Ms. Saya McKenna
Teacher of History and English
The Head-Royce School
Oakland, California
Saya Okimoto McKenna has a long-standing personal interest in US-Japan relations. She is herself bi-racial–the daughter of a Nissei Professor of Japanese Political Economy and an International Studies program administrator from Boise, Idaho. Raised in Silicon Valley in the 1980s, a period of increasing economic interdependence and trade tensions between the US and Japan, Saya grew up hosting Japanese exchange students, and frequently tagged along to conferences where academics, MITI officials, and industry representatives worked to further the US-Japan strategic relationship. She also lived abroad with her family in Tokyo.
A number of influential Humanities teachers inspired Saya to earn a BA in International Relations from Stanford University, to study abroad, and to pursue to a career as a secondary school educator. Saya currently teaches at the Head Royce School in Oakland, California. Since 2002, she has worked to build a strong Global Education program with a particular focus on the Pacific Rim. Her senior history elective, Asia Rising, uses current events to connect to topics in economics, international relations, and comparative politics. She requires her students to pursue real-world research projects that speak to personal connections and ask hard-hitting, practical questions: What are the political factors that allowed for the advent of high-speed rail in Japan, and why is the initiative to bring high-speed rail to California is so hotly contested here at home? How does the Fukushima nuclear disaster reflect Japan’s struggle with energy security and what is the current implication of its heavy reliance on nuclear power? How does this relate to US energy policy? How does the “story of our stuff” reflect the US economic relationship with Japan and East Asia? Ultimately, Saya’s hope is that upon completion of this course, her students will be better informed about the modern history of US-Japan relations, as well as the economic history of the region and the current events that continue to shape Asia’s economic and social development.
Saya chairs the Head Royce K-12 Global Citizenship committee and recently designed and instituted a certificate program to commend students who demonstrate the qualities of global citizenship. Criteria include academic excellence, global studies related course work, mastery of a second language, inter-cultural exchange, civic leadership, and community service. As part of this certificate program, she teaches a capstone course of her own design, Global Issues: The Ethics of Global Citizenship. She also teaches English and serves as the Sophomore Dean. Saya currently sits on the board of the Global Education Benchmark Group and has been active in organizing professional development institutes for secondary school teachers interested in connecting the curriculum to world affairs.
Saya has taken students to Japan, Thailand, and Cambodia and planned school programs to Peru, Costa Rica, South Africa, and China. This summer, she will lead students on a study program to Japan that explores the relationship of man to land. Her students will work on organic farms in Kyushu, tour gardens in Kyoto, walk the historic Nakasendo Way, and visit Tsunami-hit areas of Tohoku. She looks forward to using the funds awarded Elgin-Heinz grant to support student travel scholarships, so that more students may travel to Japan on this educational program in years to come.