Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 10, 1 ʻOkakopa 1994 — I ke ala o nā kūpuna [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

I ke ala o nā kūpuna

Summer immersion program teaches public school kids to follow "in the path of the kūpuna."

bv Patrick Johnston Native Hawaiian students make up the largest ethnic group in Hawai'i's puhlie schools but continue to score below other ethnic groups academically. The reasons for this and other difficulties native Hawaiians face in the public school system are varied and complex. But there is a belief among many educators that implementing programs that incorporate Hawaiian values into the education system would go a long way toward enriching the system and possibly turning around potentially motivated students who might have difficulty working within its present stmctures. In line with this thinking, the Department of Education, with support from an OHA grant, last summer instituted a kūpuna summer immersion program for middle school students. The pilot project, I Ke Ala O Nā

Kūpuna, was designed in part to help teach Hawaiian students various aspects of their culture and, in the process, positively affect their attitude, behavior and self-esteem.

"The driving force behind the program," says program director Kauanoe Chang, "is to help our children understand and develop an appreciation for Hawaiian eulture. We wanted to make a program that would value the kūpuna

generation. ... To step into the past will help give them values that they ean use in the future." I Ke Ala O Nā Kūpuna means "In the path

of the kupuna." Because it is a state project, the program was open to all students. OHA's grant supported the native Hawaiian students who represented 10 of the 13 students involved in the program. Participants, all middle

school students, eame from a wide range of schools across the islands. Chang believes it is important to start up a Hawaiian studies program for middle school students because it

is a critical time in a child's development, a time when a little support in the right direction could positively affect students who might have begun to reject the conventional values of home and school. Now, while both elementary and high schools offer instruction in Hawaiian culture, middle schools do not. As part of the applieation process, students were required to write a short essay on why they wanted to participate in the program. Chang explains this played a key role in the applicant's selection. "We were looking for personal integrity. We wanted students who had a

deep abiding interest in Hawaiian culture." The summer immersion program consisted of a six day session held on the Big Island. Students were based at Princess Abigail Kawanakakoa's home in Nāpō'opo'o and spent eaeh day involved in a variety of traditional activities, from the gathering and preparation of subsistence foods, to haku mele. A trip to Waipi'o Valley involved dis-

cussion of the kā'ai and their relationship to the valley. Teachers also integrated the study of math, science and language into the program. Students and teachers lived together for

the six day sessions and all meals were prepared by the participants. Students were assigned various household chores throughout the week mueh as a child might do in his or her home. Chang says providing a family atmosphere was an important part of the program. "You see children not as classroom students but as charges. ... There was a familial intimacy that bound people, that made you care." She adds the kūpuna played an important role here. "They were the ones that made it such a warm, personal experienee." Chang hopes the pilot project will continue to receive funding in the future and will be allowed to expand. "It is the hope of the department that the program will develop incrementally. Next year we hope to have two sessions and maybe more after that." For information about the I Ke Ala O Nā Kūpuna contact Kauanoe Chang at 3962549. To leam more about OHA grants eall 5941888.

Kupuna program girls practicing hula. From left to right: Jade Frias, Sara Villiers, Brandee Carvalho, Thyone Ka'ahanui

The kūpuna. From left to right: Elizabeth Kauahipaula, Helen Aveiro, Margaret Aipōlani, Edward Ka'anānā.

•" "• '■ ■■ Kupuna Edward Ka'anānā demonstrates poi pounding to immersion program participant Thyone Ka'ahanui. Photos by Kauanoe Chang