Kapa’a High School Principal Tommy Cox has made his parents proud.
Cox's parents are educators as well and their son was honored with a top award at the Public Schools of Hawaiʻi Foundation dinner Thursday night.
"They were excited. My wife was FaceTiming them and then the kids at the time, so they got to see it live," Cox told The Conversation, recounting the moment he won.
The Masayuki Tokioka Excellence in School Leadership Award comes with $25,000 — of which $10,000 serves as a personal award and $15,000 is appropriated to a school project of the educator's choice.
Before stepping into his role in the classroom, Cox was an accountant. After three years, his appreciation for math transferred into an educational career when he decided to take an uncertified teaching position at Kapaʻa Middle School. After just one term teaching math to sixth-graders, Cox sought out formal teaching credentials and a Master of Education.
"I think it's a special place. It's a very tight-knit, smaller community," Cox said about teaching in Kapaʻa. "I mean, our parents and our families, they take a lot of pride in our school, and what we do and where their kids attend school, and what they're offered, and what the expectations are. But it's a prideful place, and it's just a great place to work."
With the $15,000 in project funds, Cox said he will help continue a project that was started last year related to tiny homes. Kapa‘a High’s Building and Construction Academy has been working on model, sustainable homes for their school's teachers. Cox said the students now want to build a larger version of that — with a 20-foot shipping container.
"Our kids came up with this idea last year about these tiny homes and how they could help maybe the teacher housing issue. And so we ran with it, we have the container, and we're going to use this money to complete the project," he said.
With the funding boost, he said the only thing the students need to do now is pick a design.
This interview aired on The Conversation on April 19, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
