Name: Terry L. Maddox
Age: 46
Position: Teacher, Kula Elementary
Education: UH, Chaminade University
Pastimes: Macintosh/Apple Computer Society

Maddox not only teaches students how to use computers in school, but helps their parents select and sometimes install computers in their homes.

Vice Principal Rene Yamafuji said Maddox has helped the school find good deals on computers through the Internet.

"Technology has taken off, and Terry has taken off with the technology," Yamafuji said.

Maddox said students need to understand computers if they are to succeed.

"They've got to be proficient before they go to intermediate school," she said.

It's also important that they enjoy using them, she said. She has integrated the use of computers into her kindergarten classes. Students review their school work schedules by computer, and parents can review student activities through a newsletter composed on her computer.

Maddox describes herself as a "late bloomer," who worked at a variety of jobs after graduating from the University of Hawaii-Manoa with a psychology degree in 1974.

She returned to college to get an education degree from Chaminade University in 1985.

Maddox said she became a teacher because she loves children.

"I love the little ones because you see so much growth," she said.