Lacey Cabral has been a counselor with the DOE for almost 30 years. She serves as a high risk counselor and program coordinator at Keaau High School.

With her team, Lacey also created the Ulupono ALC program for students who need "a little more love" than the regular campus classrooms can provide. The program has successfully helped hundreds of students find their place at Keaau and graduate on to their next steps.

Susan Chew is a kindergarten teacher at Lanai High and Elementary School. She is also the 2026 Hana-Lahaina-Lanai-Molokai Complex Area Teacher of the Year.

She shares what she does to create community in and out of her classroom.

Nate Waters is a math teacher at Waiakea High School. He has served with the DOE for almost 20 years. We discuss some of the things he does to build community with his students and his colleagues.

Aoi Shinagawa is the music teacher at Pahoa High and Intermediate School and has been working to revive the music department since she was hired in 2022.

Micah Ramos was born in the Philippines and raised on the Big Island. She's an alum of Kea’au High School, now serving her community through teaching.

Cori Shikuma is a special education teacher who has worked in both inclusion and in fully self-contained classrooms for over 20 years. She recently made the switch from elementary to the high school level.

Tech coordinator, digital media teacher, and fundraising food curator extraordinaire Donn Yamamoto joins us to talk about what keeps him coming back after over 30 years of teaching with the DOE.

We also talk about how he sets his classroom up for the year, and what is important to him when working with students.

Hosts Elise and Melissa talk reflect on the 2025-26 school year and what season 1 of the podcast taught them. They also preview some of the changes coming to season 2.