Sixth grade teacher Cecilia Chung has just been named the 2020 Hawaii State Teacher of the Year.

Congratulations go to Cecilia Chung of Ewa Beach, Hawaii! She has just been named her state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year.

Cecilia currently teaches sixth grade teacher at Ka’imiloa Elementary School in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. She has taught there since 2013. For the previous two years, this talented educator served her school as their technology integration coach for grades K-6.

The honored educator says she began integrating technology into her lesson plans when she was asked to pilot a 1:1 Chromebook Initiative in her classroom. She confesses that she loves to use technology to draw out student ownership and empowerment. To do this, she says she uses G-Suite Apps, game-based learning, BreakoutEDU, and project-based learning.

In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Cecilia is a mentor and inspiration to her fellow educators. She has organized and led a variety of workshops for the educational community. She has been featured at the Schools of the Future Conference, EdCamp for West O’ahu, and the Ed Tech Conference for Kamehameha Schools. Cecilia has also been named a Hawai’i State Teacher Fellow. In this role, she works with public school teachers to improve their leadership skills, to empower them, and to elevate the teaching profession.

Cecilia earned her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Southern California in 2013. She earned a Master’s degree in Elementary Education at Johns Hopkins University in 2015. She has also completed study abroad courses through Meiji University in Japan (2010) and Yonsei University in Korea (2012).

To read more about Cecilia, click on this link to her story on the web page for the Hawaii Sate Department of Education. You can also view this short YouTube video below.