HSTA president inspires future educators

Osa Tui, Jr., president of the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association, spoke to future educators recently about the importance of teaching, sharing his own experiences growing up in a Kāneʻohe public housing complex and telling them how school became his “salvation.”

He was the keynote speaker Sept. 20 at Dive into Education 2.0, a student-organized event dedicated to inspiring peers to pursue careers in teaching and public education. The event, now in its second year, takes aim at Hawaiʻi’s persistent teacher shortage by encouraging the next generation to step into the classroom. Some 160 students from eight high schools on Oʻahu and Maui participated this year.

Recalling his childhood, Tui said, “We lived on food stamps (which is what we had before EBT). My mom didn’t have a job and she didn’t drive, so we had to catch the bus everywhere. And, there was drug use in my house and around the neighborhood.”

“For me, my salvation was in school and with my teachers. I liked puzzles and I liked math. And so in high school, I was recruited to join the math team as a sophomore. I know, some of you are like, ‘Eww, math.’ But for me, that’s the one thing that helped to keep my mind off of the struggles going on at home,” Tui told the students.

“I eventually became the math team captain in my senior year and I give thanks to my sophomore trigonometry teacher and math team coach, Mr. Richard Mizuta,” Tui added.

Mizuta died earlier this year.

“I’ll always remember how pivotal he was to the future I’ve been able to make for myself. I’m so thankful that he gave willingly of his time so that students like me could pursue my interests,” Tui said.

Tui went on to become a math teacher at his alma mater and later a registrar at McKinley High School before becoming president of the HSTA, representing more than 13,000 teachers across the state, in 2021.

Tui focused on a critical message: Hawaiʻi needs more local teachers. Tui emphasized that students in Hawaiʻi need role models who reflect their own backgrounds.

He remembered that during his student teaching semester, one student was paying close attention and doing work in his class.

“You’d think nothing was strange about that,” he said, “But when my small Japanese cooperating teacher asked her, ‘Hey, how come you do your work and pay attention for Mr. Tui, but you didn’t do that for me?!,” the student’s blunt reply was simple: ‘Miss, he’s my race.’”

“That just solidified for me how students need role models in their lives and it might not be what you do, but just who you are. I am half haole and half Samoan and the student in question was Samoan herself,” he said.

“We need more of our teachers in Hawaiʻi to be from Hawaiʻi. We need you!” he urged, addressing the students.

But Tui didn’t sugarcoat the challenges of the job, admitting that teaching can be difficult and, at times, heartbreaking. He shared a poignant story about a former student, who had once thanked him for his support but had later been involved in a murder.

“I honestly had to wonder if I did enough. Why didn’t I check in with him more recently? But we can’t be heroes for every single student. We can certainly try, though,” Tui said.

Still, Tui’s overall message was one of hope and empowerment.

“Teaching is a superpower and teachers are superheroes!” he declared, leaving the audience with a quote from the famous Whitney Houston song, “The Greatest Love of All.”

“I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way,” he recited, reminding students that their path toward becoming teachers could be the key to a brighter future for Hawaiʻi.

He began his speech with a land acknowledgment, reflecting on his connection to Waiawa, the district where LCC is located, and shared a touching personal story about discovering that his great-grandfather had designed a historic local bridge.

As Tui was researching the area on Google as he wrote his speech late the night before, he found an online item that said, the “bridge is an example of an early 1930s continuous deck girder bridge. It was designed by Merritt A. Trease and carried Kamehameha Highway until the bypass was built in about 1940.”

Tui’s great-grandfather, the design engineer for that historic bridge, eventually became the head planning engineer for the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation.

“Driving over that bridge this morning, I must say, was completely different for me and will never be the same again,” Tui remarked, drawing a parallel between being rooted in place and understanding one’s own journey.

Friday’s event also gave students hands-on exposure to what a career in education could look like. Breakout sessions and panels allowed students to ask questions of current teachers, school administrators, and education students, providing them with insights into the realities and rewards of the teaching profession.