More than 80 elected teacher, student and retiree delegates you elected across Hawaii gathered in the Midwest this summer to help set policy and chart the direction of the National Education Association at the largest democratic deliberative body in the world, with more than 6,100 educators participating.

Above: Hawaii's delegation posed for a group shot on the convention floor Thursday, the final day of NEA RA, when thousands of delegates wore red for ed.

They spent the July Fourth holiday in Minneapolis to participate in the National Education Association's 156th Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly. There were ten first-time delegates from Hawaii this year, with six delegates funding their own trips to the NEA RA.

While in Minneapolis, some HSTA delegates participated in the Free Our Future march June 30, joining thousands of other teachers and citizens to protest the Trump administration's cruel immigration policies that separated thousands of children from their parents in recent months.

Click below to read or listen to the comments of a teacher from Windward Chapter who participated in the march and spoke to Hawaii News Now.

From Hawaii News Now: Thousands protest immigration policy

From NEA Today: NEA Representative Assembly energized by red-for-ed student activists

From NEA Today: National teacher of the year says 'Our students give us hope'