Name: Leaf Van Alstine
School: King Kekaulike High School
Subject: Social Studies
Grade: 10th
Island: Maui
“Using the honed skills of applied creativity and compassion, mixed with attentiveness, to get students to feel like they can ‘play’ with language and create their own visions of what they want to see the world become, is my daily practice.”
As a teacher at a large public high school, Leaf is dedicated to helping her 150 plus students explore multiple ways of thinking about the world. She teaches World History, Modern History of Hawaii, and Participation in Democracy and was drawn to the fellowship because she feels passionate about bringing more art, poetry, and a sense of wonder for the natural world into her students’ lives. One of her hopes as a teacher is to deepen her students faith in their own capabilities. She has a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Hawaii at Hilo and a Masters of Education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.