Whitney Aragaki

Whitney Aragaki is an educator, parent, and learner from Hilo, Hawai?i. She supports students to learn through a lens of abundance that honors place, people and cultures. Her teaching focuses around conversations, practices and systems that sustain the intimate inter-relationship of public education, community and environment. Whitney is a fifth-generation Hawai?i Island resident of Japanese ancestry. She is the daughter of two educators, and was a student in her mother’s biology class. She currently serves as a high school science teacher at her alma mater, Waiakea High School and as a Professor of Practice and Faculty Lead at Reach University. Her two children also thrive in this supportive public-school ecosystem. Whitney has a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Swarthmore College, a Master of Science in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science from the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Education from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa College of Education. Whitney, a National Board Certified Teacher, is the 2022 Hawai?i State Teacher of the Year and National Teacher of the Year Finalist. She is a 2021 Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching and a 2023 Obama Foundation USA Leader.