Jackie Freitas teaches natural resources, advises Future Farmers of America program
Posted: October 5, 2023
Jackie Freitas received the state’s top teaching award from Gov. Josh Green and Schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi during a ceremony at Washington Place Tuesday afternoon.
Freitas, affectionately known by her students as “Aunty Jackie,” was named the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education’s 2024 Teacher of the Year from more than 13,000 educators. Freitas, who teaches natural resources at Leilehua High School in Wahiawā, was selected from among 16 HIDOE teachers of the year, representing 15 complex areas and public charter schools.
Watch: The Department of Education’s 2024 Teacher of the Year ceremony at Washington Place
Freitas has taught at her alma mater Leilehua High for her entire 13-year career. She also advises the school’s Future Farmers of America program.
She was caught off guard after being announced as the winner.
“It does not feel real,” Freitas said. “I feel very honored to get this award. I don’t feel I deserve it. I think there were amazing teachers on this panel, and everybody contributed so much. This is just amazing. Just being an agriculture teacher and showing that my passion for what I love and for my students can actually accomplish something.”
Freitas will represent Hawaiʻi in the National Teacher of the Year program in Washington, D.C. The national winner will be announced in spring 2024.
Leilehua’s natural resources program runs one of the state’s largest high school agricultural farms, which includes a 3.5-acre farm lab with a hydroponic greenhouse, traditional farm land, bee apiary, animal husbandry, floriculture and agriculture technology farmbots and vertical towers.
The farm, which requires year-round maintenance, is where Freitas can often be found not only during the school year but during summer months, weekends and holidays, making sure that crops, plants and animals are maintained and cared for.
She constantly keeps up with the newest technology and techniques in natural resources so that she can not only implement them into her lessons, but also lead professional development workshops for colleagues. She developed and expanded the school’s animal husbandry program to incorporate more hands-on learning for students, and has introduced different agriculture tech equipment into her curriculum — like Zspace, smart farms, farm bots and off the grid Aeroponic Vertical Towers — to teach students how to grow produce through coding and stem research.
Freitas said, “I tell myself that this is the most important job that you can teach these students — hands-on skills. They need to be able to produce their own food, whether it’s traditional farming, drones, farm bots, MARSfarm, coding, anything that we can do to produce food for our ʻāina, that’s what we need to do.”
Freitas expands her lessons beyond the classroom. She helped establish the school’s “Buy 1, Give 1” program where students curate a produce box to sell within the community. For every box sold, one is donated to a family at another school within their complex. Students plan and grow the crops, coordinate with the school, prepare the boxes, and market and distribute them. She even helped set up the school’s now annual fall festival, where career and technical education students can celebrate their work with the community.
Leilehua High School Principal Jason Nakamoto said, “I have been consistently impressed by [Jackie’s] dedication, passion and effectiveness in the classroom and in the field. She has a deep understanding of good agricultural practices and uses innovative teaching methods to help engage her students… She beams pride and exemplifies the Leilehua way of leadership, humility, and service.”
At Tuesday’s ceremony, all 16 2023 Complex Area Teachers of the Year and Charter School Teacher of the Year were honored. Freitas was the winner from the Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua Complex.
The full list of the finalists honored Tuesday are, in alphabetical order:
- Laurie Chang, Kaimukī-McKinley-Roosevelt Complex Area, Aliʻiolani Elementary
- Laura Cummings, Castle-Kahuku Complex Area, Sunset Beach Elementary
- Pinky Grace Francisco, Ka‘ū-Keaʻau-Pāhoa Complex Area, Ka‘ū High & Pāhala Elementary
- David “Kawika” Gonzales Jr., Hāna-Lāhaināluna-Lanaʻi-Molokaʻi Complex Area, Kaunakakai Elementary
- Marina Higa, ‘Aiea-Moanalua-Radford Complex Area, Major General William R. Shafter Elementary
- Jennifer Ilaban, Honoka‘a-Kealakehe-Kohala-Konawaena Complex Area, Kahakai Elementary
- Gregory Kent, Kailua-Kalāheo Complex Area, Kailua Elementary
- Kara Kitamura, Kapaʻa-Kauaʻi-Waimea Complex Area, Kapaʻa High
- Jessica Peterson, Pearl City-Waipahu Complex Area, August Ahrens Elementary
- Christopher Pike, Hilo-Waiākea Complex Area, Chiefess Kapi‘olani Elementary
- Norman Ray Sales, Farrington-Kaiser-Kalani Complex Area, Governor Wallace Rider Farrington High
- John “Parker” Sawyer, Public Charter Schools, Kaʻohao School
- Donna Soriano, Nānākuli-Waiʻanae Complex Area, Waiʻanae Elementary
- Melanie Teraoka, Baldwin-Kekaulike-Kūlanihākoʻi-Maui Complex Area, Waihe‘e Elementary
- Ariel Villanueva, Campbell-Kapolei Complex Area, ‘Ewa Makai Middle
Prizes awarded to the honorees Monday included:
- Monetary awards to each Complex Area and Public Charter School Teacher of the Year by the Polynesian Cultural Center, the Teacher of the Year program’s corporate sponsor for over 30 years, and an additional $1,000 award to the State Teacher of the Year.
- A one-year lease of a 2023 Chevrolet Trailblazer LT courtesy of the Hawaiʻi Automobile Dealers Association and Cutter Chevrolet to the State Teacher of the Year.
