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Culture & Art

Kamehameha Schools Funds Aka`ula Scholarships

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018

Kamehameha Schools Funds Aka`ula Scholarships

 

A new agreement between Kamehameha Schools (KS) and Molokai’s Aka`ula School will allow more children to attend Aka`ula through financial assistance provided by KS. The agreement was signed last week and the scholarship, called Ho`okahi Ka `Ilau (“wield the paddles together”), will offer tuition assistance and other support for Molokai students demonstrating financial need to attend the small, independent school for students in grades five through 12.

“Today is going to be a game changer for our school,” said Dara Lukonen, Aka`ula School principal, in a KS press release last week. “This partnership with Kamehameha Schools is going to allow us to offer opportunities to students we have not been able to reach yet.”…

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Eviction Notice Threatens Mule Ride

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018

Eviction Notice Threatens Mule Ride

Almost two years of legal disputes between the Sproat family — owners of Kalaupapa Rare Adventures mule ride — and landowner R.W. Meyer, Ltd. have come to a head with an eviction notice for the mule operators. Both parties are now claiming ownership to the Kalae property where the mule barn has stood for more than 40 years.

Paul Meyer, President of R.W. Meyer, Ltd., said Kalauapa Rare Adventures’ lease ended in January 2017 and since then, the company has not paid rent and refused to negotiate a new lease. The Sproats say they have a title to the land so they don’t need to pay rent.…

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Kuhio’s Homestead Legacy

Saturday, March 31st, 2018

The Molokai community joined Hawaiian homesteaders in celebrating the birthday of Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana`ole last Saturday evening. Held for the first at Mitchell Pauole Center, the annual event is organized by Ahupua`a o Molokai, a nonprofit organization that encompasses all Hawaiian Homestead Associations on Molokai.

“The Prince Kuhio celebration on Molokai is probably the most important event for me,” said Kilia Purdy-Avelino, one of event’s organizers. “As a homesteader, it is an honor and a responsibility to help coordinate an event where we can mahalo Prince Kuhio for advocating for his people, leaving a legacy, seven generations and going. We are blessed to be on this `aina where we can live, truly live, by turning our hands to the soil — huli ka lima i ka lepo, ola!”…

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Crowning Mrs. Molokai

Thursday, March 29th, 2018

Crowning Mrs. Molokai

 

Miss America may be a well-known title but on the Friendly Isle, the first Mrs. Molokai in recent years has been crowned. Desirae Mendija will soon be taking the pageant stage as Mrs. Molokai competing for the title of Mrs. Hawaii America.

“It’s always been a dream to be Miss Hawaii,” said Mendija. She had run for the title several times but didn’t make it past the district level, so she decided to give up pageantry and get married. But when she heard about the Mrs. Hawaii competition, she was all in.

“The pageant features married women recognized as beautiful, talented, business minded, empowering women who are career and family-oriented as well as important contributors to their community,” she said.…

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Library to Get More Space

Sunday, March 25th, 2018

Library to Get More Space

A growing collection of books and programs at the Molokai Public Library is causing its historic building to burst at the seams. If a proposed expansion is approved, the library would get some much-needed additional space. The proposal includes a new, stand-alone 1,875 square foot building behind the existing facility that would cost over $3 million, funded by the state Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS).

The new building will be connect to the back of the existing staff room by a breezeway. The facility will provide a meeting room, workroom for staff, and two restrooms additional space for books, as well as.…

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Students Spend 3 Days at Pearl Harbor

Wednesday, March 14th, 2018

Students Spend 3 Days at Pearl Harbor

Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor News Release

For many students from the remote island of Molokai, traveling to Oahu for a three day field trip was something new and exciting. But imagine spending two nights at a “sleep over” on a battleship or climbing into a cockpit of a fighter jet. The action packed itinerary included hands-on aviation-related STEM activities and visits to historic World War II sites including Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor, USS Bowfin, USS Missouri, and USS Arizona Memorial.

Pacific Aviation Museum recently hosted 22 fifth and sixth graders from Maunaloa and Kilohana elementary schools, and five accompanying teachers and chaperones.…

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Mesmerized by Moana’s 

Thursday, February 22nd, 2018

Mesmerized by Moana’s 

Moana’s Hula Halau’s annual fundraiser dinner show once again dazzled a captivated audience under the banyan tree at the Molokai Community Health Center last Saturday night. Now under the guidance of Kumu Raquel Dudoit, the halau has been dancing for more than 60 years, according to founder Kumu Moana Dudoit’s grandniece, Zhantell Dudoit Lindo.

The show featured Moana’s wahine, kane and keiki as well as fire dancers from Po`ohala Productions of Maui. One of the evening’s numbers was a dance honoring Aunty Moana written by musician Kuana Torres. The hula referenced her bus service and described her as the “ambassador of aloha,” said Dudoit Lindo.…

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Kealopiko Shirt Supports Kualapu`u Immersion Students

Friday, February 16th, 2018

Kealopiko Shirt Supports Kualapu`u Immersion Students

Each morning, students at Kualapu`u School start the day by joining together in chanting a Hawaiian `oli. The third line of the `oli — “Aia i hea ka `uala Lanikeha e wili ai ka lei kalina” — talks about the Lanikeha varity of uala, or sweet potato, from Ho`olehua. This line will soon have special significance and visual representation on a shirt that will both celebrate February as Hawaiian Language Month and raise money to support Hawaiian language learning at Kualapu`u School.

The T-shirt is the result of a collaboration between Hui Makua, the parent organization of Ke Kula Kaiapuni `o Kualapu`u Hawaiian Immersion program at Kualapu`u, and popular local clothing company Kealopiko.…

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Significance of Makahiki Medals

Thursday, February 8th, 2018

Significance of Makahiki Medals

Ka Molokai Makahiki News Release

As arms were raised to declare champions, medals were awarded for their great accomplishments shown on the field at Ka Molokai Makahiki 2018. In the early years of Makahiki, various types of Hawaiian art — model koa canoes, paintings, `umeke, ipu wai, poi boards, feathered kahili  — were given as awards, followed by certificates, T-shirts, and,  more recently, medals created by artists from Molokai Heritage Company.  Last year’s medal was a pohaku ku`i `ai, a poi pounder, to remind us of our kuleana to keep Haloa (kalo) thriving by planting, harvesting, pounding and sharing that which sustained us for hundreds of years.…

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Standing for `Olelo Hawaii

Thursday, February 1st, 2018

Standing for `Olelo Hawaii

 

University of Hawaii professor Samuel Kaleikoa Ka`eo was issued a warrant for his arrest last week after he spoke only Hawaiian in court on Maui. Ka`eo appeared in connection to protesting construction of a Haleakala telescope, and when Judge Blaine Kobayashi asked Ka`eo to identify himself as present in the Wailuku District Court Wednesday,  Ka`eo did so in Hawaiian. The judge didn’t recognize his presence and asked three more times for Ka`eo to give his name, to which he responded each time in Hawaiian.

“The court is unable to get a definitive determination for the record that the defendant seated in court is Mr.…

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