This happens to be Teacher Appreciation Month, so we thought it fitting to hear from Big Island math teacher Rory Inouye. He won the Milken Educator Award this year for his work at Waiākea High School along with Jade Pham of Kawananakoa Middle School in Honolulu.
Inouye said he was influenced by his parents, who were both local teachers. He's also a Waiākea alum.
"I had a math teacher named Gordon Mau. He's retired now, but he was also my baseball coach. So I, you know, I came back to the high school, I became the baseball coach, I'm teaching math, I'm in his old classroom, you know. So Gordon Mau has definitely been somebody who has helped me along the way and kind of made me the person I am today," Inouye said.
We also connected with some of Inouye's students. Freshman Jayna Aguiar said that when the school called a mystery assembly last month, she knew in her heart it was to honor Inouye.
"Mr. Inouye cares a lot about his students' learning capabilities and takes that into consideration when he does things like make his lessons and his work. Mr. Inouye, he cares a lot more about students individually, and he wants to make sure he helps every single student," Aguiar told HPR.
Senior Marli Mason is headed off to Boston to attend Northeastern University. She plans to study politics, philosophy and economics. She joked that Inouye's classes will help her tolerate college math.
"I definitely would say that knowing everything about him and knowing that, like, he's from a family of educators also, I can tell that he really is passionate about it. And he really does want us as students to succeed, and he does everything he can to help us do so," Mason said.
Inouye, like all candidates, was unaware he was submitted for the award. He has a bachelor's in education from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a master's in education from UH Hilo.
The Milken Educator Award celebrates exceptional teachers nationwide and comes with a $25,000 cash prize. Inouye is the 82nd Hawai‘i teacher to receive the award since Hawai‘i joined the program in 1990 — and the first recipient from the Big Island since 2007.
This interview aired on The Conversation on May 24, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
