John Baranello is the State Office Resource Teacher for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing supporting educational professionals across Hawaii. He earned teaching credentials in NY, CA, and Hawaii and over 10 year’s experience across non-profit, private and public sectors has taught him the diversity of America’s education systems. Since moving to Oahu in 2014, he has led as data coach and taught pk-12 at Hawaii for the Deaf and the Blind where he also served as Department Chairperson. John’s data-driven approaches address low incidence population needs specifically Deaf and Hard of Hearing statewide. He earned his Bachelors in Interpreting for the Deaf at Bloomsburg University and has a Masters in Teaching American Sign Language from Columbia University.

My name is Loretta Finegan-Nelson and my family here in Hawaii goes back 6 generations. My degree and back ground is in Deaf Education. I have been a teacher of the deaf for 15 years. 8 years here in Hawaii and 7 years in Colorado at the School for the Deaf there. The last two years I have been working as an educational officer in the role of the community outreach specialist specifically focused on the Deaf/Hard of Hearing. I work directly with students and school personnel in the classroom, provide ASL classes and other workshops to DOE staff, parents of D/HH children and our community partners. I work with many different departments within the DOE to develop and coordinate workshops focused on best practices for Deaf Education professionals to work with our D/HH students.

Aloha, my name is Olivia Malcolm. I work at Hawaii School for the Deaf and the Blind (HSDB) as American Sign Language (ASL) Coach. My educational background is Bachelors in Elementary Education at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. and Masters in Deaf Education at Boston University in Boston, MA. I am passionate working with deaf children supporting and providing guidance for their language development. My work includes teaching students, providing ASL model lessons and curriculum materials for teachers, and training two new ASL specialists. We are working together focusing on developing ASL Immersion program and using self-designed ASL Assessments to determine and measure the successions among our deaf students. I also teach ASL for students' parents who are interested in learning ASL to improve their communication with their deaf children. My work at HSDB oversees the school philosophy of maintaining bilingual of ASL/English education approach to thrive our deaf children's future.

Meera is an institutional analyst with Hawai‘i P-20 Partnerships for Education and provides analysis for Hawaii's grant under the Asian American Pacific Islander data disaggregation initiative. Her focus is on understanding how to close opportunity gaps so all students can graduate high school ready for college and career success. Prior to joining Hawai‘i P-20, she was an academic adviser at UC Berkeley. She earned a masters in Library and Information Science from UH Mānoa and a bachelor of arts from UC Berkeley.

Ngan teaches middle school and high school Chinese at ‘Iolani School. Prior to coming to Hawai’i, she has taught in Denver and Taiwan. She is the Private School Representative for the Hawai’i Association of Language Teachers (HALT) and she was the conference chair for the 2018 HALT Summer Summit. She also serves as the Instructional Lead at the Agnes Scott College STARTALK summer program in Georgia. Ngan earned her B.A. in Chinese Studies and Asian Studies, an M.A. in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Learning Design and Technology.

Dr. William H. Wilson (Pila) is a faculty member of the P-20 Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian language in Hilo. He and his family have played a key role in the development of Hawaiian language medium education and associated American Indian programs over the past 40 years. Within the College Wilson currently teaches Ph.D. courses in language revitalization, Latin in grades 3 and 4, and linguistics in grades 11 and 12.

Jeenna Canche has taught High School Spanish levels 1-4 at three schools on Maui: King Kekaulike, Kihei Charter, and currently at Maui High. Over the past few years, she has served in several leadership capacities such as World Languages Specialist for the Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE), Task-Force member for the Multilingualism Policy, Awards Chair for the Southwest Conference on Language Teaching, Department Chairperson at Maui High, and Board Member for the Hawaii Association of Language Teachers. Her current passion lies in working with language teachers to implement contemporary strategies in the World Languages classroom through conference presentations and professional development offerings.

My name is Tanya Harris. I have been a Japanese Teacher at Waipahu High since October of 2002. And I have been a proud Marauder for 17 years. I have a bachelor of Science in Languages and Linguistics Degree from Georgetown as well as a Master’s Degree of Comparative Culture and Language Research from Kurume University. I have a Master’s degree in Education from Chaminade University.

I grew up here in the islands on the best side of the island, the windward side. I actually came to Hawaii when I was 1 years old and celebrated my 2nd birthday in Waikiki. I learned French and then later on in my life I learned Japanese. I am happily tri-lingual. I have learned the importance of speaking another language as well as the importance of social justice via the opportunities I have had to travel the globe.

Edna-Mayra R. Hickling is a Spanish teacher at Waipahu High School. Since moving to Hawai`i in 2006 from her hometown of Oaxaca in Mexico, she shave taught all Spanish level classes at WHS. She is also the advisor of the Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica at the Waipahu High Chapter “El Rincón del español. She started a professional learning community of Spanish teachers not just in her school and district, but also extending to include all of Oahu’s Spanish teachers in the public and private sector. She is the Spanish representative of HALT (Hawai`i Association of Language Teachers) and was member of Hawai’i’s Department of Education World Languages work group. Her passion and dedication to the profession is evident and was named 2018 HALT Teacher of the Year. She is an active member of the Hispanic community in Oahu supporting various cultural events such as The Hispanic Heritage festival and as a board member of the Moanalua High Speech festival. She is currently a graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction Design.

With ancestral roots and a childhood rooted in Onoun (a small island in Chuuk State, geographically located between Chuuk Lagoon and Yap Outer Island), and growing up with a stong Catholic faith Josie Howard possesses a deep cultural understanding of the people of Micronesia that is woven into her success today – paving a path for the thriving Micronesian community in Hawaii.

From her island education to her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and minor in biology with a certification in Island Studies from the University of Hawaii at Hilo and her Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Josie continues to humbly and strongly uphold her values and respect for her culture and the culture of others, advocating for the overall health and well-being of her people and the member of her new community here in Hawaii.

Most recently, Josie Howard serves as Director and Founder of We Are Oceania empowering the Micronesian community in Hawaii to navigate success while honoring the integrity of their diverse heritage.

Dr. Amefil (Amy) Agbayani is an emeritus Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Diversity at UH Manoa. She has received distinguishe alumni awardsthe University of the Philippines, the East West Center and the University of Hawai’i. Amy was a co-founder of UH Operation Manong and the Pamantasan Council, appointed as the first chair of the Hawai‘i Civil Rights Commission, Obama member of the Hawai’i Electoral College. She co-edited two books on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. She is co-chair of the Hawai`i Friends of Civil Rights, board member of the Patsy T. Mink PAC and The Legal Clinic for immigrants.

Elizabeth Jiménez Salinas is a nationally recognized advocate for Multilingual Multicultural Learners, their families and the educators who teach them. She has authored language resources in more than 25 textbooks as well as Spanish language children’s books such as Lalo, ¿Cómo te llamas?, and El Corazón Sincero. Elizabeth has worked in the Legislative arena where she learned the skills of successful advocacy that she passionately shares with like-minded others. Jiménez Salinas has been a knowledgeable and tireless moving force behind the nation’s first Seal of Biliteracy, the launch of Dual Language Immersion programs, including underserved heritage language communities, worked with the DOE in Puerto Rico to bring bilingual education to the public schools, and designed and developed Newcomer programs in Middle School and High School.

Elizabeth’s consulting firm is called GEMAS which means “precious gems” in Spanish, but is also the initials of her five children – Gabriela,Eduardo, Maria, Alexandra and Salvador.