Each year, Radford High School selects a teacher to represent the school in the Central district Hawaii State Teachers Association Teacher of Excellence awards banquet. This year’s winner is math teacher Grant Takiguchi. Mr. Takiguchi has been teaching for six years, all of those years spent as a Ram.

“Receiving the award is a bittersweet feeling,” Mr. Takaguchi said. “I feel honored to be nominated and I’m surprised that I won. There were a lot of teachers who were on the deserving ballot and I am humbled to have been picked.”

Mr. Takiguchi received his Bachelor and Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and his teaching certificate and Master of Education from Chaminade University. His teaching philosophy is to get “the student interested anyway” he can.

“Being able to share experiences with students so that they can have a chance to be successful and achieve their dreams is the best part of teaching,” Mr. Takiguchi said. “I also love seeing the students’ faces when they understand a concept. The look of excitement and achievement inspire me to be a teacher.”