SCHOOLHOUSE ... RAP!

Inspired by ‘Schoolhouse Rock,’ this educator is getting noticed for her beat

When Donna Kay Fisher, MA ‘16, EdD ‘24 was a kid, she couldn’t seem to get enough of “Schoolhouse Rock.” You remember: “Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?” and “I’m Just a Bill.” They were fun and they were educational and the budding teacher-to-be was hooked.

Fast forward to Fisher’s life in the classroom and she’s got her own catchy rhymes.

Only, she doesn’t just sing her lessons, she raps. And that’s gotten her a following of her own.

Fisher, who this past spring was part of the inaugural cohort at Chaminade to graduate with a Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership for Adaptation and Change, is a veteran English teacher in Hawai‘i public schools with a passion for engaging her students.

On YouTube, her handle is @Englishraps4u. It’s there where you’ll find her rapping about clauses and adjectives, fragments and runons and even dangling modifiers—all with an electronic keyboard backing her up. “I hope my rap lessons are just as enduring as ‘Schoolhouse Rock,’” says Fisher, who dubs herself the “educational rapper.”

Fisher has been rapping since 2005, but more recently has sought to serve as a mentor and teacher-leader, too—a transformation she credits to her growth in Chaminade’s EdD program.

Fisher enrolled in the doctoral program at Chaminade after learning about it in a mailer—a moment she calls pivotal. “I will never forget receiving that piece of mail,” says Fisher, who at the time was struggling with how to proceed in life after suffering a heart attack and undergoing a difficult recovery. She worried the health crisis would prevent her from doing what she loved.

“Now that I’ve had a heart attack, I have to stop chasing my dreams,” she recalls thinking to herself. Never one to be defeated, though, Fisher says it was actually the joy and fulfillment she got from teaching English through rapping that got her to apply for the doctoral program.

“I was no longer going to limit myself and curtail my dreams,” she says.

“Instead, I was freeing myself from the chains of fear and reclaiming the pursuit of my dreams.”

And in the doctoral program, Fisher thrived, turning in assignments well before the deadlines and finishing with a 4.0 GPA. She was also chosen to speak at Chaminade’s 66th Commencement, and delivered an address detailing her doctoral journey.

Fisher says Chaminade changed her leadership style—for the better. “Going through the classes in this program, I learned the value of opposition, other people’s voices and different perspectives,” says the former active duty Army officer. “My leadership now has forever changed. Now I ask what is our mission? Our vision? Everything now is intentional.”