University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu alumnus Tyson Arasato clearly remembers when he realized he wanted to become a teacher. While cleaning a classroom as a substitute custodian at Leihōkū Elementary School in Waiʻanae, Arasato helped a group of teachers who were trying to play a song on the ʻukulele for a May Day performance.
“I was asked to help the ʻukulele club and that’s when I had my first experience working with students,” Arasato recalled. “I fell in love with it and eventually the former principal of that school, Randall Miura, convinced me to enroll in classes to get my degree.”
In 2020, Arasato received a bachelor of education with a focus in biology from UH West Oʻahu. After graduating, he started teaching at Waiʻanae High School, his alma mater, where he now works as a biology teacher in the very class where he spent much of his time as a student.
It was imperative that I worked at Waiʻanae High School. The way I teach has a lot of mana (power) behind it because students understand I sat in the same seat.
—Tyson Arasato
“It was imperative that I worked at Waiʻanae High School,” said Arasato. “The way I teach has a lot of mana (power) behind it because students understand I sat in the same seat, I worked in the same setting, and I care about what they make of themselves because I want my community to thrive.”
Arasato said that UH West Oʻahu was the “perfect school,” as it strongly influenced him with its community-based learning approach. Its teaching program was also the only program that allowed Arasato to have control over where he completed his student teaching hours.
“I was fortunate to student teach with my former teacher and mentor (at Waiʻanae High School), Dana Hoppe,” he said. “This was pivotal in my development as a teacher due to the fact that a few months after I graduated, I took over her teaching lines as she moved on to another position at our school.”
Arasato also credits his UH West Oʻahu professors, including Cathy Ikeda (assistant professor of middle level and secondary English), Richard Jones (professor of science education) and Megan Ross (assistant professor of biology) for playing important roles in his development as an educator.
“Kumu Cathy Ikeda had a candidate program that focused on understanding how to teach local students, and cared about the development of all the teacher candidates,” said Arasato.
Arasato emphasized that his main goal as a teacher now is to equip his students with the knowledge that will ensure that the place where we live is in a better condition in the future than it is now.
“Although standards and learning objectives are important, to me having them be good stewards of the Earth and mankind is even more important,” said Arasato.
For more, visit Ka Puna O Kaloʻi.
—By Zenaida Serrano Arvman
