May 8, 2026
As the school year ends, we’re celebrating kumu across Kamehameha Schools who dedicate themselves to shaping the next generation of ʻōiwi leaders. In every classroom, they help fulfill Pauahi’s vision for an educated and thriving lāhui.
What inspired you to become a kumu at KS?
There are two moments that really set me on this path. The first was right after high school, when I worked as an educational assistant for a summer robotics program. It was there, stepping in to help students work through concepts, that I discovered I had a natural gift for teaching and genuinely loved doing it. The second came during my undergraduate years while earning my civil engineering degree. Through my scholarship program, I had the opportunity to teach STEM projects to elementary kids on weekends, and I completely fell in love with it —connecting with students, watching that lightbulb moment, and seeing them have genuine fun.
After a few years working in the design industry, I came back to my alma mater to watch my sister present her senior capstone project. There, I reconnected with our high school principal, and he mentioned that the engineering teacher was retiring and something in me stirred. I prayed and meditated on it and eventually said yes. I have never looked back. Teaching has become the thing I wake up for; the thing I am genuinely excited to go do every day. My pockets may be a little less full, but my heart is completely fulfilled.
Tell us about a time you saw your haumāna use what they’ve learned to make a difference. What did that mean to you?
Although many of our projects are grounded in real community problems with solutions that could genuinely be applied, we don’t always get the opportunity to share them beyond our classroom. So, the difference I find most meaningful is the one our haumāna make within themselves.
The clearest example I can point to is our engineering capstone class. Students are tasked with identifying a real problem from a real community and developing a solution that could theoretically be implemented. It is a rigorous process involving deep research, prototyping, testing, simulation, and data evaluation, and at the start of the semester, many students feel overwhelmed. They are not sure they have what it takes to produce something that’s “good enough.”
But the comment I hear most often after the semester ends is how much their confidence grew. Not just confidence in their ability to do hard work but confidence in their ability to do hard work at a high level, to produce something that is not just finished work that is “good enough” but is actually meaningful. To know that even when they feel like they are coming from behind, they have the tenacity to push through.
As for what it means to me personally, honestly, that feels secondary. What matters most is that they are building and cultivating these things within themselves. But I would be lying if I said it did not make me incredibly proud and deeply excited to see where they are headed. It also gives me a quiet reassurance that this is exactly the work God has tasked me to do.
What is something your haumāna have taught you about yourself?
There is a line from Tarzan that has always stuck with me: “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” My haumāna have proven that true in more ways than I can count. They have not just taught me things about myself, but about life in general.
They have taught me that I do not need to have all the answers. It is okay to learn alongside them, to adjust, to change course, and to model what it looks like to be a lifelong learner. But the most important thing they have shown me is that the best version of myself as an educator is not the one standing above them but the one standing next to them. Treating them not just as students or children but as individuals who are actively developing their own hearts, minds, and souls. They are not fully there yet, but they will be, and that’s what matters.
They have also reminded me, and I know this might sound like a cliche, how essential pilina and genuine connection are in education. Not just so we can personalize learning or create a safe environment, but for the simple and honest reason that students listen better, engage more deeply, and show up more fully when there is a real relationship present. What we all quietly crave is authentic interaction and genuine care from people who actually mean it.
And lastly, something I did not expect: these students have made me genuinely excited for fatherhood. Getting to interact with young people this wonderful every day makes me look forward to the day my wife and I get to share this beautiful life with.
Where do you see Pauahi’s legacy most in your work?
Among everything we try to build in our haumāna, I keep coming back to that passage from Pauahi’s will about raising up “good and industrious men and women.” That phrase, to me, is the whole thing.
Let’s be honest: not every student walks through the door embodying that vision, and that is okay. That is why we are here. But what I do see, particularly in at least some of the students whom I have gotten the pleasure of meeting, are young people who show up with genuine curiosity, strong values, and a willingness to work hard toward something meaningful. They may not always see it in themselves yet, but it is there. And on the days when it surfaces, Pauahi’s legacy can be seen the clearest.
Shout out a fellow kumu who empowers their students every day!
My shoutout goes to Kumu Mapuana Rapoza. Though we are in separate departments and do not always get the chance to interact, I often hear great things about her and her classes. Her genuine care for her haumāna and her talent for teaching have a way of speaking for themselves.