West Hawaii educator named 2022 Global Learning Fellow

A Kailua-Kona educator has been named a 2022 Global Learning Fellow by the NEA Foundation. Kecia McDonald, a K–12 resource teacher for the West Hawaii Complex Area, is excited and humbled to be one of 49 public school educators from across the country selected for the honor.

Fellows will participate in coursework and webinars to enhance their knowledge and skills to integrate global competency into their daily instruction, advocate for global competency in their schools and districts, and help students thrive in an increasingly interconnected world.

“There is so much to learn from other communities, and so much to share about the wonderful things happening in Hawaii,” McDonald said. “It’s important to celebrate our differences yet also embrace the idea that we share one planet, face many of the same problems, and can all be a part of the global solutions.”

Should conditions allow for safe travel, the fellowship will include a two-day professional development workshop in the fall and a nine-day international field study to South Africa, where McDonald lived for 14 years.

“It will be both a unique opportunity to connect with educators there and a homecoming of sorts,” she said. “I hope to learn from the success stories of the other educators in the cohort and in South Africa, and build my own knowledge of skills and strategies in order to create accessible resources for Hawaii educators.”

The experience concludes with a project that enables their learning to be shared more broadly with educators beyond the program.