REYNA IWAMOTO & SKYLER CHUN
CO-EDITOR IN CHIEF & COPY EDITOR
Going from a Vice principal at Moanalua High School to serving as Hawaii’s First Lady can greatly change a person’s lifestyle and view of the world. Despite the change of transitioning to such a different career, Dawn Ige’s humility, kindness, and drive never wavered. For her, teaching was an empowering opportunity to make a difference in students’ lives everyday. And even after being promoted to a political figure position, Ige has not stopped making a difference in people’s lives, just this time, on a greater scale.
As First Lady, Ige must uphold certain responsibilities of any First Spouse, however she explained that there are truly no set and specific duties of what her job entails.
“I’ve learned that the role of first lady is not quite defined, so you have to go into the role, take the initiative to define the role and use it as an opportunity to do good for the people of Hawaii,” Ige said.
As First Lady, Ige has the responsibility of things such as, hosting functions on behalf of the state of Hawaii and traveling across the world, serving as a representative from the Hawaiian Islands. Other than that however, the job is quite self-defined, as Ige explained that the duty of First Lady is an opportunity to see that the position is one of honor and privilege.
And Ige does just that.
With her past of working as an educator, Ige’s commitment to education has always been a top priority for her. Some of her accomplishments include many literacy projects, read-alouds at elementary schools, and becoming a scholastic ambassador, where she donates 500 books to two schools of her choice every year.
Ige has also promoted international student exchange programs to “enhance communication and culture appreciation,” like that of Moanalua High School’s annual student exchange and sister school relationship with Hiroshima Kokutaiji High School in Japan. These programs have proved to be beneficial for not just the students at both sister schools, but also for the economy.
Another example of Ige’s continued involvement with the Department of Education (DOE) is her commitment to expanding Hawaii schools’ breakfast programs.
“In Hawaii, we are one of the lowest in the country of free and reduced lunch students participating in the breakfast program. If students are hungry, if students need breakfast, the school breakfast program is something that we hope they will take more advantage of because it's there...that’s something that we are working on as a group in conjunction with the DOE, to see more student participation in the school breakfast program,” Ige explained.
Ige also played a key part in the creation of the Annual Hawaii Youth Sustainability Challenge that grew out of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress convention that was held on Oahu in 2016. During this time, scientists from around the world met here in Hawaii to talk about different issues on climate and the environment.
During this event, Ige was a part of a committee that developed a design thinking program for students. Student were able to bring with them a sustainability challenge from their community or school and go through a one-day design thinking process. “At that time, we had 900 students from public, private, and charter schools come and they had a chance to go through the exhibits, talk to some of the scientists, and work on their sustainability challenge,” Ige explained.
Students were then able to apply for micro grants to fund the implementation of their projects in their schools and communities.
“So that’s been exciting- to be able to see the students take an idea and continue to apply it to their schools and go through the whole process of writing a grant, answering questions [about their projects], implementing their program and then reflecting on what they’ve done,” Ige said.
Although this new position has given Ige many incredible opportunities to help the community, especially within the education system, she sometimes find herself reminiscing of her former lifestyle of being surrounded by students as an administrator at Moanalua High School.
“[When I was] an educator, for me, the students made every day count and made every day special... it was an opportunity for me to get to know the students and really understand what's going on in their lives. And those are the most meaningful parts of a job: to be there to help a student, to make a difference, and hopefully to help them make choices that are best for them,” Ige said.
Some of her favorite memories from teaching at Moanalua consisted of going to football games and just walking around and talking to students during lunch, as it was a time for her to get to know the students and community that surrounded the campus.
At MoHS, Ige oversaw and assisted with data teams, the music program, special education, and took part in school inspections and fire safety on campus, along with a wide variety of other experiences. These experiences, and the leadership they required, helped her greatly while transitioning into her current position as First Lady. She learned a lot about leadership through reading literature, practicing lots of leadership skills, and learning from different people whether it be from students, from teachers, or from other administrators.
“You don’t just study leadership one day and you’re a leader the next. It’s a very long term, growing process that changes all the time. Those experiences really made a difference in how I look at problems, how I work with people, and really how valuable collaboration is to make things happen... When I was at Moanalua, that was one of the strengths at that school,” Ige said.
Through all of her growing accomplishments, Ige never fails to remember all the people who have supported her along this difficult, yet rewarding journey. Some of the key people she gives a special appreciation to are former Principal at MoHS, Darrel Galera; former MoHS Vice Principals, Lynda Galera and Julia Toyama; and current Vice Principal Wilbert Lum.
“I came from being a third grade teacher into the VP position so there’s a lot of transition that [occurred] there. Mr. Galera, one of my biggest mentors, helped me go from that position to what it takes to be an administrator. He’s an excellent leader and continues to be one,” Ige said.
Former MoHS Principal Darrel Galera shared his experience working with Ige during their time at Moanalua and praised her for some of her accomplishments while she was a Vice Principal.
“When she first came to Moanalua, she was already an impressive leader who was visionary and held high expectations...She made a huge impact on the students, faculty, and staff at MoHS,” Galera said.
He explained that one of her accomplishments while at Moanalua was that her leadership in the Data Teams resulted in the school being recognized statewide and nationally as one of the best examples of how to implement Data Teams in a high school.
Ige’s time at Moanalua was not only full of accomplishment and wonderful memories to look back on, but it served an experience that has helped her transition into her leadership role today.
“[It taught me] what it means to be a leader [and that] it’s a process. You don’t just study leadership one day and you’re a leader the next...I think those experiences really made a difference in how I look at problems, how I work with people, and really [my view on] how valuable that collaboration is,” Ige said.
Galera described Ige’s impact not only on Moanalua, but on the State of Hawaii as the First Lady.
“All of us in the education field were blessed to have a passionate and selfless leader become part of the school system. As First Lady, she is now able to share her talents and strengths with all and have an even greater impact on everyone in our state,” Galera added.
And as we asked our final question in our interview with the First Lady about her goals for the future, she paused to think before leaving us with her final thoughts.
“At this point, I don't have the end in mind. Right now I just have this wonderful opportunity to serve as First Lady so I'm going to look at where I can have the greatest, most meaningful and positive impact and then I'll take it from there and kind of use each moment as much as possible,” Ige said.
So although Ige does not have any specific plans for the future, she wants to make each and every moment count, so that by the end of her current term as First Lady, she would have made a huge impact on many lives in Hawaii.
“There are challenges and it's a learning experience as well, so you come out of this [job] no matter what, as a person who has really gained quite a bit because you learn so much about the people, the state, and the community- and that to me is such a great, great reward,” Ige said.
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