{"id":209729,"date":"2025-01-24T12:55:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T22:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=209729"},"modified":"2025-01-24T12:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T22:55:07","slug":"presidential-award-aragaki-kent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/01\/24\/presidential-award-aragaki-kent\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidential award in math, science teaching honors UH<\/abbr> alumni Aragaki, Kent"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Whitney Aragaki and Gregory Kent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A pair of University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> alumni received the 2025 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching<\/a> (PAEMST<\/abbr>)—the nation\u2019s highest award that a science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and\/or computer science teacher may receive for outstanding teaching in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Whitney Aragaki earned her PhD<\/abbr> in education from the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Department of Curriculum Studies<\/a> and MS<\/abbr> from the UH<\/abbr> Hilo graduate program in conservation biology and environmental science<\/a>, and Gregory Kent earned his MEd<\/abbr> in educational technology<\/a> and BEd<\/abbr> in elementary education<\/a> from UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n

Aragaki: biology, environmental science, research educator<\/h2>\n

Aragaki teaches biology, environmental science and research at Wai\u0101kea High School in Hilo. In 2021, she was selected as one of three state finalists in the science category and was named the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> State Teacher of the Year<\/a>. She was also selected to the inaugural cohort of the Obama Foundation Leaders USA<\/abbr> program in 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“This award underscores the impact of our daily work as science and math educators,” Aragaki said. “The teaching community in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is so strong and passionate about supporting our local students, and I am in awe of the work of those that I have the honor of sharing this award with. My work is also enlivened by the opportunity to engage with youth every day, and I do not take that for granted.”<\/p>\n

Read more about Aragaki on the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa College of Education website<\/a> and in UH<\/abbr> Hilo Stories<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kent: STEM<\/abbr>, technology coordinator<\/h2>\n

Kent works with PreK–6th grade teachers on STEM<\/abbr> units as the technology coordinator at Kailua Elementary School. He was the state finalist in the math category in 2022 and a finalist for the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> State Teacher of the Year in 2024.<\/p>\n

“This award highlights the importance of science and math globally, nationally and in our community,” Kent said. “I really feel like I am where I belong, and this award motivates me to create more meaningful learning experiences for all of our students, including more career and technical education opportunities for our school and our community.”<\/p>\n

Read more about Kent on the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa College of Education website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As PAEMST<\/abbr> awardees, Aragaki and Kent received a certificate signed by then President Joe Biden, a trip to Washington, D.C. to attend a series of recognition events and professional development opportunities, and a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aragaki and Kent received a certificate signed by then President Joe Biden, a trip to Washington, D.C. and a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation.<\/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":[90,679,95,204,1466,313,232,14,907,9],"class_list":["post-209729","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-stem","tag-tropical-conservation-biology-and-environmental-science","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-hilo-stories","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\/209729","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=209729"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209737,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209729\/revisions\/209737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}