Hui for Excellence in Education, or “HE‘E,” is a statewide coalition of diverse stakeholders committed to working collaboratively to identify opportunities to improve public education in Hawai‘i. HE‘E seeks to be the focal point for community and parent engagement while serving as a public resource for educational policy.
HE‘E was formed in May 2010 by parents and community members who stood up and said “no” to school furloughs and “yes” to re-establishing education as a public priority.
He Moku, He Wa’a, He Moku
Hawai‘i’s application for the Race to the Top cited the metaphor of a canoe with paddlers working together toward education reform. The motto, “He Moku, He Wa’a, He Moku,” or “an island, a canoe; a canoe, an island” was used to suggest that educational transformation can only be accomplished collaboratively. HE‘E stands ready to support and represent parents and the greater community as paddlers in our canoe.
We invite you to join in our collaborative effort for public education transformation. For more information, please contact Cheri Nakamura, Director, at 808-375-5066 or use our email contact form.
HE‘E is funded by The Learning Coalition..
Our Director
Cheri Nakamura
Hui for Excellence in Education (HE‘E) director
Cheri Nakamura is the director for the coalition Hui for Excellence in Education. She was program manager for The Learning Coalition, where she mapped and evaluated Hawai‘i’s family engagement in education. She worked with education-focused community groups and non-profits, parent groups, and the Department of Education to improve parent and family engagement in schools. Nakamura was vice president and marketing director at Prospect Asset Management, Inc., an investment advisory firm specializing in the investments of Japanese equities and real estate. She also had a successful career in the performing arts, performing in musicals on Broadway, off-Broadway and internationally.
Nakamura has an MBA from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa and a BA in international economics from the University of California at Los Angeles. In both masters and undergraduate programs, Cheri studied Japanese management and Japanese language as an exchange student in Tokyo, Japan, at Keio Business School and International Christian University. She is fluent in Japanese.