Aloha mai kākou!

Dr. Whitney Aragaki (she/they) is an educator, parent, and learner from Hilo, Hawaiʻi.  She supports students to learn through a lens of abundance that honors place, people and cultures. Her teaching focuses around conversations, practices and systems that sustain the intimate inter-relationship of public education, community and environment. 

Aragaki is a fifth-generation Hawaiʻi Island resident of Japanese ancestry. She is the daughter of two educators, and was a student in her mother’s biology class. She currently serves as a high school science teacher. Her two children also thrive in this supportive public-school ecosystem. 

Aragaki has a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Swarthmore College, and a Master of Science in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science from the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. She recently earned a Doctor of Philosophy with a focus in curriculum and instruction. 

Aragaki is the 2022 Hawaiʻi State Teacher of the Year and National Teacher of the Year Finalist. She is a National Board Certified Teacher in Adolescence and Young Adulthood Mathematics. She was recognized as a 2021 recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. In 2023, she was named to the inaugural class of Obama Foundation Leaders USA. She will publish her first book in 2025.