New UH Molokai Cooperative Extension Staff

UHCTAHR News Release 

The University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service is proud to announce that on Jan. 3, our staff on Molokai doubled in size with the addition of two new agents.

Joining the staff are Kristina “Tina” Cacpal and Kyle Franks.  They join the long-time staff of Glenn Teves, Jennifer Hawkins, and Ag Technician Faith Tuipulotu.

Tina Cacpal was born and raised on Molokai in Maunaloa and is a proud alumna of Maunaloa Elementary and Molokai High and Intermediate School. She recently completed a bachelor’s degree in Elementary and Special Education from Grand Canyon University. Most of her career was spent as an Educational Assistant at Maunaloa that nurtured her love for education as well as connecting with the land and her people. It is also the place where she was given the opportunity to support the creation and management of the school garden. Tina can be reached by email at kcacpal@hawaii.edu.

“It is my honor to now serve all the schools on Molokai and our island community with our efforts in Farm to School by fostering the connection that schools have with fresh, healthy, and locally grown food,” said Tina. 

Kyle Franks has been recently hired as the Junior Extension Agent for the DHHL Agriculture Education Program, which served the Molokai Hawaiian Homestead agriculture communities. From growing up in rural Georgia, he was involved in helping on the family farm where he gained passion for this work. He later received his BS in Biology and Plant Physiology from Georgia Southern University. He has lived and farmed on a small-scale on Molokai for close to ten years, contributing to local food production. He also has a background in Native Hawaiian dryland plants, a result of his work at Kalaupapa National Historic Park. Other passions include education, holistic resource management, subsistence to production cropping, and fruit tree grafting. Kyle shared, “I am humbled to be able to assist homesteaders at any level from small subsistence gardening to crop production.”  Kyle can be reached by phone at 808-567-6935 and email kefranks@hawaii.edu.

“We are excited to have a full staff to cover a broader range of agriculture on our island,” said Hawkins. “Food security starts with training the next generation to grow food.  With Tina working directly with the educators, Kyle working with homesteaders, Glenn focusing on seed saving and gardening, and me focusing on edible crop production island wide it is our goal to help teach those who want to grow their own food and/or expand their production.”  

To connect with Glenn Teves email gteves@hawaii.edu or to reach Jennifer Hawkins on items related to edible crops email jhawk@hawaii.edu.