Presidential Honor Comes To Kaneshiro

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Hokulani Elementary teacher Shari Kaneshiro (center)
is flanked by Kaimuki/Kalani complex superintendent
Estelle Wong and Hokulani principal Alfredo
Carganilla on May 26, after winning her 2006
Presidential Award. Photo by Kevin Kaneshiro.

Hokulani Elementary teacher Shari Kaneshiro has won the 2006 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the nation’s highest honor for K-12 math and science teachers.

After a yearlong review process, including FBI checks, Kaneshiro said the win came as a surprise. She was told she won via e-mail and “had to read it over a couple times. I had to have my husband read it, too, to make sure.”

Kaneshiro, a sixth-grade teacher of math, science, language arts, P.E. art, music and social studies, called the award “a highlight of my 14 years teaching.

“I’ve always told my students when you teach it’s never going to be for any kind of great monetary or material reward. But the reward is when they come back and visit me a couple years later, and they tell me they’re doing really well. That to me is the reward.”

A mother of three who coaches Hokulani’s sixth-grade co-ed basketball team with her husband, Kevin, Kaneshiro was nominated by fellow teacher Debra Uwaine. Hokulani principal Al Carganilla said she “is just doing wonderful things” teaching math through innovative, real-world applications.

At the school’s fun run, for example,“she had the kids design the track using math and actually going out there and chalking up the lines for the track,” Carganilla recalled.“So it’s something the kids enjoy. It just makes learning so fun.”

Kaneshiro was awarded $10,000 from the National Science Foundation and an expense-paid trip for two last month to Washington, D.C., where events included recognition gatherings, professional development activities with teachers, and meetings with NASA and U.S. Energy Department leaders connected with education.

“All those things were really valuable to me as a teacher - things I can bring back to my grade level and state level,“said Kaneshiro, noting that the networking was invaluable, and she remains in touch with some of the teachers via e-mail.

“We wish we could visit each others’ schools, but being able to talk to them is the next best thing,” said Kaneshiro, who began her teaching career at Kaneohe Elementary.

Locally, she and fellow winner Paul Burnett Jr., a Waialua Elementary science teacher, were honored at a May 26 luncheon at the Halekulani ,along with Hawaii’s four finalists.