, amazing, and I’m still trying to wrap my brain around it.”<\/p>\n

Inouye was honored by Lowell Milken, chairman and co-founder of the Milken Family Foundation, Lt<\/abbr>. Gov<\/abbr>. Sylvia Luke, Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Board of Education Chairman Warren Haruki, Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Department of Education Superintendent Keith Hayashi and other officials.<\/p>\n

Jade Pham<\/h2>\n
\"people
Pham reacts to being named a recipient of the Milken Educator Award in a surprise school assembly. (Photo credit: Department of Education)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jade Pham—student services coordinator at Kaw\u0101nanakoa Middle School—earned her master\u2019s degree in education from UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa in 2019. After earning her master\u2019s degree, she began her career as a special education and general education teacher. In 2021, Pham made the move to Kaw\u0101nanakoa Middle and served as a special education and social studies teacher before assuming her current position, where she provides direct support to all classrooms and works closely with teachers to ensure high-quality learning for all students.<\/p>\n

Pham received her National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification in February 2024, and was recently tapped to serve as a temporarily assigned vice principal for the school, which has an enrollment of 595 students.<\/p>\n

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Pham is presented the unrestricted $25,000 cash prize that comes with the Milken Educator Award. (Photo credit: Department of Education)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pham shared that she immigrated to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> with her family as a toddler and attended public schools throughout her educational journey—from Linapuni Elementary and P\u0101lolo Elementary to Jarrett Middle and Kaimuk\u012b High School—while she grew up in public housing.<\/p>\n

“I do believe that I wouldn\u2019t be here today if it wasn\u2019t for all of my teachers that believed in me growing up,” Pham said after receiving the award. “All and all it’s the teachers that really mentored me from when I was in preschool all the way up till today.”<\/p>\n

Pham was presented the award by Milken, Gov<\/abbr>. Josh Green, Hayashi and other officials in a surprise schoolwide assembly as students, teachers and staff members cheered her accomplishments.<\/p>\n

Pham and Inouye are the 81st and 82nd Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> teachers, respectively, to receive the award since Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> joined the program in 1990. They are the first dual Milken awardees in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pham and Inouye are the 81st and 82nd Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> teachers, respectively, to receive the award since Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> joined the program in 1990.<\/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":[90,679,95,204,1466,14,9],"class_list":["post-195245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-recognition","tag-college-of-education","tag-education","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195245","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=195245"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195256,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195245\/revisions\/195256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}