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Nov. 12, 2025
Editorial Mission: As the Department's primary publication, we aim to live up to the meaning of ha‘aheo – to cherish with pride – by bolstering and sustaining pride in public education and touting the successes happening across our system.
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Aloha, HIDOE Community –
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Ho‘oha‘aheo Newsletter.
2025 Blue Ribbon Schools
Congratulations to Mānana Elementary, Mililani Mauka Elementary and Wilson Elementary for being recognized as 2025 National Blue Ribbon Schools! These three outstanding schools were selected for the prestigious honor prior to the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to discontinue the program in August 2025. For more than four decades, the program has celebrated public and private schools nationwide for high academic achievement and significant progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.
All three schools — each a first-time recipient — earned recognition under the former federal program’s “Exemplary High-Performing Schools” category, ranking among Hawai‘i’s highest-performing schools based on state assessment results. Each school surpassed statewide academic averages by over 20 points across English, math and science.
We look forward to recognizing these schools and their accomplishments at tomorrow’s Board of Education meeting, with a formal state celebration planned for the spring. We are also working on developing a state-level Blue Ribbon Schools program to continue honoring our schools that exemplify excellence in student learning and achievement.
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 Students in Kūlanihākoʻi High School’s Filipino Language class, together with members of the Filipino Club, got a tasty lesson in culture during an interactive workshop on Filipino food traditions and identity held on campus on Oct. 28. They sampled the flavors of Luzon, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur—which included igado (a savory pork and liver dish sautéed with onions and garlic), grilled pork, banana lumpia and a refreshing calamansi juice donated by Ramar Foods. The workshop, organized by the Center for Philippine Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Kapiʻolani Community College and the Filipino Curriculum Project, gave students an opportunity to explore Filipino culture and language through food.
Credit: Sydney Villegas / Kūlanihākoʻi High School
Send us your public school-related image from this school year for a chance to be featured as next week’s Ho‘oha‘aheo Photo of the Week!
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Kamaboko Day is celebrated on Nov. 15 in Japan to honor the popular fish cake's first recorded appearance in 1115. A "kamaboko house" is a local nickname for a Quonset hut, a prefabricated half-cylinder-shaped building with a metal skin (that shares the kamaboko shape) that became popular in Hawaiʻi after World War II. Which of these Hawaiʻi schools still has one of these structures in use on its campus today?
a. Admiral Arthur W. Radford High
b. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Elementary
c. Lt. Col. Horace Meek Hickam Elementary
d. Major Sheldon H. Wheeler Middle
Find the answer at the end of this newsletter.
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Nānākuli Elementary School: Mahalo to everyone that came out to support another La Mala Ohana and Campus Beautification! Our Mala is getting their aquaponics up and running! Our custodial team planting local plants to continue to create a warm and inviting campus for our community! 🌸
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Waiākea High School Band: Our Waiākea High School band showed their spirit at the Veterans Day parade — honoring our heroes one note at a time. 🎶💙 Each Warrior marched with heart, rhythm, and pride for those who served. ❤️🤍💙 Thank you to our warrior student photographer for these awesome photos!!
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McKinley High School’s The Pinion: The Pinion hosted an interview with journalist David Ono and musician Daniel Ho about their production Defining Courage. The production explores the resilience of the Nisei generation, honoring members of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, two of the most distinguished units in U.S. military history. Nearly 800 Japanese American soldiers were killed in action, including more than 100 McKinley High School alumni who gave their lives in service to the nation.
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Use the #HIPublicSchoolsProud hashtag for a chance to be featured!
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Leilehua High School is the first public school in Hawai‘i to offer a brand-new class: Introduction to Glass, led by art teacher Dustin Hart. The course focuses on three primary disciplines of the art of glass: kiln-forming, glassblowing, and coldworking. The class accepts donated glass from the community, which the students will use to melt and upcycle into crafts to sell.
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Waikele Elementary School made history as the first elementary school in the nation to earn a prestigious “Model Academy with Distinction” designation — the National Career Academy Coalition’s (NCAC) highest honor. Kohala High School became the first small, rural high school in the country to earn NCAC Model Academy designation and Waipahu High School’s Ohana of Excellence Academy was awarded the inaugural North Star Award.
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The Kapa‘a High School girls volleyball team captured its first-ever state championship, defeating Maui’s Seabury Hall in a thrilling five-set match. The victory also marks the first state volleyball title in Kaua‘i’s history. “The motivation was that no one had ever done this before — we wanted to do it for our island,” senior Carlyn Kamoku-Rapozo told Hawai‘i News Now.
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 How volunteering helped me find community
By Cedar Czyscon, Kea‘au High School
 The welcome orientation for freshmen took place on the first day of school at Kea‘au High School. Photo credit: Cedar Czyscon
There are truths that you are born with, whether you want to or not. My truths start with being born a girl. They start with the responsibility and intention that a female body garners catching up to me before I properly understood the intricacies of gender. They start with the tentative, terrifying idea of being totally and unreachably different.
Being transgender is a subject shrouded in shame. In school, it's what sets you apart from everyone else. It’s cold dread hearing slurs float through the air during class. It’s standing in front of teachers after they split the class between boys and girls, not knowing if that really means “males and females.” It’s the question “what are you” coming before “what’s your name.” It’s standing in front of bathrooms and locker rooms, the odd one out of an easily confident swarm of people.
