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Cecilia “CC” Chung, a sixth grade teacher at Kaimiloa Elementary known for connecting with and inspiring her students and peers, was chosen as the 2020 Hawaii State Teacher of the Year.
“I’m shaking up here because I’m just so honored to be in this space with you,” said Chung, who is only 28, as she stepped to the podium after the award was announced Friday at Washington Place.
Nearby, 15 other finalists from across the state stood bedecked in lei, representing more than 11,000 teachers in Hawaii’s public schools, being celebrated by Gov. David Ige and assorted dignitaries.
“What greater job is there than to take the dream of a child and help it to grow into something real?” asked Chung, who will represent Hawaii in the National Teacher of the Year program in Washington, D.C., next spring.
The daughter of Korean immigrants, Chung has lived in Hawaii since she was 2 months old, and she started by thanking her parents and grandparents who were in the audience, and then her colleagues and students.
“You know that you’re at a good place when the place you’re in cares about you like a family,” she said, referring to her school in Ewa Beach. “And that’s really modeled for me what it means to be a teacher.”
Principal Debra Hatada hired Chung in 2013 after interviewing her by Skype while she was at the University of Southern California.
“It’s just engaging and contagious, her enthusiasm,” Hatada said. “She’s not just a teacher; she’s a learner. And every day she tells her kids, learning is hard work, and I’m learning about teaching, about what works best for you, so I’m learning alongside of you.”
“She has a knack for spotting the most difficult, lonely child in the classroom and forming that connection,” Hatada added.
Along with her duties as sixth grade teacher, Chung is the technology integration coach for kindergarten through sixth grade at Kaimiloa. She is also a Hawaii State Teacher Fellow, part of a program to elevate the profession.
“She’s very bubbly and very inspirational,” said Amy Santos, a colleague at Kaimiloa who has worked with Chung as an academic instructional coach. “When you’re with her, she has so many ideas that she wants to try. She’s willing to try anything for the kids. She has a really big heart.”
Sean Tajima, complex-area superintendent for the Campbell-Kapolei area, described Chung as more than an excellent classroom teacher.
“I think what I really appreciate and admire about her is she’s a really big-picture thinker,” Tajima said. “She’s dynamite with her students and her students love her, but on a bigger scale she’s really out to promote public education and recruit more teachers and retain the great teachers we have.”
Chung said her first year of teaching was the hardest, and in her second year she started tucking the notes and pictures her students gave her into a folder, to pull out from time to time when things were tough.
“We work hard to nurture every child, and that is hard sometimes, right?” she said. “I got a lei today from my class. It was a surprise, and it was a construction paper flower lei with the straws. The one that really stood out to me was a child; he had written, ‘You care, and that’s why you’re a great teacher.’”
Mathieu Williams, the 2019 Hawaii State Teacher of the Year and master of ceremonies, quoted another student as saying, “She is always telling us to never give up even when something is difficult. The reason she does this is because of her kindness to us, how she accepts us and how she shows that she loves us as a family.”
Along with the award, Chung received a $1,000 award from the Polynesian Cultural Center, the one-year lease of a 2019 Kia Niro Hybrid courtesy of the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association and Aloha Kia, plus a $500 Hele gasoline card from Par Hawaii and $250 from the Hawaii Schools Federal Credit Union.
The finalists in the program are the 2020 Teachers of the Year from each of the state’s school complexes plus one representing charter schools. Each received $500 awards from PCC plus $100 from the credit union. A Department of Education video featuring each finalist is available online at vimeo.com/368653827.
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TOP TEACHERS
2020 Complex Area Teachers of the Year:
>> Jessica Adkins, Maui High
>> Kai Ah Hee, West Hawaii District Office
>> Courtney Carpenter, Waikiki Elementary
>> Dustin Chang, Pearl Harbor Elementary
>> Cecilia Chung, Kaimiloa Elementary
>> Celeste Endo, Queen Kaahumanu Elementary
>> Taylor Flett, Wheeler Middle
>> Zoe Ingerson, SEEQS Public Charter School
>> Nikki Morishige, Waiahole Elementary
>> Megan Nii, Wilcox Elementary
>> Russell Rapoza, Keaau High
>> Ululani Russo, Waianae Intermediate
>> Kathy Sewake, Waiakea Elementary
>> Kaui Spitalsky, Lahainaluna High
>> Crystal Stafford, Kalaheo High
>> Jennifer Yamaguchi, Pearl City Highlands Elementary
— A Department of Education video featuring each of the finalists is available online at vimeo.com/368653827.
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