The UH Mānoa College of Education (COE) is thrilled to announce the Grow Our Own Teachers Initiative is recruiting its eighth cohort of students for the 2025–2026 academic year. Thanks to the generous support of Senator Michelle Kidani and the Hawaiʻi Department of Education (HIDOE), scholarship stipends will again be available.
“I’ve been wanting to return to school to get my teaching license, but didn’t have the funds,” said Rachel Mark who earned her Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Secondary Education (PBCTE) in May. “I wouldn’t be able to pursue my dream of being an art teacher without Grow Our Own! Thank you so much!”
Eligible students include those who have been admitted into the collegeʻs PBCTE in Secondary Education and Master of Education in Teaching (MEdT) programs and students who have applied to the PBCTE in Elementary Education and Bachelor in Elementary Education & Hawaiian Language Immersion programs.
“I am very grateful for the Grow Our Own Teachers Initiative because it enabled me to keep my dream job as a theatre teacher without going into debt,” said fellow PBCTE graduate Carla Kirk. “I have always been passionate about theatre, so being able to teach it for years to come is tremendous for me.”
While priority is given to HIDOE emergency hires, subtitutes, and educational assistants who are in secondary and elementary school settings, as well as to those seeking licensure in HIDOE Federal Teacher Shortage Areas (FTSA)*, applicants who are not HIDOE employees or seeking licensure in shortage areas are also encouraged to apply. The new cohort of candidates will be eligible to apply for teacher licensure from the Hawai‘i Teacher Standards Board (HTSB) upon graduation and will be required to teach full time for at least three years for the HIDOE or charter schools in Hawaiʻi.
“Aʻohe hana nui ke alu ʻia – Great accomplishments can be achieved when done together,” said Chazlyn Harada, MEdT Spring 2024 Graduate. “Mahalo to this initiative that supports us kumu to achieve our academic goal as educators in our Hawaiian community.”
*FTSA: English, English as Second Language (ESL), Hawaiian Immersion, Hawaiian Knowledge, Hawaiian Language, Hawaiian Studies, Mathematics, Science, World Languages
Application: https://hawaii.kualibuild.com/app/64c83811fd84bb0110dc8b88/start
Informational Session Dates:
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Tuesday, September 10, 2024: 4:30pm – 5:30pm
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Tuesday, September 17, 2024: 4:30pm – 5:30pm
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RSVP to receive a Zoom link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdX3t-JIy9L8C-b99p1dWAlLHFfZKOs9rFfFCnTivL9neLJJw/viewform
