Takashi Ohno, Gabriel Nakashima, and Sarah Kern all taught in Hawai‘i public schools on O‘ahu
HONOLULU (Jan. 25, 2016) — Teach For America–Hawai‘i announced Monday that three of its alumni have recently received prestigious state and national recognitions.
Gabriel Nakashima (2009 corps) was recognized in this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the field of education for his work as a Founder of the Charter Substitute Teacher Network, a national organization with 320 employees that improves the charter school substitute system through rigorous sourcing, vetting and matching analytics, and engaging community stakeholders.
Takashi Ohno (2009 corps), a member of the Hawai‘i House of Representatives, was selected as a prestigious Education Advocacy Fellow at The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now (50CAN), a nonprofit education organization that works at the local level to advocate for a high-quality education for all kids, regardless of their address.
Sarah Kern (2013 corps), a Kaiser High School graduate, has been selected this year as a Complex Area winner of the National Milken Educators of Hawai‘i annual Teacher of Promise award. Sarah continues to be a leader on campus at Wai‘anae High School, where she began her teaching career in 2013 as a Teach For America corps member, and where she works as a science teacher, co-science department head, and biology course-alike lead.
“Teach For America–Hawai‘i seeks to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence in our state and nation by enlisting and developing outstanding leaders of all backgrounds to contribute to our larger education ecosystem,” said Jill Baldemor, executive director of Teach For America–Hawai‘i.
Teach For America-Hawai‘i currently has nearly 280 teachers in Hawai‘i schools, with 159 teachers in years 1 and 2 and 119 alumni teachers. These teachers impact at least 15,000 Hawai‘i students, with many of these students in hard-to-staff schools on O‘ahu’s Leeward Coast or Hawai‘i Island’s Ka‘u-Kea‘au-Pāhoa area.
Teach For America–Hawai‘i works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty. Founded in 2006 on O‘ahu and 2009 on Hawai‘i Island, Teach For America–Hawai‘i recruits and develops a diverse corps of outstanding college graduates and professionals to make an initial two-year commitment to teach in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in the movement to end educational inequity. Our broader mission is to enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation’s most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence. As Teach For America–Hawai‘i nears its 10th anniversary, the organization has had a profound impact in the islands by recruiting and developing more than 700 teachers over the last decade, many of whom are working across career sectors—including education, law, business, medicine, and government—to improve the opportunities of young people and fight for educational equity.
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