Dedicated volunteers awarded time out
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Farrington High School students Kristen Macadamia, 14, Levi Monico, 17, and David John Abadilla, 16, with Walt Dulaney and George Kon, founders of the Alliance for Drama Education and its T-Shirt Theatre of Kalihi.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser |
The four winners received the money yesterday with one condition: It cannot go back into their organizations but must be used for their "professional development and personal renewal" — to help prevent the burnout that afflicts many in the nonprofit field, according to the Hawai'i Community Foundation.
It was the second year for the foundation's Ho'okele Award, intended to acknowledge the work of the nonprofit sector. Each winner receives a miniature koa paddle to represent the way they guide their organizations like the steersman of a canoe:
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| KEKAUOHA |
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| SPOEHR |
B. Puni Kekauoha, executive director of the Papakolea Community Develop-ment Corp., formed the Hawaiian Homestead's first nonprofit organization, Kula no na Poe Hawai'i. She has worked for years on projects that promote community pride and cultural values.
Kekauoha helped form the Papakolea Community Development Corp. itself, which acquired and manages the Papakolea Community Center and park. She also founded Ka Alaula, a statewide organization focused on Native Hawaiian health.
Hardy Spoehr works on Native Hawaiian health issues as executive director of Papa Ola Lokahi. He created, planned and established the Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems to promote healthy lifestyles and disease prevention under the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act.Walt Dulaney and George Kon focus on children through the Alliance For Drama Education, which they founded in 1980.
They met on Kaua'i in 1965, when Kon was student body president at Baldwin High School on Maui and Dulaney spoke at a student leadership conference. The T-Shirt Theatre of Kalihi they formed at Farrington High School expanded to its Kalihi feeder schools and touches hundreds of students each year.
When they first inquired about putting on performances at Farrington in 1982, Dulaney and Kon were told the students were too unruly for the school's 1,200-seat auditorium. So they focused on the youngest, the ninth graders.
One by one — 650 students in all — they climbed into the spotlight on stage and recited a line from Shakespeare. Then they took a bow.
It was an experience some had never had — or may have again. It taught those on stage and in the audience important lessons about respect, Dulaney said.
"I think it says something about democracy," he said. "If the mob cannot shut up and listen to one individual, then democracy doesn't have a chance."
The recitals have since become an annual rite of passage for Farrington ninth-graders, and now include student prompters picked from different social groups. The prompters stand beside the speakers and teach students about the ways of theater — and how they can find support outside their usual circles.
"T-Shirt Theatre motivated me and gave me something to do instead of staying home and being lazy," said David Johnabadilla, a 16-year-old junior.
By performing on stage, Kristen Macadamia, a 14-year-old sophomore, feels unrestrained by social rules at Farrington.
"You get to express yourself," she said. "At this school especially, students think you're cool if you act stupid or bad. I used to be called a geek. In the theater, we're all equal. We're not a stereotype."
It's those kinds of lessons that Dulaney's and Kon's students take into the feeder schools each summer, where they work with younger children.
"Do the math," Kon said. "Twenty-nine students teaching 1,100 students at seven Kalihi schools. That equals 188 days of instruction. That's one whole year of a teacher's work."
