COURTESY OF WAIAKEA HIGH SCHOOL Student Joelle Penisten recently cared for a pair of turkeys at Waiakea's Agricultural Complex. The turkeys are raised for future consumption.

Life skills grow
in ag program

Students raise and sell animals and produce,
and participate in construction projects

Waiakea facts
Students forge friendships in China
Waiakea gets insight into making aloha shirts

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By Joelle Penisten
Waiakea High School

In one corner of the Waiakea High School campus lies a 5-acre hidden jewel. To passers-by, the area simply looks like a few buildings and trees, but once you take a few steps inside, you will realize that the Agricultural Complex is a true treasure trove of learning and fun.

Students are allowed face-to-face interaction with a dozen wild and tame Thanksgiving turkeys -- already sold for holiday feasts -- as well as rabbits, geese, escargot, a peacock, guinea hen and a turtle.

There are also about 25 broiler chickens, which students raised from chicks, that will soon be processed. About six large tanks are filled with orange and gray tilapia and Asian catfish at different stages of development.

A forest of palm trees available for sale or rent, and hydroponic lettuce and strawberries are being grown.

Ag students also enjoy working among rows of macadamia nut trees, taro, beans, corn and pineapple.

Leading students in these agricultural adventures is Gerod Victorine, a 22-year veteran teacher at WHS. Currently, about 90 students are involved in the agriculture and aquaculture programs offered at the school.

Victorine's dedication to educating students on agriculture focuses not only on plants and animals, but life after school, as well.

"My course is real-life, hands-on, applied learning skills for life," Victorine says.

All students learn how to raise and care for different organisms, practice business and marketing skills, and learn about agricultural jobs.

"Because agriculture is so broad, most people think ag is only (about) farming," Victorine says. But he believes in "exposing students to a little of everything," so his pupils market the lettuce they produce, selling much of their harvest to teachers at the elementary and high schools.

Victorine also encourages his students to learn about the hazards of pesticides, which is why all student crops are 100 percent pesticide-free. Furthermore, students acquire math, science and work ethic skills by planning and creating projects for the complex and the school community.

Victorine prides his current and former students for erecting almost all of the ag complex's buildings, and making benches and tables for Waiakea and other schools.

Students also act as older siblings to several hundred children who visit the turkeys each year, as well as second-graders from Waiakea Elementary who visit weekly to check on the hydroponic lettuce they are raising.

Teamwork and a sense of familial commitment is promoted and practiced at the ag complex. At least once a year, Victorine and his students hold a fish fry for faculty members at WHS.

Still, with all of these wonders taking root in the agriculture program at Waiakea High, agriculture programs are underfunded, with a budget mirroring that of 20 years ago.

Victorine and his classes hope their many achievements and skills they have attained will increase support for their program.

"You cannot live without agriculture," Victorine says.

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Waiakea facts Address: 155 W. Kawili St., Hilo, HI 96720 Phone: 974-4888 Fax: 974-4840 Principal: Ron Furukawa Newspaper: Ka Leo O Ke Koa (The Voice of the Warrior), founded in 1977 Editor: Joelle Penisten Adviser: Audrey Archer Kelly Colors: Royal blue and white Mascot: Warrior Web site: waiakeahigh.k12.hi.us Enrollment: 1,404 Famous alumni: >> Onan Masaoka, pitcher, Los Angeles Dodgers >> Kuualoha Taylor, former KGMB weather reporter >> Harold Kama Jr., entertainer Trivia: >> Waiakea High School was founded in 1976 and is built on 43 acres of former sugar cane land. >> Waiakea means "broad waters." Its two rivers are the Wailoa and Waiakea. >> WHS was the first public school in the state to have uniforms.

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