The state Department of Education announced Tuesday that Bryan Silver of Kalani High School has been named the 2025 Hawaii State Teacher of the Year, the highest honor given annually to one of over 13,000 DOE teachers statewide.

Awarded at Washington Place and announced by state schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi, Silver was named Hawaii’s Teacher of the Year and will go on to represent the state in the National Teacher of the Year Program in Washington, D.C.

Silver has 24 years of teaching experience in the Honolulu district and serves as a career technical education teacher in engineering within the Farrington-Kaiser-Kalani complex area.

“Our role as educators is evolving. It is not just about imparting knowledge, but also fostering curiosity, encouraging new ways of thinking,” Silver said. “We are not called only to teach our students, but to learn from them.

“When we embrace the idea that learning is a two-way street, we empower our students to teach us as much as we teach them.”

He created an engineering Career and Technical Education course at Kalani, where many of his students have earned scholarships and pursued STEM careers, which cover science, technology, engineering and math. Through his robotics program he secured $283,000 in grant support and developed three student-run businesses that help sustain the program.

This summer, Silver volunteered in South Africa, leading weeklong STEM robotics workshops for 600 teachers.

“I do feel grateful for this recognition, but also knowing that teaching is never a solo journey,” Silver said.

He then quoted educational speaker Stephen Anderson, who said, “Alone we are smart but together we are brilliant.”

“This truth resonates deeply with me because as teachers we grow not just our individual efforts, but through the network of ideas we build together,” Silver said.

“When we work together, share strategies and support one another, we become better educators. We are better together than we are alone. So let’s melt down the walls, build a brighter future for our education, strengthening the next generation of innovation and critical thinkers, our citizens of tomorrow.”

In addition to the achievements, he won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching in 2015, earned his National Board Certification in 2023 and recently became the first Hawaii recipient of the 2024 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence, winning $50,000 for Kalani High School’s robotics program.

Silver was selected from the 2025 Hawaii State Teacher of the Year finalists, which included 15 teachers from both charter and DOE schools, announced in August.

When Silver was announced as a finalist, he told the Honolulu Star-­Advertiser that “being recognized by my peers and the administration for some of the work we’ve been doing is very nice. The big point to it is showing what teachers are doing in Hawaii.”

The winner was chosen based on criteria that include inspiring students of all backgrounds and abilities to learn; earning the respect and admiration of students, parents and colleagues; contributing to the school and greater community; and demonstrating poise, articulate communication and the energy to manage a demanding schedule.

In addition to the recognition, Silver received a 2024 Nissan Sentra from the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association, which he can use for a year.

Gov. Josh Green expressed his appreciation for those in the education sector, emphasizing that the most important aspect is the care provided to children, which primarily takes place in classrooms.

Green, who spent 13 years in public school, shared that he had a slow start, not speaking until the age of 2 due to deafness.

After his hearing was restored, Green said, his parents placed a strong emphasis on early education and public schooling. He recalled how every one of his teachers embraced him and supported his development.

“Thank you, teachers, for setting the standard. Thank you for caring,” Green said. “We’re grateful that you stayed in education. Mahalo for all your work and caring for our keiki.”