KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Teachers of the Year, from left, Lani Chang, Windward
District; Leah Aiwohi, Kauai; Linda Uehara, Leeward;
Jill Hirota, State Teacher of the Year; Janet Sato, Maui;
Aileen Dang, Honolulu; and Helen Kobayashi, Hawaii.
They each won the use of a new car for a year.

State Teacher of the Year
credits parents for her win

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By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com

When Jill Miura Hirota had difficulty with her math, chemistry or other homework assignments while growing up, she would turn to the best teachers she knew -- her parents.

"They never gave up on me, and they always spent time helping me with my homework," Hirota said with her parents James and Janet Miura looking on. "I'm a person that if there's a paper due, I'll wait until the last minute, and until today (my mom) will still roll her eyes, but she'll still support me."

Now, as a second grade teacher at Waialua Elementary School, Hirota is the one lending an academic hand to someone in need.

"I feel that parents trust me enough with their child and trust me enough to come to me when they have a concern about their child's learning," Hirota said. "I've even had a parent come to me because she had difficulty understanding the work herself. So she trusted me enough to confide that in me so I could help her daughter."

Hirota was named State Teacher of the Year during a ceremony at the Board of Education meeting Thursday at Kalani High School.

She was chosen from seven district teachers, all of whom received a free one-year lease of a new car from the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association and a $500 cash award from the Polynesian Cultural Center, one of the award program's corporate sponsors. Hirota received an additional $1,000 from PCC.

"I'm uncomfortable with the attention because in any school it's a matter of working together," Hirota said.

Hirota comes from a long line of award-winning educators at Waialua Elementary. She credits her success partly to the teachers, administrators, students, parents and the close-knit Waialua community. Her father also is from Haleiwa, which helps her feel connected to the community.

This is the second year in a row that the State Teacher of the Year was a national board-certified teacher. Only five public school teachers have attained national board certification.

The new teachers contract includes a bonus for teachers who attain national board certification.

Tears welled in James Miura's eyes as he spoke with pride about his daughter.

"She used to go into the library a lot, she read a lot," Miura said. "Yes, I'm proud."