Page 4 - MidWeek Kauai - May 25, 2022

4 KAUA‘I MIDWEEK MAY 25, 2022
Public Schools of Hawai‘i Foundation’s upcoming awards banquet shines a light on distinguished graduates Daniel Chun, Saedene Ota and Mike Irish.
What do Bruno Mars, Max Holloway, John John Flor- ence, Jack Johnson, Maggie Q and Bryan Clay all have in common?
Good Idea Grants that fund innovative learning experiences (to the tune of $5 million) to 21st century STEM programs steeped in Stanford’s design-thinking model, the foundation is holistic in its approach to improving learning experi- ences for students of all ages.
Besides being prominent names from Hawai‘i, they are all proud public school graduates.
And while thousands of DOE alums are already part of this established circle of professionals, many more are well on their way to matriculation and making their own marks on the world. There to help youth in their formative educational years are teachers, faculty and staff, and at the ready to assist these state workers is Public Schools of Hawai‘i Founda- tion. The nonprofit started in 1986 with a mission to improve the quality of public education by way of innovative classroom teaching and offering diverse approaches to learning.
“It all started with the Good Idea Grants,” recalls Hiraki, adding that each stipend is about $3,000 per project. “It’s for teachers to get reenergized and do something innovative in their class that they probably would have had to pay for out of their own pocket for.”
“The business community got togeth- er back then to figure out a way to help public schools,” explains trustee Ken Hiraki, a Roosevelt High grad. “We found out that if we form this organi- zation and pool our money together, we can make a bigger impact on improving public school education.”
To help students learn more about genetics, the foundation partnered with ‘Iolani School’s ‘Āina-Informatics Network and Hawai‘i Dental Service to provide training and purchase lab equipment. If studying DNA sounds cool, it is, because youth are working on real-world issues currently affecting
assist the state Department of Health in T tracking the spread of COVID variants des by analyzing deactivated test samples. Gro
Now, more than 35 years later, the group continues to do just that. From its
“Our public school kids are the next P generation of community leaders, en- and trepreneurs, Grammy Award winners, “ secretaries of veterans affairs, Nobel get laureates,” adds Hiraki. “We make a sch positive difference for Hawai‘i, and we tak
These good ideas include every- thing from building a Japanese garden at Waipahu High and sewing quilts at Waiāhole Elementary to crafting a porta- ble planetarium to teach Hawaiian star- lore at ‘Ewa Elementary. Funding great ideas like these is just one part of what Public Schools of Hawai‘i Foundation does for local students. It also encour- ages engagement in coding, artificial intelligence and, most recently, modern genomics. The latter is inspired by 1981 Hilo High grad Dr. Jennifer Doudna, one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influen- tial People of 2015, who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry alongside Em- manuelle Charpentier.
Mike Irish, Saedene Ota and Daniel Chun are accomplished graduates of Hawai‘i’s public school system.
“Her discovery (of CRISPR gene ed- iting technology) has been called one of the most significant discoveries in the history of biology,” notes Hiraki.
Art the state. According to the foundation, “ public school students have been able to hig
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