Waiakea High School teacher Shari Kojima is always giving others credit for her success, says her principal, Patricia Nekoba.

When praised, the Big Island teacher said it's her students who are hard-working and motivated, or that it's the school and the community that support her efforts.

Even when the state Department of Education laid the recognition directly in Kojima's lap by naming her the 2006 State Teacher of the Year yesterday, Kojima thanked her family, Nekoba, the Waiakea staff, the business community and especially her students.

"They are the motivation that keep me going," she said. Later she joked, "I had nothing to do with it."

Kojima and the other six district teachers of the year assembled at Radford High School for a recognition ceremony before the Board of Education that included a cultural presentation by the Polynesian Cultural Center, a proclamation from Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona and the distribution of prizes including new cars the seven teachers will get to drive for one year.

Role models guided Kojima toward teaching, and until recently she still kept in touch with the tutor who helped her to catch up to her grade level in math and realize that math could be a fun subject.

Kojima became a teacher herself in 1991, teaching business education at Hilo High and Laupahoehoe High before moving to Waiakea, her alma mater.

In addition to teaching business and marketing, Kojima is Waiakea's adviser for the Distributive Club of America, which Nekoba said is the strongest chapter in the state.

"She's the business and marketing instructor, but she also provides opportunities for students to have real work experiences," Nekoba said.

That goes beyond networking with local businesses to secure internships. Kojima also oversees businesses right in the classroom. Students operate a branch of the credit union, including an ATM machine, and they also run a school store. While she was initially reluctant to deal with money in the classroom, she said it's been worth it to "see their eyes glow and see them get excited about a business opportunity."

The store itself is not just a chance for students to learn about the management end of business, it is also a good way to learn about marketing.

While other schools have stores with chips and candy, Kojima decided not to go for easy sales. "We try to bring in products that aren't fattening," she said.

Kojima received national recognition from the federal government's Making it Happen program for a partnership with Meadow Gold that led to the first school milk and juice vending machine. The class store sells nutritious selections such as cereal cups, breakfast bars and lower-fat and -calorie frozen meals. Students market the food through school media, as well as television and radio.

Each of the winners will receive the use of individual cars for a year from the Hawai'i Volkswagen Dealers Association, Association of Finance and Insurance Professionals, the Hawai'i Automobile Dealers Association, Pflueger Honda, JN Mazda, Hawai'i Mitsubishi and Servco Toyota. In addition they will receive $500 from the Polynesian Cultural Center and instructional software from SMARTer Kids Foundation.

Kojima received an additional $1,000, a SMARTboard and technology worth $17,000.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.