Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas! Here’s my 2019 Xmas card and customary year-in-review blurb. Hope your year was the best!

In January, our @KSEdTech “dream” team held its annual professional development workshop at Island Pacific Academy in Kapolei. Twas another great day of learning & collaborating!

Inviting you to church at my house. What??? Yes, Inspire Church Honolulu moved its services to Studio 909 during Kaimuki High School’s renovation. What an unbelievable blessing 🙏

Got sick (not lovesick, but really sick) on Valentine’s Day. Stayed home, looked at old photos, then got this sudden urge to learn Japanese. Now studying 日本語 has become my passion.

Brought back “Soapbox” (mini TED-like Talks) to our KSEdTech Conference. This summer, we featured educators from public, private, charter, online, homeschooling, and startups.

Visited Sapporo for their Summer Festival. Stayed in Susukino and had an awesome time & amazing food!! Looking forward to going back someday. たのしかった!

This school year, I returned to KMS (middle school.) After 5 years at KES, 5 at KMS, and 5 at KHS, it was a nice time to change it up. I am also co-advisor for our K-club. 안녕하세요.

This school year I am also volunteering for Kanaeokana. I’m on the Hoʻolōkahi Kōmike which is tasked to promote inter-school engagement. We will be involved with FestPac 2020 next year.

In the Fall, I attended the UH-Mānoa Outreach Japanese Class. We met on 10 consecutive Saturdays at Sakamaki Hall. After class, we got to practice 日本語 (and English) with volunteer native speakers. They were all so nice and super cool. The best part was building friendships! I’ve already signed up for next Spring.

Speaking of friendship, one of the volunteers that I met actually lives in my building! We meet downstairs at Mr. Tea Café for weekly practice. We’ve become great friends, and I look forward to each meetup. たのしいです。

In November, some of our @KSEdTech team members attended the EdSurge Conference in San Fran. It was a great conference, and I got to reconnect with friends from the mainland. I also had a great time with my team. Good food, good friends, and H★MILTON.

Finally, so blessed to have chaperoned our high school robotics team at iREX 2019 in Tokyo. Had a blast! Imua RoboWarrirors! P.S. Christmas Illumination in Japan is a must-see.

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

“Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Luke 2:10-11

Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas! Here’s my 2018 card and customary year-in-review blurb. Hope your year was a good one!

It was an inauspicious start to the new year. Our @KSEdTech team held its annual Mashup professional learning day at Island Pacific Academy in Kapolei on Saturday, January 13th. Here I am just moments before the ballistic missile alert. Well… it’s great to be alive! The year can only get better from here on.

And it did! I got to go to SXSW EDU in Austin, TX in early March. This was the one education conference that I always wanted to attend. And it did not disappoint!

Just a week later, I got to go on an R&D trip with the Kealaʻula Innovations Institute to the Bay Area. We visited a host of schools, as well as Apple, Google, and the Stanford d.School. Mahalo to the Kealaʻula cohort for an amazing school year!

In April, I took part as a a panelist at the “It’s Great to be a Teacher in Hawaiʻi” event at Leeward Community College. I got to meet up with colleagues, school leaders, prospective teachers, (and even my sister.)

We did it! In May, we put on a very successful student TED Talk event. TED-Ed Club at Hālau ʻĪnana is a collaboration of students from public, private, and charter schools in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.

Revive (homeless outreach ministry) continues to faithfully serve the community. Blessed and inspired by the amazing servants on our team. We go to Crane Park on Sundays following the 11am service. Come join us.

My summer PD of choice is the annual Punahou SGLI Educator Track. Always inspired by awesome educators from around the world. And it was great reconnecting with Roddy from Japan!

This year also marked 15 years of service at the Kamehameha Schools. It has been a blessing! So special to celebrate with such an amazing team.

Did some solo traveling to Seoul, Korea in October. Cashed in my HawaiianMiles rewards and had the best time. Looking forward to the next destination.

Merry Christmas & kamsamnida!

“Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11

I love receiving Christmas photo cards from relatives and friends during the Christmas season. But I was never able to reciprocate. Getting Christmas cards printed seemed like such a “family” type of activity. I decided to change that.

I started making Christmas postcards to mail out to family and friends in 2013. It’s a great way of keeping in touch and spreading Christmas cheer. The very first one was of me riding an elephant in Thailand. Since then, it’s been an annual goal to travel to different places. You could half-jokingly say that these cards fuel my passion for travel.

Occasionally, people will ask me, “What’s your passion?” I reply, “I make Christmas cards…” And then I tell them this story. And if you’re wondering, I actually do pack a Santa hat on trips.

I now give out these postcards in lieu of gifts. Am I being too “cheap?” Actually, these cards cost thousands of dollars to produce. 🤗 Merry Christmas.

Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas! Here’s my 2017 card and customary year-in-review blurb. Had an awesome year. Hope yours was too…

Participated in Walk With Compassion at Ala Moana Beach Park with Shirlene and Joan. This charity event raises funds to rescue families out of poverty. Mahalo to all of my friends for donating!

Blessed to chaperone the Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus trip to Aotearoa (NZ) during Spring Break. It was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Great kids and great “chappies.” Also got to back up the choir on guitar at Hoʻolauleʻa. Humbled & grateful…

Revive (homeless outreach ministry) is still going strong. Iʻm blessed and inspired by the amazing servants on our team. We now go to Crane Park on Sundays following the 11am service. Come join us.

We did it! On May 6th, our TED-Ed Club held a very successful Student Talks event at SALT @ Our Kakaʻko. It was followed by a CPR clinic by our Lifesavers Club. #ProudAdvisorStatus

Our @KSEdTech “dream team” attended the Personalized Learning Summit by Education Elements in San Fran. Good learning, good people, and good food!

The homecoming for the Hōkūleʻa voyaging canoe was a chicken-skin moment. It celebrated the end of the 3-year Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage. Met up with friends at Magic Island at 6am. #Historic

Gale and I attended our very first Tamayose Family Reunion on Kauaʻi island. We had the absolute best time making new memories with our fam. Most heartwarming experience of the year!

Our TED-Ed Innovative Educators cohort came to an official closing. #OnlyTheBeginning. I learned so much this year and developed such great friendships from around the world. Mahalo to TED-Ed for the amazing ride!
• TED-Ed Innovation Project on community engagement.
• TED-Ed Animated Lesson on Polynesian Wayfinding.

Merry Christmas to all!

“Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11