Shilo Francis, a history teacher at Hawaii Technology Academy, has been named the 2024 Hawaii History Teacher of the Year.
The annual award is presented by the Gilder Lehman Institute of American History, an organization dedicated to K-12 American history education.
Francis was one of 53 national finalists announced last week. In addition to the $1,000 prize, she will receive an archive of books on American history as a citation at a local ceremony.
“It's such an honor to be recognized,” she said.
National winners will be announced in September.
Frances graduated from the University of Hawaii where she studied American History as an undergraduate and earned a Master's in Education.
Francis, 43, has been a teacher for 19 years. He said he is passionate about helping students and hopes to inspire them to become historians.
“I care about young people and helping them find their passion,” she said. “If we can spark that through a course like history, allowing them to make so many connections to themselves, their community and other people, then they can start to feel empowered and confident.”
Courtesy of Shiloh Francis
Shiloh Francis takes his students on field trips to historical sites.
Frances said teaching is in her blood: Her grandmother was a middle school history teacher, her mother taught nursing at the University of Hawaii and her aunts were elementary school teachers.
Her favorite period to teach students about is World War II.
“We have a lot of local connections to try to understand history from different perspectives,” she said.
She tries to take her students on field trips to historical sites to help them become interested in and understand their history lessons.
This summer, Francis took about 20 kids on a field trip to Japan, where they went to Hiroshima and brought a thousand paper cranes as a symbol of peace.
“War can be seen from different perspectives, but more importantly, we also need to think about peace and peacebuilding and why it is important in our society as well, and look at the world in a different way,” she said.
Francis gives her students a first-hand look at what people in different eras were thinking and feeling, which she says helps them develop empathy for history.
“I think that way kids really start to engage with people rather than just reading a name on a page or someone else's summary from a textbook,” she said.
