TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Teacher kudos from
Duke’s in WaikikiA teacher at Waialae School will be flying first class to California on Hawaiian Airlines for a five-night stay at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach, experiencing Disney's California Adventure, dining at Duke's Huntington Beach and doing whatever else the $500 cash prize she's won will get her.
TS Restaurants, parent company of Duke's Canoe Club Waikiki and other Hawaii and California restaurants, singled out first-grade teacher Suzanne Brauer as its first recipient of Outstanding Educator recognition.
It was the first of the company's six Hawaii restaurants to stage such recognition for local educators in conjunction with the parent company's 25th anniversary.
The surprise party in her honor began during lunch recess Monday, when a group of people walked into her classroom along with school Chief Education Officer Susan Minami and a student with a bloody knee.
"I thought she was just bringing him back to class to get him cleaned up," Brauer said, but "nine or 10 people came in with her from TS Restaurants, there were hula dancers, singers, it was a wonderful time."
Musicians Auntie Lei Lopes and Uncle Poonui, lei-stand operators at the restaurant, wrote a song for Brauer and performed it for her, according to Duke's Senior General Manager Chris Colgate.
The kids were treated to Duke's signature Hula Pie as their teacher was presented with the air travel donated by Hawaiian, accommodations donated by Hilton Hotels and the rest of the package from the restaurant company.
That night she went to Duke's in Waikiki to help celebrate its ninth anniversary and thanked them for the recognition.
"Especially with the economy the way it is now, that there are businesses out there, particularly a restaurant, far removed from education, that take the time and resources and finances to support education," she said, "I thought it was really wonderful and commended them for that."
Each of TS Restaurants' 12 eateries, upon celebrating its anniversary, will present another area educator with similar recognition, Colgate said.
"The primary reason for the educators' (recognition)," he said, "is the importance that educators play in shaping our communities, the teachers being sort of the guiding light for all our children."
Brauer has been an elementary school teacher for 15 years, nine of them at Waialae School.
It has been a charter school for five years, she said.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com