Name: Ronn Nozoe
Age: 30
Position: English/social studies teacher
Education: University of Hawaii-Manoa
Pastimes: Surfing, bodysurfing, playing with kids, golf

"I really enjoyed sharing and helping people learn," Nozoe remembers, so why not get paid for it?

Now, a year into teaching English and social studies at King Intermediate, Nozoe is a national finalist in the Sallie Mae First Class Teacher Award Competition, honoring first-year teachers who display excellence.

Helene Tom, vice principal at King Intermediate School, says Nozoe is "ever so deserving." Tom says he is an enthusiastic, committed team player.

She says Nozoe believes in his students and has turned many of them around by motivating them to enjoy learning.

His unconventional teaching style earned him the recognition. His seventh- and eighth-grade students have done art, creative writing and hands-on projects. They have taken walks behind the campus and written poetry about the Kaneohe Bay surroundings.

To study history, geography and culture, the students have built volcanoes and canoes in class.

Nozoe likes teaching at the intermediate level because the students are energetic and eager to learn, he says. "It's a critical point in the child's career, where choices are really made."