Center for Economic Education

2004 Secondary Economics Teacher of the Year

Richie Kibota, Iolani School

The Secondary Economics Teacher of the Year is Richie Kibota of Iolani School. While attending the University of Hawai`i as an economics major, he was made the decision to become a teacher. He is definitely a scarcity being social studies teacher with an economics major. He started his teaching career at Moanalua High School and within a few years, he began teaching economics and invigorated the economics program and reinstituted an AP Economics course.

Charting new ground and firsts are nothing new to Richie. At the first Economic Challenge, a competition of high school students on their economic knowledge, he brought a team from Moanalua High and won the competition. What makes this unique is that at the time, Richie was not teaching an economic course. He gathered interested students and worked with them after school to prepare them for the competition. His hard work paid off for his students won the state contest and enjoyed a trip to San Francisco to compete in the Western Regional competition. Then in 2000, his students won the first Hawai`i Stock Market Simulation sponsored by the Hawai`i Council on Economic Education.

In 2001, Richie left Moanalua High to teach at Iolani where he has continued his commitment to excellence in economic education. Dr. Val Iwashita, Headmaster of Iolani concurs. He said, "Richie Kibota is a fine example of what a teacher should be. He is passionate about teaching and learning, unrelenting in his pursuit of excellence and selfless in his approach with students. We love him." During the past three years, Richie taught a one semester microeconomics course at Iolani and each of these three years, his students have won the David Ricardo division of the Hawai`i State Economics Challenge. His students went on to win the Western Regional competition twice and qualified to compete in the national competition in New York City. Richie's team from Iolani won 2nd place in the national Economic Challenge competition in New York City in May 2004.

Richie believes economic concepts can be taught to younger students, so he had his seniors volunteer to teach economics to his daughter's kindergarten class. His students taught economic concepts using "Play Dough" giving the five year olds their first introduction to economics. The experience was definitely a plus in the eyes of the kindergarteners as well as for the seniors. Not only has Richie held his students to a high standard, but also he has held himself to high standards.