Bridging the gaps that nonconformity can cause is hard, especially when you don’t see anyone else like you trying and succeeding to do it. When your role models are, as far as you can tell, “normal,” it’s daunting to even try and be like them.
I’m visibly queer. Between the feminine habits and interests I didn’t drop and the brightly colored hair I adopted when I came out, it's a common thing for people to assume. Dying my hair was a way to control my appearance. As I put bright blue to my starkly shaved hair at nine, I thought to myself: this will distract them. When I was 11 and my fingers and hair were stained the purple of blueberries in pancakes, I thought “maybe I’ll like myself like this.” Now, at 17, with a mix of pink and black hair, I think “this feels right.” What started as a way for me to distract from me being transgender detached and became its own part of me, enduring past the shame I have finally outgrown.
When I volunteered to be a guide for the new ninth graders at Kea‘au High School, I thought about what it was like to be that insecure 14-year-old that hadn’t seen anyone else be boldly queer. I thought about when I first walked onto campus where even the buildings seemed daunting, and how much I had wanted to approach one of the senior guides. I thought about how I had arrived to class late that day because I was too intimidated by the normalcy of the seniors to ask for help.
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Cedar Czyscon is a senior at Kea‘au High School and is a student of J. Elise Hannigan, the 2026 Hawai‘i State Teacher of the Year. He enjoys challenging himself by taking intensive English courses. When he’s not in school, you can usually find him working at the Hilo Palace Theater or hanging out at home with his two cats. Cedar aspires to become an author and is dedicated to serving as a positive role model for transgender youth. |
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Lord Ryan Lizardo
Occupation: Vice President of Education, Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i
What school you grad? James Campbell High School ‘10
College: Chapman University, Johns Hopkins University
Location: Honolulu, HI
Lord Ryan Lizardo serves as the Vice President of Education for the Chamber of Commerce Hawaiʻi, where he acts as a bridge between businesses and schools to promote work-based learning (WBL) opportunities. Through this role, he helps facilitate student engagement with employers via field trips, mock interviews, internships and other experiential learning programs.
He received the Hawaiʻi State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Workforce Development Hero Award for Oʻahu in 2024 and was named one of Pacific Business News’ “40 Under 40” honorees in 2025, celebrating young leaders making a difference across the state. Passionate about empowering Hawaiʻi’s youth, he continues to advocate for meaningful educational and workforce pathways.
Lizardo currently serves as board secretary, Honolulu Pride Festival chair and scholarship chair for the Hawaiʻi LGBT Legacy Foundation, in addition to chairing various school-related councils and boards. A proud product of the ʻEwa Beach community, he attended ʻEwa Beach Elementary, ʻIlima Intermediate, and James Campbell High School, where he later taught from 2014 to 2020 through the Teach for America program.
Q: Why did you choose this career path and what do you enjoy most about it?
A: I love being part of someone's growth journey! Mentoring and watching people grow always brings me joy and there is no shortage of that in the education world.
Q: What makes you #PublicSchoolProud?
A: I love seeing young leaders in public schools out in the community, making their voices heard, and making differences in the community! Recently, I've been so inspired by the young public school students who attend our work-based learning experiences and how knowledgeable they are. I love when we get to see public school representation in spaces of influence and power.
Q: Name of a teacher or mentor you’d like to thank?
A: Amy Rabago, best teacher and student council advisor I could have ever hoped for!
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 Campbell High graduate Lord Ryan Lizardo spoke at a ceremony celebrating 15 Nānākuli and Waiʻanae High School students who completed a six-week paid summer internship on July 23 at the Waiʻanae Coast Comprehensive Health Center. The program, organized by the Hawaiʻi Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Education and Workforce Development Department, aimed to promote statewide workforce development. Photo: Kimberly Yuen / HIDOE Communications Branch
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Office Assistant II, III, Farrington High (Oʻahu)
Early Learning Educational Assistant I, II, III, Maunawili Elementary (Oʻahu)
Grade 9-12 Alternative Learning Teacher, Molokai High (Molokai)
School Administrative Services Assistant I, II, III, IV, Kaua‘i High (Kaua‘i)
Grade 1 Teacher, Honoka‘a Elementary (Hawai‘i Island)
HIDOE student internships (Applications due Nov. 26)
To learn more about career opportunities in the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education, please visit hawaiischooljobs.com or stop by our booth at our upcoming recruiting events:
Operation Hire Hawai‘i
Wahiawā Value-Added Product Development Center
1001 California Ave., Wahiawā, HI 96786
Friday, Nov. 14 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
HIDOE’s Office of Talent Management is hosting one-hour webinars to provide an overview of the application and hiring process. Sessions are available in November and December. Visit each page for dates and registration information.
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Public School Pop Quiz! Answer: c. Lt. Col. Horace Meek Hickam Elementary on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam features a 72-year-old Quonset hut that's still used for music and P.E. classes. Funded by generous grants from Hawaiʻi 3Rs, the structure was renovated in 2003 by military members, volunteers, families and staff. Go Falcons!
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This newsletter was produced by the Hawai'i State Department of Education's Communications Branch.
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Nanea Ching
Executive Editor
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Kimberly Yuen
Managing Editor
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Share your story ideas, events, questions and feedback to newsletter@k12.hi.us
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1390 Miller St. Honolulu, HI 96813 Phone: 808-784-6200
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