It is rare to hear the words Honolulu and Cleveland spoken in the same sentence because both are often seen as polar opposites. However, we at Maryknoll High School are proud to have adopted a Cleveland native here in Hawaii as our math teacher and his name is William Rauckhorst.
Mr. Rauckhorst spent his first ten years of life in Cleveland, Ohio. When his father was offered a position with Catholic Charities here on Oahu, Mr. Rauckhorst soon found himself living on the island of Oahu attending Star of the Sea School before eventually graduating from Iolani School with a desire to study engineering or math. Mr. Rauckhorst then attended Santa Clara University, where he attained his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering. For the next five years, Mr. Rauckhorst was employed at two engineering firms here in Hawaii doing work both for Hawaiian Electric and Pearl Harbor.
Although Mr. Rauckhorst was compensated well for the work he did as an engineer, he did not find his job fulfilling. In fact, he had previously thought of becoming a math teacher at the high school level, but those close to him had successfully persuaded him to continue on the engineering path. In time, Mr. Rauckhorst made the decision to take a leap of faith and become a high school teacher. His first choice was Maryknoll School and he has found much happiness teaching math here.
Mr. Rauckhorst personifies what it means to live the spirit of Noblesse Oblige because he chose to put others before himself by becoming a teacher and leaving his engineering career to inspire students to love learning math. Like the Maryknoll Sisters, Mr. Rauckhorst believes in the Maryknoll mission. This past summer Mr. Rauckhorst took part in that mission by spending three weeks on the island of Majuro in the Marshall Islands educating Marshallese students there along with our Maryknoll students. Although Mr. Rauckhorst has only been teaching here for two years, he has already shown a strong commitment to Maryknoll and we are blessed to have him as a part of the Maryknoll family.