Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 11, 1 Nowemapa 2010 — Passing on the Knowledge [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Passing on the Knowledge

With the help of an OHA scholarship, Kekoa Hannan eamed his master's degree in Hawaiian language from the University of Hawai'i-Hilo, where he is now teaches the next generation of college students. In 2005, Hannan received the Liko A'e scholarship. Not having to worry about finances helped him concentrate on his research and studies at a time when he was also raising a young family with his wife, Pelehonuamea. "The scholarship really gave me an opportunity to focus my studies and not have to worry about the financial side of it," says Hannan, an Assistant Professor at Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language. "And in this day and age where most students have to work full-time to go to school, it was quite a blessing to have that." Hannan, a 1995 graduate of Kamehameha Schools-Kapālama, had received help and training from various Hawaiian programs growing up, including the gifted and talented program Nā Pua No'eau, and scholarship and leadership programs through Maui Connnunity College, UH-Hilo and UH-Mānoa. For his graduate research, Hannan examined how traditional knowledge applies to modern-day education. What he learned, he says, he now applies in his own classroom. "This skill of us looking to our kūpuna to help show us the way for today I think is very important," he says. "Specifically knowing where we're from, who our family is and knowing how to seek infonnation - something as simple as "Nānā ka maka; ho'olohe

ka pepeiao; pa'a ka waha; hana ka lima" — The eyes look; the ears listen; the mouth is shut, and the hands work." — Lisa Asato ■

E kala mai An earlier version of this article inconectly stated that Kekoa Hannan received a doctorate. KWO regrets the error.

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