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	Last updated 12.15.04

The NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence

2004 Finalist and Recipient of The Horace Mann–
NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence

Robert S. J. Hu
Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA)

Robert S. J. Hu is a secondary social studies teacher at Mililani High School in Mililani, Hawaii. A veteran teacher of 33 years, Mr. Hu brings American civics and ethnic studies to life with his interactive and service-minded teaching style.

Mr. Hu requires his students to create portfolios as the culmination of the semester’s work, enabling them to reflect on their learning. Through community service, his students apply their learning to life outside the classroom, which brings an immediacy to their learning. Mr. Hu explains, “One of my major teaching goals is to help students become responsible and caring citizens. Through this project, they learn to do good deeds for the entire society.” Mr. Hu’s ethnic studies curriculum, through which students trace their family trees and explore their heritage, helps them to gain respect for diversity and appreciate a wide range of cultural contributions. No matter what the lesson, Mr. Hu takes the unique needs of his students into account on a daily basis and uses many different learning strategies to accommodate them.

Mr. Hu participates in political campaigns, serves on many local boards, and even sought public office. He was appointed to the Hawaii Public Employees State Health Fund and the State Drug Commission by Governor Benjamin Cayetano and Governor George Ariyoshi, respectively. Mr. Hu was recently selected as the 2004 Hawaii State Teacher of the Year.

Active in the National Education Association (NEA), Mr. Hu has been a delegate to the NEA Representative Assembly and Regional Director of the NEA Asian Pacific Islander Caucus for the past 20 years. An active lobbyist for the NEA-PAC Council, Mr. Hu has served on many different committees, including the minority affairs and elections committees. At the state level, he served three terms as a member of the association’s board of directors. Locally, he was the Leeward Chapter president, and has served for the past two years as Second Vice President of the Central Chapter.

Mr. Hu obtained a Master of Education from the University of Hawaii and Bachelor of Arts from Oklahoma Baptist University.

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