“Dive into Education”
Conference
sponsored by Hawaii Education Association
University of Hawaii West Oahu
Friday, November 3, 2023
More than 130 students from seven public schools gathered for the first-ever “Dive into Education” event at the University of Hawai‘i – West O‘ahu, sponsored by the Hawaii Education Association.
courtesy of HSTA
Hailey Rodgers (left) and Arisa Yazaki from Pearl City High School planned the “Dive into Education” event as their capstone senior project.
Joan Lewis, HEA president, and instructional coach at Kapolei High School, was a keynote speaker at the “Dive into Education” event. She said for every hero, there is a sidekick who supports the hero. She encouraged the students to aspire to be one of the many sidekicks in a student’s life and to let students be the heroes of their own journey. She said educators, who are the ones telling students, “You got this,” can use a broad range of skills and have fun serving as sidekicks instead of being pressured to be the savior of students.
One of the highlights of the “Dive into Education” event was a panel discussion of university students majoring in education, who shared their words of wisdom with the packed room of high school students pursuing teaching as a career. Many of the panelists encouraged the students to attend local universities to avoid the high costs of tuition in other states.