Congratulations to Wahiawa Middle School’s Alohalani Ligsay for receiving the 2022 Leilehua Complex Area Teacher of Promise Award. The award goes to a teacher who exemplifies excellence in the field and the highest qualities of a professional educator during the first four semesters in the classroom.
As a classroom teacher, Alohalani exemplifies the qualities that make her a notable educator. Hired only two months before the announcement of a worldwide pandemic, Alohalani has exhibited unwavering commitment to elevate the learning experiences of her students. She took it upon herself to learn and adapt quickly to the new norms and to provide guidance and reassurance to her students and their families as they began to navigate and explore new learning norms. Her genuine care and passion to uphold our school vision and mission is palpable in the learning opportunities that she continues to offer to her students. Today, as the AVID and Hawaiian Language teacher at Wahiawa Middle School, she carefully designs learning experiences for her students that foster a strong sense of community, belonging, purpose, and empowerment. Students describe her as someone who is caring, kind, passionate, fair, and fun and someone who never fails to greet them individually. “Mrs. Aloha always has something challenging for our teams to work on and I like how she gives us a chance to figure it out on our own,” said one of her AVID students.
Always willing to pitch in for the good of the school and especially her students, Alohalani volunteers and spends a lot of her time collaborating with others to provide opportunities for AVID students and their families to participate in AVID events. Her amicable character makes it a pleasure for other staff members to work alongside her.
Alohalani continues to make a difference at our school and has positively impacted her students. Her skills, knowledge, contributions, and dedication to Wahiawa Middle School earns her the recognition of Teacher of Promise.