Whitney Aragaki

Whitney Aragaki is a high school biology and environmental science teacher at Waiākea High School in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, and the coauthor of Place-Based Science Teaching: Connecting Students to Curriculum, Community, and Caring for Our Planet, written with Kirstin J. Milks. A fifth-generation Hawaiʻi Island resident, she is a National Board Certified Teacher and the 2022 Hawaiʻi State Teacher of the Year, as well as a 2022 National Teacher of the Year finalist and 2021 Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching.

Aragaki holds a BA in biology from Swarthmore College, an MS in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, and a PhD in Education (curriculum and instruction) from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her work centers on place-based science education that honors local land, people, and cultures, and she also serves as a Professor of Practice and faculty lead at Reach University and as a 2023 Obama Foundation USA Leader.