Education briefs
Advertiser Staff
Internet workshop offered to parents
The state's public libraries will hold free Internet education workshops for parents in observance of Children and Youth month in October.
The workshops are designed to help parents guide their children's use of the Internet, to identify risks as well as rewards, and to work with the child to set limits of use.
The workshops also will cover the policies, rules and programs the Hawai'i State Public Library System has to guide children's use of the Internet in libraries.
The workshops begin next week at libraries statewide. For schedule information, call 831-6878.
Honoka'a teacher awarded $2,000
HONOKA'A, Hawai'i — Alan Nakagawa, Honoka'a High School science teacher, has been chosen as one of the country's 100 "most outstanding educators" by ING Northern Annuity of Seattle.
Nakagawa will receive a $2,000 award and is eligible for three higher levels of recognition with prizes of up to $25,000.
The Big Island teacher, a pioneer of "Looking at Science through the Arts" program, was recognized for using glass blowing to teach students about insulation and temperatures.
Honoka'a principal Jay Serain called Nakagawa a "top-notch" teacher who "has a love of teaching" and "gets the students excited."
Expansion proposed for La'ie cafeteria
The state Department of Educations wants to expand La'ie Elementary School cafeteria so it can accommodate almost twice as many students as it does now.
The 30-year-old facility seats about 250, but 900 students are enrolled at the Windward school. Students are eating lunch in three shifts beginning at 10:45 a.m. After the expansion, lunch would be served in two shifts, starting at a later time.
The project would increase the floor space of the building by 3,600 square feet.
Once completed, the school would be able to hold school-wide functions indoors during bad weather.
Improvements would include technology upgrades, an expanded kitchen, new faculty dining room, a locker room and an office.
The project also calls for a new septic tank and leach field.
The public can comment on the project until Oct. 8. Send comments and a copy to Department of Accounting and General Services, Division of Public Works, P.O. Box 119, Honolulu, HI 96810; and Environmental Communications Inc., 1188 Bishop St., Suite 2210, Honolulu, HI 96813.
Agriculture college to hold festival
The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa celebrates its 100th anniversary this week with a festival and symposium.
A mini "Made in Hawai'i" Festival will be held tomorrow on the Campus Center's second floor.
Visitors will be able to sample the local results of college research, including coffee, sugar cane, vanilla, papaya, 'awa, taro and pineapple. Free soil testing and insect and plant disease analysis will also be available.
Displays will feature information on termites and resistant basil, as well as new varieties of flowers that people can arrange and take with them. There will be some free samples, and some plants and items will be on sale.
The college also will hold the Western Region Teaching Symposium tomorrow and Saturday. Educators from the nine states in the Western Region and Pacific Land Grant Institutions will speak.
For information and registration, go to www2.ctahr.hawaii.edu/wrts.
Young scientist is national finalist
Iolani School seventh-grader Cara Alexis Chang has been selected as a 2001 finalist for the Discovery Young Scientists Challenge.
Four hundred middle school students from across the country were competing for the "Final Forty." Chang will go to Washington, D.C., in October to participate in the finals at the Smithsonian Institution.
Her project is entitled "Do Oriental fruit flies have a preference for genetically-modified or organically-grown papaya?"
Chang was one of six Hawai'i students who made it to the semifinals of the competition.
Correction: A previous version of the last item incorrectly described Chang's school and grade.
