Carolyn Ozaki, Mililani Middle School

Her journey to this award began two years ago when she agreed to attend a Making a Job workshop. Making a Job is an economics and entrepreneurship program for middle school youngsters. After attending the workshop, she agreed to pilot the program. She shared her visions and enthusiasm for the program with her fellow teachers and convinced them to adopt this program for their new Business Wheel at her school. Roger Kim, principal of Mililani Middle, said, "Carolyn has always distinguished herself, not by what she says but what she does and how well she works with others. I am very grateful to Carolyn for spearheading the effort to assist our school to better prepare students for the real world of work and managing resources." To further hone her skills, she attended a second training session and in the summer of 2003, she assisted Gail Tamaribuchi teach a Making a Job course to other middle level teachers.

Her students interviewed the entrepreneurs in their community where they practiced their communication skills, write a business plan to apply their writing skills, and develop a financial section that gave students real-world application to math computation and problem solving.

In her application, Carolyn writes that her students learned entrepreneurs did more than just sell fast goods but more importantly, they learned they have career options and opened their perceptions of the world of business and entrepreneurship. She made accommodations for ADD and Special Education students and made sure they were engaged in the lessons. She said, "I felt good to see my students buzzing around the campus talking about entrepreneurs and continuing to look for problems and how to solve them. It brought tears to my eyes when I hear the Special Education students joining in. This program opened my students' eyes to the many opportunities the future can offer them. Isn't that one of the things teachers want our students to learn?" Yes, Carolyn we agree.