Mike O'Connor, digital media teacher for Wai'anae High School's Searider Productions, recently received Time Warner Cable's National Teacher Award for his project "Digital Storytelling: Nani's Struggle."

Last month, O'Connor was one of 15 educators from around the nation to receive the honor, a $2,000 cash grant, a $3,000 technology program grant, and an expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for an awards banquet at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

"Nani's Struggle" is a two-minute animated story, about the homeless problem on the Wai'anae Coast, created by seven of O'Connor's Searider Productions students.