Teacher
Pathways to Community Leadership is a call to action to youth who want to make a change in the world. Whether it be addressing pollution of the environment, access to clean water, closing the gap on disparities in education, providing support services for youth suffering from mental illness and mental health issues, peacemaking, food insecurity, racial justice, increasing access to basic medical care and mobilizing communities to take action, this course is for you! If you don’t know what you are passionate about — but you care about the world we live in and want to explore ways to have an impact, join your peers and take this class!
Leadership is about bringing together our collective voice for change. It is about building community. It is about leveraging your individual strengths for the benefit of society. It is about creating opportunities for long term change. It is about community problem solving, building relationships and resiliency.
I bring two decades of international development work and skills advocating for community based needs and social causes directly to students. Through one on one sharing and in class exercises, I challenge students to find their agency to be the change they desire. I share my failures and successes and through peer to peer discussions their learning is reinforced.
I ask my students to consider social change by introducing them to three concepts: 1) community advocacy 2) community organizing and 3) civic engagement. To accomplish any of these requires an understanding of root causes and self-awareness. Pathways to Community Leadership aims to align these components with personal values so students come away with a clearer sense of purpose and have some tools when they embark on their journey of adulthood.
One of the principles I teach is that we are interconnected — our actions (or inaction) can influence another person’s life thousands of miles away as well as right here at home. Each of us has the power to make a difference.
Students have opportunities to meet leaders from around the world. In 2021, guest speakers from several countries as well as local Hawaii nonprofits attended our virtual classroom — including a clean water and sanitation project in the Manu Rainforest of Peru to a program teaching women technology skills in Pakistan, to a program working with migrant issues in Central America and a nonprofit working to promote indigenous artwork of Aboriginal artists in Australia.
Seeing students engage in meaningful dialogue with global and local leaders affirmed for me that sharing real world experiences is critical to help youth navigate this complex world. Meeting real superheroes—the innovators, thinkers and connectors is life changing for students at the edge of their adult lives.
Students will learn and practice skills including stakeholder analysis, giving testimony, writing a public narrative and presenting a grant proposal on behalf of a nonprofit organization. Such life skills will help students in the future and across the career spectrum.
Leadership requires understanding our shared humanity and acknowledging
the perspectives of others. It requires curiosity and courage. I aim to cultivate these skills in the students that I teach. To learn more and hear voices from the Pathways to Community Leadership class, click here.
Aloha,
