Melissa Handy’s Brilliant Maker Mindset: What School Could Be in Hawai’i

On this episode of What School Could Be in Hawai’i, host Josh Reppun sits down with Melissa Handy, Education Technology Director at Le Jardin Academy, a medium sized independent school in Hawaiʻi. She is the Past President of the Hawaiʻi Society for Technology in Education (HSTE), a champion robotics coach, a makerspace expert, an International Baccalaureate Examiner, a WASC Commissioner and one of the founders of the Hawaiʻi Education Leadership Summit, which is now the Hawaiʻi Association of Independent Schools’ Leading Schools of the Future (LSOTF) conference.

Melissa prefers not to refer to herself as a teacher. Rather, she is the ultimate guide, coach, facilitator and mentor for her students. Her kids “ride bikes” and she runs behind them (as she likes to say) as they learn to navigate thinking, doing and collaborating. She has a larger-than-life personality of an artist, a wonderful laugh and a mind sharp like a knife. She knows how to solve problems like no one else I know. She has written extensively on the differences between maker spaces and maker mindsets. She is also a regular presenter at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) annual conference.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Education Technology Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!
Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

healthcare
The Healthcare Talent Fix: Build Pipelines Early, Use Data, and Get the Experience Right
May 18, 2026

There’s a growing tension inside healthcare right now—between the people leaving the workforce and the patients still arriving every day. It’s a dynamic that leaders can no longer afford to ignore. The numbers make that clear: the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the U.S. could be short of as many as 86,000 physicians…

Read More
education
Just Thinking… About Federal Funds, Student Support, and the Future of Education with Eric Reaves
May 15, 2026

As conversations around the future of the U.S. Department of Education continue to intensify, educators and federal program leaders are facing mounting uncertainty about how federal funds will be managed, distributed, and regulated. At the same time, schools serving historically underserved students remain heavily reliant on programs like Title I and other federally…

Read More
trust
The Strongest Leaders Build Belief, Model Discipline and Earn Trust
May 14, 2026

Workplace leadership is under pressure: employees are continuing to disengage, and many managers are still trying to fix a trust problem with performance tactics. Gallup reported that U.S. employee engagement fell to 31% in 2024, its lowest level in a decade, and its research has found that managers account for at least 70% of…

Read More
medicine
The Art of Recovery: Where Music and Medicine Meet in Patient Care
May 14, 2026

Healthcare today can feel overwhelming—not just for patients, but for the teams caring for them. After a major illness or injury, recovery isn’t handled by one doctor alone; it often involves a whole network of specialists, from physical therapists to nurses to social workers, all trying to help someone regain their independence and quality…

Read More