The 2025 Hawaiʻi State Department of Education Teacher of the Year, Bryan Silver of Kalani High School, earned his post baccalaureate certificate in secondary education and special education at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Education (COE). The science and career and technical education teacher will represent Hawaiʻi in the National Teacher of the Year program this spring in Washington, D.C.
“I am grateful to my colleagues and administration who supported so many of my crazy initiatives of getting kids out of the classroom and getting their hands dirty in the real world while embracing the mess of authentic learning and failure,” Silver said. “Success is an accumulation of learning from mistakes.”
Inspired by his mom and aunts who were all teachers, Silver has found himself in teaching roles throughout his life. The COE dual certification program in secondary education and special education was a good fit.
“Since I was a student who was identified as ‘special needs,’ I felt I could make a positive impact on other students like me as I had a unique perspective on their struggles and needs,” Silver said. “The COE classes and instructors have had the biggest impact on how I approach learning in the classroom, giving me the permission to forge into the unknown to find many ways to express and demonstrate learning.”
In addition to leading successful robotics and coding programs, Silver and his science and special education colleagues are opening work-based learning by growing produce to be used in their high school’s cafeteria.
Each of the 16 Complex Area and Public Charter School Teachers of the Year receive monetary awards from the Polynesian Cultural Center, which has sponsored the Teacher of the Year program for more than 30 years. Silver will also receive a one-year lease of a 2024 Nissan Sentra SV courtesy of the Hawaiʻi Automobile Dealers Association and King Windward Nissan.
