About 130 high school students came together to mingle with like-minded peers, get inspired about teaching and learn more about what it takes to enter the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 130 high school students who are considering a career in teaching gathered at the University of Hawai\u02bbi – West O\u02bbahu Friday for the inaugural \u201cDive into Education\u201d conference hosted by Pearl City High School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students from Campbell, Kapolei, Farrington, Leilehua, N\u0101n\u0101kuli, Pearl City, and Waipahu High schools came together to mingle with like-minded peers, get inspired about teaching and learn more about what it takes to enter the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting this many people. It was kinda crazy to see all the other people who were teachers or want to be teachers,\u201d said Leilehua junior Ryiane Lei Pascua. Pascua\u2019s inspiration to pursue a teaching career comes from her mom, who used to teach in the Philippines, as well as one of her elementary school teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The event kicked off with breakfast and a college fair followed by a keynote address from Hawai\u2019i Education Association President Joan Kamila Lewis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo not try to be a hero,\u201d she told the students. \u201cBe a sidekick.\u201d She encouraged students to not enter the teaching profession in hopes of becoming a \u201chero\u201d for students but to instead look at serving as a strong support system, or \u201csidekick,\u201d for their journeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSometimes [sidekicks] cheer you on, sometimes it\u2019s to give you a reality check, sometimes it\u2019s just to be there,\u201d said Lewis, who is also a teacher at Kapolei High School with 35 years of experience. \u201cThe best sidekicks are always there with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The event also included a panel with seven Hawai\u02bbi public school alumni who are majoring in education at the University of Hawai\u02bbi at M\u0101noa, Hawai\u02bbi Pacific University, Chaminade and UH West O\u2018ahu. The college students shared about their post-high school experiences and why they decided to go into teaching. After the panel, they raffled off prizes from their respective schools including college swag, an Apple iPad and a $1,000 tuition scholarship for UH West O\u2018ahu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students from Pearl City High School\u2019s Teaching as a Profession program hosted the first-ever conference with support from the Hawai\u02bbi State Teachers Association, Hawai\u02bbi Education Association and Educators Rising and hope to make it an annual event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just want to inspire other people, like how my high school teachers inspired me, and get the future going because these students coming up are our future and I want it to be bright,\u201d said Pearl City High School senior Arisa Yazaki who helped to co-chair the event. Yazaki is considering becoming a high school teacher or elementary school teacher and plans to stay in Hawai\u02bbi for college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Teaching as a Profession program is one of the pathways in Pearl City High\u2019s Academy of Culinary Arts, Health Sciences and Leadership. The school has three college and career academies designed to prepare students for post-secondary education and the workforce by providing hands-on learning opportunities, industry-specific curriculum and connections to industry professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really about encouraging the kids to consider education as well as equipping them for what it\u2019s going to look like in the future and their pathways,\u201d said Pearl City High Principal Joseph Halfmann. \u201cIt\u2019s key to have our students be a part of a program like this, to stay in Hawai\u02bbi and teach the future generation. They really are going to be the problem solvers and part of the solutions for the future as well.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
About 130 high school students came together to mingle with like-minded peers, get inspired about teaching and learn more about what it takes to enter the field. About 130 high school students who are considering a career in teaching gathered at the University of Hawai\u02bbi – West O\u02bbahu Friday for the inaugural \u201cDive into Education\u201d […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":21,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Chanel Honda","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/author\/chanel-hondak12-hi-us\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":21,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":306,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":306,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 18:37:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9949\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}