Root for Innovation: Bringing Systems Change and Innovation into the Classroom
About the Event
Curious about how to weave climate change, innovation, entrepreneurship, policy, place-based cultural practices, and edtech into the classroom? Join Teach for America (TFA) teachers and high school students for this inaugural event. Root for Innovation: Bringing Systems Change and Innovation into the Classroom. Come learn about the exciting work that TFA teachers and high school students have done throughout their Summer Fellowships in partnership with some of Hawaiʻi's leading change makers! At this event, you will be in the company of students, teachers, administrators and community leaders as we all dive into what Teach for America Summer Fellows have learned and developed as a result of their experience with their host organizations. Attendees will have the opportunity to work collectively (in break-out rooms) on a unit or lesson inspired by what they have learned at the event. As a special addition this year, Elemental Excelerator and TFA partnered to pilot a youth-adult partnership model for the summer fellowship - a first for both organizations and thanks to the generous support of the Harold K. L. Castle Foundation. Five TFA teachers were joined by ten rising high school juniors and seniors who all learned and worked together in different teams at Elemental. They dove right into rigorous projects regarding climate change, climate tech innovation and global scale entrepreneurship. They’ll be sharing plans for curricula that they’ve co-created across all grade levels that both students and teachers can take back into classrooms. The other host sites that provided invaluable experiences this year for TFA fellows are: Education Incubator, HawaiiKidsCAN, Hub Coworking Hawaii, Kamehameha Schools, Purple Maia, Women’s Fund Hawaii and YMCA Hawaii. Join us to dive deeper and figure out how we can work together to continue innovating on our education ecosystem.
TFA Summer Fellowship Host Sites
Elemental Excelerator helps startups change the world, one community at a time. Each year, they find 12-15 companies that best fit their mission and fund each company up to $1 million to improve systems that impact people’s lives: energy, water, agriculture, and transportation.
Founded in 2017, HawaiiKidsCAN is committed to ensuring that Hawaii has an excellent and equitable education system that reflects the true voices of our communities and, in turn, has a transformational impact on our children and our state.
Kamehameha Schools champions every Hawaiian learner to explore their potential to lead the lāhui and inspire the world. Hānai i ke keiki, ola ka lāhui. Nurture the child and the lāhui thrives.
Purple Maiʻa Foundation is a Native Hawaiian startup technology education nonprofit whose mission is to educate and empower the next generation of culturally grounded, community serving technology makers and problem solvers.
