Project Info
Project Description
April 2022 – Hawai`i Nature Center Educator Kate Leary has a background in Environmental Education and loves working in elementary school classrooms.
She had the pleasure of interning at HNC during the last semester of her MEdT program at University of Hawaii Manoa in Spring 2014. She found the work so rewarding that she decided to take a position for a year before becoming a classroom teacher at Waialae Elementary. She missed the Valley so much that she has since returned while pursuing her doctorate in Education (Educational Leadership and Organizational Innovation) with the end goal of making some impactful changes to our country’s systemic issues in education.
She loves witnessing the powerful impact of a simple act such as the first time a child holds a worm or millipede and the joy one feels just watching the child appreciate the insect and ask inquisitive questions and learn in a way that is impossible to emulate in the classroom setting. Kate is excited to meet new educators who have joined the HNC `ohana and to reconnect with educators who have remained at the Center since she left in 2015. She says, “It is most certainly a testament to the organization’s positive work environment and strong leadership that there are still so many familiar faces over five years later.”
