Canoe embodies school's goals

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer

A breeze fluttered the sail of the double-hulled Hawaiian canoe, whispering promises of oceans to cross as it awaited its blessing and maiden voyage with the students who put the craft together for a school project.

The Kanehunamoku sails in the waters off Kualoa Beach Park. The craft was put together by students of Halau Ku Mana, a charter school at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa Center for Hawaiian Studies. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

The canoe is the perfect metaphor for the cultural-based education taking place at Halau Ku Mana, a charter school at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa Center for Hawaiian Studies, said Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, center director.

"The canoe is the best way to bring Hawaiians into science," Kame'eleihiwa said. "Walking in the footsteps of the ancestors allows us to walk into the future with great empowerment."

Some charter schools have struggled since the movement was launched in Hawai'i more than two years ago, but Halau Ku Mana is one that can point to some early successes.

• Absenteeism has been cut drastically. Some students missed between 91 and 142 days of school in the year before attending Halau Ku Mana. Today the school boasts a 98 percent attendance rate.
• The school has landed $700,000 in federal grants to help develop its curriculum.
• Students are meeting or exceeding DOE standards across the board, school officials say.

The school has achieved these enviable accomplishments by using the Hawaiian culture as the medium for learning math, science, history and social studies, taking advantage of a student-to-teacher ratio of 8 to 1 and employing an imaginative approach to education.

Projects such as the canoe help students understand the lessons, according to school program director Keali'iolu'olu Gora, and lead to other learning opportunities. For instance, as they put the canoe together, students also learned about the stars and celestial navigation. They will also learn to sail, and in the future, voyage to the Neighbor Islands.

Besides the canoe, other projects this school year include creating a music CD where students write songs and put the music together, and building a house using traditional materials such as pili grass.

Billy Richards places a lei around one of the hulls during a Hawaiian blessing of the canoe at Kualoa Beach Park. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Travel is a big part of the charter school curriculum. Students were in New York in August and in Alaska this month, Gora said. Seniors will visit the Neighbor Islands as part of their senior thesis.

The school has five trips planned for next year, including visits to Aotearoa (New Zealand), New York and Alaska.

The trips broaden the students' horizons, helping them understand indigenous people and their struggles and addressing these issues, Gora said.

The students raise money to pay for the trips, though some are paid in part by organizations that have invited them, such as the Alaskan Federation of Natives.

The school also is able to garner help from the community through discounts and volunteers. For instance, it received a $45,0000 grant to build the canoe but only had to spend $25,000 for the hulls, material and trailer, Gora said.

Students say they love their school, and the 98 percent attendance rate proves it. They likened the canoe ceremony to the beginning of their own journey through life and see the canoe as a way to connect to their past.

"The canoe will bring us closer to our ancestors," said Namahana Baldwin, 16. "As we voyage, it's like we're moving away from the world into the ocean, leaving our bad thoughts, problems behind."

The school is like no other, said Kana'i Chock, 15.

"It focuses on what you decide to do," Chock said. "The school focuses on my strengths and makes my weaknesses better."

Kele Ryan, 15, said the cultural aspect of the learning keeps her coming back. Ryan lived in Utah for six years and was ridiculed for being Hawaiian, she said.

Learning about her roots has given her a pride she never had before, Ryan said.

"Now I know I shouldn't be ashamed," she said. "I'm proud to be Hawaiian."

The school has 65 students ages 11 to 17. Not all of the pupils are of Hawaiian descent. Nearly 20 percent of the students were once identified as being "at risk."

The accomplishments of the school have surpassed expectations, Gora said. The students are performing concerts, the school has won the state Excellence in Arts Award and this year students will memorize 3,102 lines of the kumulipo, the creation chant, and perform it at the Hawai'i Theatre.

"It's really a true miracle in education," Gora said.