Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 1, 1 Ianuali 2010 — Growing sustainable education [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Growing sustainable education

ByT. Ilihia Gionson Publications Editor n dirty, muddy patches big and small across Hawai'i, learning experiences taking root outside the classroomare growing students' minds and having positive impacts inside the classroom. Students of all ages are applying abstract book work into concrete - and sometimes muddy - applications in farming enterprises, and vice versa. At Jeno Enocencio's Kalalau Ranch and Victory Gardens just a hop, skip and jump from bustling downtown Hilo, students from Hilo High School's Lanakila Leaming Center work on sustainable agriculture and animal husbandry projects several days a week. The Lanakila students' current nroiects include nlanter boxes with herbs and

tomatoes - the fruits of whieh compliment their culinary arts program back at school - and eco-friendly weed control, in addition to animal husbandry. Students bring in their own experiences - one, for example, demonstrated the best way to hold a rooster while cutting its spurs - and learn from eaeh other. The students break a sweat to be sure, but they're building mental muscle too. Leeding the rabbits turns into a botany lesson on grasses. Refilling the chickens' water tums into a physics lesson on gravity and air pressure. And teacher Wendy Hamane says that the lessons leamed in the field are translating to the abstract concepts taught in textbooks - Lanakila's students, about 90 percent of whieh are Native Hawaiian, are keeping up with their peers on standardized testing. Out of last year's gang of sophomores, all met the standards, and 20 percent exceeded them. The group agreed that books couldn't teach the kinds of things they learn in the field. They prefer learning their lessons hands on - it's a lot easier to do and remember later. "You always wonder whether or not nontraditional curriculum . . . will translate to a standardized test," said Hamane, who has won several awards for her creative approaches to education. Lanakila provides an alternative setting to students who had difficulties in Hilo High's traditional education program. "I was happy to see that they were competing equally with kids at Hilo High," she said. Meanwhile, in chilly Volcano, keiki from the Volcano School of Arts and Sciences visit lo'i kalo at a nearby church at least onee a week. Volunteer Mike Adachi guides the students as they tend to varieties of dryland kalo grown in several small lo'i surrounding one of the church's buildings. Tim Litzpatrick, the middle school science teacher at the school of 162 students, is the enthusiastic leader of the initiative. Through the lo'i, he teaches sustainable resourcefulness. "When you give these kids the ability to grow kalo or grow vegetables, that's a huge success," Litzpatrick said. "They also learn to make do with the resources they have - our soil is very cindery, so they add charcoal, ti leaves and hāpu'u fronds. They get really resourceful." Speaking of resourcefulness, Litzpatrick conducts his lo'i days with no funds. The school allows him the use of the vans, neighbors in the Volcano area eontribute soil and parents and volunteers provide guidance. "Charter schools aren't the best funded of all schools, but our school has been very supportive of what we're doing here," Litzpatrick said. "They encourage the heek out of it." "I don't consider it work," he said. "When the teachers are excited, that trickles down to the kids and we feed off eaeh other." ■

Unele Mike Odachi demonstrates proper kalo planting technique to Volcano School of Arts and Sciences student Logan Mochizuki of Nā'ālehu. - Photo: ī llihia Gionson

Jeno Enoeeneio, right, teaches a lesson in gravity, air pressure and water flow to Lanakila Learning Center students at Kalalau Ranch. - Photo: ī llihia Gionson