Name: Takeshi Fujita
Age: 68
Position: Retired Waimea High School science teacher
Education: U.H., U.S.C.
Pastimes: Fishing, raising orchids, volunteer work
Ten years after retiring as science teacher at Waimea High School on Kauai, Fujita is still teaching -- as a volunteer in schools and volunteer environmental education curator of Kokee Museum.
"After I retired, I felt that it was so foolish for me to let everything that I knew go to waste," Fujita says. "So, I started to do volunteer work in the schools. I like my contact with students, teachers and adults.
"My volunteer activities keep me young."
Fujita recently won the 1997 Hawaii State Retired Educator Award.
He developed study units and lessons incorporating cooperative learning with demonstration teaching for Kauai elementary teachers. He piloted the Parents As Teachers program for grades 1, 3 and 4.
Fujita also developed an outdoor education program for Kokee Natural History Museum, and is the museum's principal interpreter and trainer of volunteers for schoolchildren. In 1996, he guided 33 classes from nine schools on nature walks in Kokee.
Fujita's favorite teaching excursion is the "Reef Walk" at Salt Pond Beach Park in Hanapepe. Since 1987, he has guided hundreds of classes of Kauai schoolchildren along the jagged reef.
"Many teachers are not familiar with the tide pools and they like someone there who will take the lead," he said. "It is very enjoyable and rewarding."