@aside.ways

My mom, Laura Tavares, was an educator for forty years, teaching high school literature at Star of the Sea, Pahoa, and Waiakea high schools. She was also the librarian for Hilo Intermediate, before leaving to be on the inaugural development team for the first Hawai'i state online school, HVLN Hawaii Online. The second half of her career was spent as part of the inaugural faculty of Kamehameha Schools Hawai'i campus, where she served native Hawaiian children. She completed National Board Certification as well as developed the AP English Literature and Composition programs at KS, in part spurred by her master's thesis on what were then called "gifted and talented" programs in low-income communities. To honor her lifetime in education, our family has established the Laura E. Tavares Memorial Scholarship at Chaminade University to benefit outer-island undergraduates pursuing English and/or Education. Contribute to this fund by leaving her name in the note of the following online form.