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Island Youth

The keiki and `opio of Molokai

Dancing With Purpose

Wednesday, May 7th, 2014

Dancing With Purpose

What do ballroom dancing and sexual abuse prevention have in common? If your answer is “nothing,” you’ve never been to Kealoha Hooper’s ballroom classes on Molokai. While some might view ballroom dancing as old-fashioned or out-dated, Hooper is using ballroom to teach lessons of respect and start conversations about a problem plaguing many of today’s communities: violence and sexual abuse of children.

Ballroom dance classes sponsored through Molokai’s Consuelo Foundation, an organization working to prevent child neglect, violence and abuse, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) are teaching Molokai students more than how to rumba, fox trot and tango. The classes are enriching lives by improving self-confidence, communication, acceptance of others and regard for personal boundaries, said Hooper, a ballroom dance instructor who danced professionally with at Arthur Murray Dance Studios in Portland Oregon.…

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Aka`ula Students Professors for a Day

Wednesday, May 7th, 2014

Aka`ula Students Professors for a Day

Community Contributed

By Madison Trenner, Grade 5, and Qwynci Pawn, Grade 7

Five Aka`ula students traveled to the University of Hawaii West Oahu campus to make a presentation on Wednesday, April 23.  Students prepared PowerPoints to share their environmental research with college students who are planning to become teachers.  Miss Kim, the math teacher at the college, wanted her students to see that math can be found in other subjects, like science.

Aka`ula students Qwynci Pawn and Dillon DeCoite explained the issue investigation process and then Malu Duquette and Madison Trenner shared a specific investigation about mosquitoes that was researched earlier this year. …

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Yamamoto Finalist in School Leadership Award

Wednesday, April 30th, 2014

Island Insurance Foundation News Release

Principal Joe Yamamoto of Maunaloa Elementary on Molokai was named as one of the 13 finalists in the 2014 Masayuki Tokioka Excellence in School Leadership Awards, which recognizes outstanding Hawaii public school principals for their efforts to provide high-quality learning opportunities for their students.  Each finalist received a $1,000 personal cash award and a Certificate of Recognition at a presentation ceremony held on March 29.

The finalists will by vying for the $25,000 (a $10,000 personal cash award and $15,000 towards a school project of his or her choice) grand prize award at the Public Schools of Hawaii Foundation dinner on May 1 in Honolulu. …

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Hawaiian Immersion Summer Schools

Wednesday, April 30th, 2014

Community Contributed

By Manuwai Peters

With interest and demand growing for Hawaiian language programs for kids entering middle school, a second Kula Kaiapuni Kauwela site will open this summer at Molokai Middle School. Kula Kaiapuni Kauwela at Molokai Middle is for students who will complete grade six, seven or eight this school year.  The Hawaiian language based curricula is designed to engage and excite students in the many aspects of the Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage of the Hokule`a and Hikianalia wa`a.

Through direct instruction and inquiry, students will compare stories and traditions of the Polynesian (Maori and Tahitian) migration with primary accounts of Hawaiian migrations, genealogies, exploration, and discovery. …

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Softball Wins MIL Championship

Wednesday, April 30th, 2014

Softball Wins MIL Championship

The Lady Farmers’ softball team is headed to states after defeating the Lanai Pinelasses last weekend in an exciting, close win at Duke Maliu Regional Park.

Homes runs and a killer comeback led Molokai to 12-11 victory against Lanai last Saturday. The win claimed the Farmers the Maui Interscholastic League (MIL) Division II Championship crown. The team is already thinking ahead to the State Tournament on Oahu May 6-9.

Molokai High School (MHS) freshman centerfielder and pitcher Brooke Keliihoomalu said “it’s indescribable” to be going to state her first year on the team. She said she and her teammates will give it their all at the State Tournament.…

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Learning Journey: Hokule`a Crew Inspires Students

Wednesday, April 30th, 2014

The first time Molokai’s Captain Melvin “Mel” Paoa touched the Hokule`a — a replica of the traditional Hawaiian double-hulled seafaring canoe — in 1977, he said he held on tight and never let go—no matter the odds.

As a diabetic, Paoa was told to discontinue sailing on Hokule`a for health reasons, but he didn’t take no for an answer. In 1985, he set sail on his longest voyage yet for 12,000 miles from Hawaii to Tahiti to French Polynesia and finally the Cook Islands. He told Molokai Middle School (MMS) students, education leaders and community members at an education event last Friday to never give up.…

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Sharing the Love of Music

Wednesday, April 30th, 2014

Sharing the Love of Music

Inside the white brick walls of Kaunakakai Elementary School room A-103, the reverberation of melodies fill the air after school Mondays and Wednesdays as keiki, parents and community members tackle playing some of the toughest string instruments to learn.

The students are a part of the Molokai Community Band and the 21st Century Instrumental Music program, an after-school music program for individuals of all ages to receive group music lessons and learn a string or woodwind instrument. The focus is learning how to read music, play an instrument and interact with others in a group environment, said Bob Underwood, a first grade teacher at Kaunakakai Elementary and volunteer string instrument teacher.…

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Molokai Student Winners at State History Day

Saturday, April 26th, 2014

Hawaii Council for the Humanities News Release

On April 12, Molokai students presented projects that placed and earned History Day medals, as well as garnered special state awards and prizes from Hawaii organizations at the 2014 Hawaii History Day State Fair. The annual competition involves hundreds of students and teachers from the islands of Hawaii, Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Oahu. Hawaii Council for the Humanities again sponsored the state competition, the theme of which is Rights and Responsibilities in History.

Molokai High School student Cendall Manley won a bronze medal for her Senior Performance project titled “Prohibition: A Dilemma Between Individual Rights, Personal Responsibility and Governmental Power” and is a qualifier for the 2014 Kenneth E.…

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Aka`ula School Celebrates 10 Years

Friday, April 25th, 2014

Aka`ula School Celebrates 10 Years

Editor’s note: Reprinted here with permission are two student-written articles that originally appeared in Aka`ula School’s newsletter.

By Madison Trenner, grade 5

On Saturday, April 5, Aka`ula School celebrated a decade of “Learning and Leading Together.”  On this beautiful spring day current students opened with the school oli.  Victoria Newberry presented a colorful history of how a group of energetic people came together and started a school.  Towards the end of her speech, we were blessed with a short shower.  Lunch was a plate of tasty tortillas filled with meat and vegetables.  For dessert we had the biggest cake I have ever seen. …

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Molokai Celebrates Library Week

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014

Molokai Celebrates Library Week

Last week, communities across the country celebrated the impact local libraries have on their neighborhoods during National Library Week. On Molokai, the Alu Like Native Hawaiian Library and the Molokai Public Library both participated in observances by offering special programs.

At Kaunakakai’s public library, the community was invited on an educational journey through space that perpetuated the values of the local library.

“The values libraries instill are lifelong learning,” said Sri TenCate, Molokai Public Library Branch Manager. “We service people from babies to seniors and are so happy to be able to give them the resources that we have, so they may continue to learn.”…

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