Meet a PWA Board Member: Ajai Huja
Ajai Huja, a longtime education leader and youth advocate, was elected to the Portland Workforce Alliance Board of Directors in June 2026.
Ajai serves in the North Clackamas School District as the Principal of the Sabin Schellenberg Professional Technical Center, the largest Career and Technical Education center in the state of Oregon. Ajai just completed his 27th year working in schools and has made a career of lifting student voices to create meaningful opportunities for all students. When not at work he can be found on his bicycle or with his family exploring SE Portland.
He and PWA have worked together on shared goals since 2020, helping North Clackamas youth connect to real-world career exploration that enhances their classroom learning.
Below are some insights from Ajai:
- Best career advice: “If you are going to do something, do it well.”
- Most memorable job as a teenager: “Worked in a great bagel shop with some friends and it was lots of fun.”
- Something I learned in high school about work: “Your references matter, build relationships and be remembered for bringing joy and working hard.”
- What draws me to serve PWA: “Having spent a career working with students farthest from opportunity, I know that it is opportunities just like what PWA offers that make the difference in the lives of youth and can send them on a path they may never have imagined.”
In the signature of Ajai’s email address is this striking quote by the Brazilian educator Paolo Friere: "When the students come, of course, they bring with them, inside of them, in their bodies, in their lives, they bring their hopes, despair, expectations, knowledge, which they got by living, by fighting, by becoming frustrated. Undoubtedly they don't come here empty. They arrive here full of things."
