Aulii Mafi, an emergency hire teacher who used to be an occasional substitute and attendance clerk at McKinley, recently got the opportunity to teach special education classes in W223. She has taught at McKinley for three years as a substitute, teaching English as a Second Language, and is now teaching special education English for grades 11-12.
Mafi chose to teach at McKinley because she feels everyone here is like family to her.
“I am very familiar with everyone here at McKinley, and I just felt it was an ohana to me, and my husband is an alumni,” Mafi said.
Although Mafi’s husband went to McKinley, she attended Kamehameha School.
Before getting the opportunity to teach permanently at McKinley, she was a substitute teacher. After the COVID year, Principal Ron Okamura was looking for new teachers.
“I was in the substitute teaching pool, so I would come and sub sometimes. He then asked me if I would consider being a emergency hire teacher, and that’s when I took the offer,” said Mafi.
A concern Mafi has at McKinley is the safety of all students. She worries about the things happening outside of the classroom, and how it can affect students here at McKinley.
“With all of the crime and abuse of substances that are going on in our community, I worry about our students,” Mafi said.
One of Mafi’s hobbies is watching sports. Her favorite sport to watch is basketball. She also used to assist the McKinley football team.
“I enjoy helping and watching all of the McKinley sports. I go to the football games, the volleyball games, the basketball games, baseball, softball, and my son is the only golfer for the school so we also go to golf,” Mafi said.
Mafi has many goals she wants to accomplish throughout her career.
“One of my goals is to possibly become a resource specialist,” Mafi said. “I want to be able to help or train other teachers to become better.”
