My Most Memorable Kumu
By KS Hawai‘i Grade 9 English Kumu Laieikawai Suganuma
I was 13 years old when I first met Mrs. Laura Tavares, and I was incredibly intimidated by her.
She was the kind of teacher who demanded more from you and actually had the faith that you
would be able to step up to the line and accomplish greatness.
Laura Tavares was the first teacher to show me that, not only did I really enjoy English as a
subject, but I was also very good at it. She believed in me and by doing so, gave me the
confidence to try harder and to stand out and shine. I know that it is a teacher’s job to believe in
her students, to have faith in their abilities in order to help them have faith in themselves. But
Laura was the first teacher who ever really got that message across to me clearly.
She was my teacher in 9th grade, and for many teachers and students, the relationship between
them ends at the end of the school year. I remember on the last day of 9th grade, she lined us all
up in order to say goodbye to each of us individually. I was first in line, and she stuck out her
hand confidently and waited for me to shake it. I looked at it for a long moment and then shook
my head and said out loud, “Screw that.” I was only fourteen at the time, after all. And then I
pushed aside her outstretched hand and I hugged her. Even then, so early on in our relationship,
she had made such a huge difference in my life.
Tenth grade was hard for me: family problems. And even though Laura was no longer my
teacher, I still found a reason to be in her classroom at least once a week during lunch or after
school, just to be able to catch up with her and talk with someone who still believed in me.
Eleventh grade was even busier, and yet I still found time to spend with her—and even more
importantly, she found the time to spend with me.
That year, our school had a career shadowing program and students in their junior year could
choose different careers in the community to shadow for a day. I chose to shadow her. Part of
the reason was because I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew that I loved English
the most out of all of my classes, so teaching English was bound to be something I would enjoy.
The other part was because I knew that Laura would be honest with me, and she wouldn’t try to
sugarcoat anything about the teaching career. I loved that one day that I got to spend shadowing
my teacher, and so Laura offered to allow me to volunteer with her over the summer and teach
her summer school class with her.
The summer before my senior year, I got to teach a unit to 9th graders. It is an experience that
not many high schoolers get to have, and it was a phenomenal experience for me. Laura was
honest with me about what I needed to work on, and there truly was a lot that could be improved.
It was that experience, I think, that cemented in my head the idea that I wanted to be a teacher.
My senior year I had AP Literature with Laura Tavares, and it was my favorite class. We were
asked to read things that were extraordinarily deep and then have mature discussions based on
the material. Once again, Laura was showing that she had the faith in us to be able to handle the
very controversial issues that were being brought up in the material. This time, she was not only
affirming her faith in our intelligence, but she was also affirming her belief that we were capable
of being far more mature than most seniors in high school can be. And through her own belief in
us, in her belief in the ability of her students, we were able and willing to step up and be the
people she believed we could be.
After high school, even though I went away to college for a few years, I would still meet up with
Laura to grab coffee and sit and chat for a few hours during school vacations. Even though I was
no longer her student, she still cared about me and wanted to know how I was doing. It was at
some point during that period in my life that Laura went through a transition and instead of being
my teacher, she became my mentor.
When I entered the teaching program at UH Hilo, it seemed beyond perfect that she would end
up being my Cooperating Teacher and I would get to spend my first days teaching in her
classroom. There, in a classroom where I had been challenged more than in any other. There,
where I had found I had more depth to myself than I would have believed. There, where I
acquired more confidence in my abilities than anywhere else.
Laura had faith in me from the start. In the program, you are supposed to observe for the first
quarter and begin teaching small units during the second quarter. But Laura let me teach the
very first day I was in the classroom. After all, we had done this before right? I had still been in
high school at the time, but yes, we had. She gave me very constructive criticism that day, but
for the most part all she gave me was positive feedback. “You have got this,” she told me.
The first time I had to teach an entire unit on my own, I panicked. I had an entire lesson planned
out, and the day before I was to implement the activity, I began to wonder if the students would
be able and willing to participate. I shared my concerns with her, and while she did provide me
with feedback, she refused to fix the situation. “It’s your classroom,” she told me. And as such,
it was my job to fix it. Once again, she proved that she had faith in me, in my ability to
accomplish anything I set my mind to.
It was at some point during that year that Laura made the transition from mentor to friend, and
even though I am no longer her student in any way, she is still helping me at every possible
opportunity. On my first official day as a classroom teacher working at a charter school, Laura
sent me flowers and had them delivered to my classroom door. The note said, “Welcome to your
new career.” Last year, I was hired at KS Hawai‘i to teacher 9th grade English, and now, I get to
work with her every day as a partner and a peer.
Laura Tavares has been, throughout my life, more than just a teacher. She has been a role model
and an inspiration, and throughout all things she has believed in my potential and encouraged me
to follow my dreams. She has taught me more than just what I need to know in the classroom—
though she has taught me that as well. She has also taught me to be the best person that I can be
in my life. And I know that I am not unique in having Laura’s support and faith, just as I know
that I am not the only one of her past and present students who was willing to step up to that line
of possibility…and step past what I thought was possible.