Ala Wai teacher wins $25,000 Milken award

Sara King of Ala Wai Elementary School, who has wanted to be a teacher ever since she was little, was singled out Monday as among the nation’s best with a $25,000 Milken Educator Award.

When Gov. David Ige called out her name for the honor, dubbed the “Oscars of teaching,” the 32-year-old put her hand over her face, and the tears started flowing. Hundreds of kids erupted in cheers, and her colleagues quickly buried her in lei.

“I was shocked and overwhelmed,” she said afterward. “I really think there’s so many teachers here that deserve this award. We have such an awesome teaching staff here, so I feel very fortunate that I was chosen.”

Fifth-grader Leila Thinom summed up “Mrs. King” this way: “She’s kind, creative and really funny.”

King spent seven years as a first-grade teacher at Ala Wai before being tapped in 2017 as Title I coordinator, a schoolwide role focused on helping all children reach their potential. She accepted the position on condition that she continue to teach, and still works with kids in small groups every day.

“She’s all heart and she loves her children,” Principal Michelle DeBusca said. “She’s always looking for ways to engage them … but I think what also makes her a special person is that she’s always helping her colleagues.”

“She’s been a grade-level chair; she’s also a teacher mentor,” DeBusca said. “Now she’s helping to lead our school in looking at our data. … She’s having a greater impact now, getting to work with teachers and also helping our children across the whole school campus.”

The Milken Family Foundation honors educators relatively early in their careers to highlight their achievement and spur them on, and to elevate the profession.

King is one of 33 educators nationwide to receive the award this year and the only one in Hawaii. The recipients do not even know they have been nominated until the award is announced.

She grew up in Huntington Beach, Calif., and attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa, earning her bachelor’s in elementary education and master’s in curriculum studies, emphasizing multicultural education.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, ever since I was little,” King said. “The best part of my day is with students.”

About a third of the 378 children at Ala Wai Elementary in the 2017-18 school year were English-language learners. Vertical banners on the school fence urge students to “Dream Big and Make It Happen,” a motto that King personifies.

“Whenever someone needs help with anything, she is there,” said Florence Kawamura, a fifth-grade teacher at Ala Wai. “She happily helps with an open heart. There’s nothing that’s impossible.”

“She’s a wonderful leader and she always listens,” Kawamura added. “To listen and to incorporate other people’s ideas to get to the best of the best — she’s it!”

King connects classroom learning to the real world. After heavy rain flooded part of the campus, she elicited more than 100 questions from her students. Ultimately, they decided to focus on how best to protect their homes from weather threats. Other projects included creating a digital storyboard about the school garden and figuring out ways to keep cars from speeding near their school.

She works with the Student Lighthouse group of leaders and coaches basketball and softball for unified teams of students in special and regular education. She puts on Parent Night, May Day and numerous workshops. She helped stage Monday’s assembly, not realizing she was the honoree.

“Our Ala Wai ohana, I wouldn’t be up here without all of you — staff, faculty, students,” she said in brief remarks through her tears. “You teach me every single day how to be a better teacher, and I know I’ll continue to learn from each and every one of you.”

After the assembly she was asked what she might do with the prize, which is unrestricted. Although the news was still sinking in, she had one immediate thought.

“We just expanded our family with another baby, so we needed a bigger car, so probably some of it is going to that,” said King, who has a 7-month-old daughter and a son who’s nearly 3.