Gifted keiki may lose enrichment program
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Kanoe Lehua Hook remembers the challenge well: After being sent to remote Waipi'o Valley on the Big Island, she had to make a fishhook without using modern tools.
Advertiser library photo • Aug. 10, 1996
It took two days and a lot of grinding with different rocks, but she managed to fashion a hook out of wood, and in the process she became hooked on Native Hawaiian culture.
Na Pua No'eau was designed to provide students with a greater appreciation of their culture while exploring career possibilities.
The 'Aiea resident said she was a fifth-grader at Kamehameha Schools struggling to find herself when the Na Pua No'eau summer program provided her with the lesson in self-reliance and perseverance.
"It's great. I got to learn about my own culture," said Hook, now a student at Pepperdine University.
An estimated 8,000 students in kindergarten through grade 12 have participated in Na Pua No'eau programs for gifted and talented Native Hawaiian children that operate from seven centers throughout the Islands.
But with the U.S. Department of Education's rejection of a $2 million request for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, Na Pua No'eau (translated as "The Gifted Children") is facing closure unless other sources of support can be found.
Director David Sing is looking to Kamehameha Schools or the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, partners in many of its summer programs, to help keep the program alive.
Na Pua No'eau's financial troubles began last year, Sing said, when federal money meant for the Hilo-based program was awarded to a school in Hana instead. Operating on contingency financing since then, more than half of the employees have been laid off, leaving just 18 positions out of a staff that once numbered around 40. Although many workers returned as volunteers, the frequency and size of Na Pua No'eau activities were cut as well.
Without a reprieve, the remaining staff, except for Sing, who has a tenured position in the university system, will lose their jobs Oct. 1.
Sing said the financing cut was unexpected. "All indications were that we were doing really well," he said. "We have had one of the best programs based on competitive evaluations."
Na Pua No'eau's educational enrichment center was established at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo in 1989 through the Native Hawaiian Education Act and grew, with OHA's help, to other communities. The program was designed to provide Native Hawaiian students with a strong understanding and appreciation of their culture while experiencing a variety of educational and career possibilities.
A residential Summer Institute at UH-Manoa offers classes in architecture, medicine, performing arts, and media and video production, with additional sessions in hula, chant and other traditional arts.
Hawaiian culture, language, history and values are integrated into the different classes, and students take field trips to cultural and historical sites, hospitals and other workplaces.
The center in Hilo annually staged large gatherings for students and their families, and also sponsored leadership development seminars and "Super Enrichment Saturdays" for programs in everything from cultural values to math and science.
Supporters say that, over the years, Na Pua No'eau has been successful in increasing the number of Native Hawaiian students aspiring to higher education and career goals.
Ka'u School teacher Kathy Arnold, who helped lead the Hilo center's children's choir for 10 years before leaving last year, said her own daughter took part and discovered an artistic talent no one in the sports-oriented Arnold family had recognized before.
"They find the talents in a very Hawaiian way" by quietly observing students in group settings and identifying interests and skills, she said.
Aley Auna III of Kona, who now attends Brigham Young University-Hawai'i, participated in Na Pua No'eau programs, as did his three brothers and two sisters.
"You learn to do your best, to keep pushing," he said.
"It definitely will be missed."
