Governor Josh Green, M.D.

Blaise Babineck
With the help of the Hawai‘i State Department of Education (HIDOE) Early College Program, two teachers returned to their alma maters, becoming the youngest full-time teachers in HIDOE history.

Blaise Babineck is an eighth-grade science teacher at King Intermediate School. Through Maryknoll’s Early College Program partnership with Hawai‘i Pacific University (HPU) and advanced placement credits, Babineck graduated high school at age 16 in June 2022 and started college at junior- and senior-level courses. He then graduated from HPU at 18 years old as the undergraduate class valedictorian with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in May 2023.

After college, he began teaching at King Intermediate School because he wanted to support kids with whom he shares a similar background. In his first seven months as a teacher at King Intermediate, Babineck was the driving force to bring the science fair back. He wanted his students to have the same opportunities that he did in middle school.

“I really loved sharing my passion for science with other people and guiding them through things and showing them how interesting and fun chemistry can be,” he said. “I had a lot of fun doing that.”

Skye Yasuda
On the Leeward side, Skye Yasuda became a sixth-grade English and social studies teacher at Waipahu Elementary School at 20 years old.

Yasuda also took advantage of the Early College Program at Waipahu High School and graduated as valedictorian in 2021. She also earned two associates degrees – one in teaching and another in liberal arts, as well as a certificate of competence in culturally responsive teaching from Leeward Community College (LCC), simultaneously. She was the first high school student in the state to graduate with an Associate of Science in Teaching from LCC.

Yasuda then attended the University of Hawai‘i–West O‘ahu on a Presidential Scholarship and later graduated with her bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She expressed that her young age puts her at an advantage as a teacher.

“I went to school during COVID so I know how hard it was, being able to understand all those different circumstances,” said Yasuda.

Although it is challenging for Yasuda to see her friends who are in college while her weekends are spent grading papers, Yasuda said, “Right now, I can do what I love and I can put
into action everything that I learned.”