Teaching is a fulfilling but oftentimes difficult career, but can have an impact on the future leaders of our society. From arriving early in the morning to leaving late at night, there are many obstacles teachers are willing to go through to teach the next generation. For one teacher and Kalāheo alumnus and Kailua High teacher, Tim Harrison, there is a greater barrier that must be defied to get to his classroom. While it is the love of the students that Harrison shares with his colleagues, there is one major thing that differentiates him from the rest. Harrison does not live on Oahu but on the Big Island. Starting in law and coaching basketball, Harrison, who has been teaching for 23 years, shared the reason that keeps him on flights week after week.
“When you teach, one of the things that, and I've talked with other educators, that is so good about it is you get to see young people grow. You get to see them when they come in as freshmen and you get to see them leave. And 99 percent of the time there's this tremendous growth in that individual, and that's what gets me psyched about teaching. I like to see them grow as a person, knowing that they're going to go out there and probably succeed at something. Growth is a big thing to me. Not just as a student, but as a person,” he explained.
Starting out in the legal field as a paralegal, Harrison had a change of heart. “After almost 20 years, I was coaching at the time and I'd been coaching at Kalaheo. But I started thinking about getting into something else and it just so happened to be teaching,” he explained.
One class can change the entire trajectory of one career or even life. For the class of 2023 Kalāheo alumna, Christina Uchibori, it was the media program that sparked the interest and creativity of this young adult. Studying in the realm of digital media, starting from 9th to grade 12, was the graphic design class taught by Ms. Mikayla, Uchibori started during 11th grade at Kalāheo. Last school year, students may recall Christina as the main anchor on the Kalāheo morning news. Currently, she is continuing to focus on her passion for media and education, she gave insight into her past journey at Kalāheo. “Digital media, I started it when I was a freshman, and I continued it until my senior year. I was a part of the news program. But it was graphic design that I started in my junior year of high school,” she said.
As a student host on the Kalāheo Morning News, Uchibori along with the other news crew members, was able to attend the Student Television Network. A national competition for student news programs across the country in which Uchibori and other students placed 2nd in the weather segment category. “It's a student film, a national film competition. I competed with Keenan Kawakami and Lucca Blood. We did the weather segment. And that was crazy. I think we had maybe, like, four or six hours to complete a 60-second weather broadcast. We ended up winning second place in those weather segments. It was a very stressful task but I loved doing it,” she explained.
When it came to Uchiboriʻs journey in graphic design, it all started with an idea from teachers Ms. Mikayla and Mrs. Shigemura. They wanted to create a way to give back to the community by producing t-shirts, mugs, and stickers for companies all across the state. With students being paid to work the equipment. The Mustang GFX(Graphics) shop was born. And as for Christina, she was the student that drove the idea into fruition. From once an idea, into a website, and now into an enterprise shop. Uchibori used her passion for graphic design to strengthen her community. When creating for customers, Uchibori explained the process that came with the task as well as what she was able to do as a graphic design student.
“They wanted a student to help run it and stuff like that. We mostly focused on other schools. We made a lot of shirts, banners, stickers, things like that. We did a bunch for the College Hills Athletic Foundation. And when I was in graphic design class, we got to design logos for Kalāheoʻs Homecoming, 5oth anniversary logo as well as band,” she explained.
Now attending college, Uchibori shared her continued love for teaching. “I want to focus on education. I like the classroom and I like learning. And so that's something I'd like to go back to.” Uchibori advised students who want to pursue the path of media but are still wary of putting themselves out there. “Just try it. It's never as bad as you think. When I was doing it, I was nervous about going in front of the camera. And once I did it, I was like, oh, this isn't as bad as I thought it was. It's a lot less scary than it seems. You end up getting used to the camera, loving it, and later maybe even using it to fulfill a career.”