Living Noblesse Oblige: An Amazing Race. An Amazing Teacher
A few seconds before the picture above was taken, Ms. Mizumura, standing in the middle of those two gentlemen, was awarded a gold medal as winner of Maryknoll High School’s Faculty Scavenger Hunt in Waikiki. Much like the popular television show Amazing Race, teachers were tasked with finding clues that lead them from one place to another, ultimately challenging them to cross the finish line first with the win going to the group with the most points earned along the way. This winning team had a secret weapon. Mrs. Mizumura has been on an amazing race around the world for many years and she continues to spread her aloha to others throughout the globe as Maryknoll School’s Japanese teacher since 1987.
Rie left Japan for Hawaii at the tender age of eight. When she arrived on Oahu, she did not speak a word of English. By the time she graduated from Leilehua High School, she not only spoke English fluently, she was also part of the Future Teachers of America club, knowing early on that one of her aspirations was to someday become a teacher. Soon after graduating from high school, Rie attended the University of Hawaii. In her third year of college, she also attended Sophia University (Jochi Daigaku), a prestigious Catholic university in Japan. Eventually, Rie graduated from the University of Hawaii with her B.Ed. and M.Ed. Her ability to speak both English and Japanese fluently was in high demand within the travel industry at the time, so she moved to the island of Kauai to work there as an interpreter at the Coco Palms Hotel and taught Japanese language to flight attendants at Aloha Airlines. However, her desire to become a teacher began taking her career in a new direction.
Rie eventually was offered a position as an adjunct professor at Kauai Community College teaching Japanese. During her time there, she created KCC’s first Japanese language courses. She also spent time teaching Japanese at Kapaa High School on Kauai. She moved back to Oahu and taught Japanese to Outrigger Hotel employees and was an adjunct professor at Leeward Community College for several years. Finally, in 1987, Ms. Mizumura was able to find a home teaching at Maryknoll High School. She has been a Japanese teacher at Maryknoll for over 25 years. During that time, she has taken Maryknoll students to Japan on exchanges almost every year.
Although Ms. Mizumura has been around the world working for Aloha Airlines, going to school in Japan, and taking students on exchanges for many years, her fondest memories of Maryknoll School are the many visits she has received from her former students. Stephanie Lum, a former graduate of Maryknoll School, still looks up to Mrs. Mizumura as someone who made a major impact in her life as a student at Maryknoll School. There are many more alumni with similar stories about Ms. Mizumura. Nevertheless, Rie continues to travel the world each year on exchanges to Japan while organizing travel plans for visitors to Maryknoll from other schools. Rie works hard to keep students excited about learning Japanese language and culture and many of them excel in learning Japanese because of her.
Some may say that Ms. Mizumura has been on an amazing race since she left Japan at the age of eight. The good news is that her belief in Noblesse Oblige has led her to become a fantastic teacher at Maryknoll School and we are the real winners because she is a part of our team.