TERESA BELL / WAIALUA HIGH SCHOOL
Waialua's Hawaiian Club recently held an afternoon of Makahiki games. The Japanese and Spanish Clubs were invited to attend. Sophomore Jeremy Sabugo, in a gray shirt, a member of the Spanish Club, practiced spear throwing.
Waialua goes native
on historyNative Hawaiian students can
connect with their culture in
hula and courses
In old Hawaii, native Hawaiians placed a great deal of importance on Waialua. Now Waialua High School is trying to put its emphasis on Hawaiians by helping to address the needs of the community.
With more than 26 percent of its student body with Hawaiian blood, Waialua is finding its future, and its culture, through the Hawaiian ways of life. Waialua offers three classes in Hawaiiana: Modern Hawaiian History, a mandatory history class for freshmen; Hawaiian Studies, an elective; and Hawaiian language classes, considered foreign language credit. The school also has a Hawaiian club and a hula club.
The Modern Hawaiian History class covers the period from the kapu system to the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and beyond to present-day Hawaii. In the Hawaiian Studies class, students learn about the culture, voyaging techniques and values of the Hawaiian people. They also grow native Hawaiian plants in a garden on campus. In the Hawaiian language class, students learn to speak, understand and write Hawaiian. Next year, Waialua plans to offer hula as an elective.
A'ia'i Bello, Hawaiian language teacher and adviser to both clubs, is spearheading the project. The hula class will be similar to other dance classes and will fulfill the performing or visual arts credit that some colleges, most notably those in the California school system, are now requiring. These classes are filling a void in the lives of Hawaiian students, Bello said.
"Kids don't identify with their Hawaiianness," she said. "When they understand their identity, it will make a huge difference in their learning."
The chants, songs and dances taught in class help students connect with their heritage. The style of learning taught in the Hawaiian classes involves hands-on projects such as working in the loi. It is a style Bello stresses for students' success in the classroom. She believes that many students do not learn well in the typical, Western style.
Senior and student body government president Lahela Lorenzo says the style taught in class is critical.
"That's how the Hawaiians taught," she explains.
The importance of the language and culture is something students at Waialua are very aware of. Lorenzo says: "It's always been in my life. My mom always taught me to know who you are and where you come from."
Fellow senior Douglas Herrod says, "The old ways are dying faster. ... We need to make sure it doesn't die."
Both students are concerned about the future of the Hawaiian language but agree that its revival will come through high school students.
The Hula Club is the first step to this revival. "Hula is what draws people in," Bello says, citing it as the reason she learned the Hawaiian language.
The club meets once a week to dance. Senior Farin de la Cruz has danced hula all her life and competed since age 7. She says that club members are also taught the in-depth history of the dance, where it comes from, its meaning and its effects on Hawaiians today, in addition to the dance itself.
De la Cruz firmly believes hula, as the traditional Hawaiian way of recalling history, is the key to the culture's revival today.
"Without it you lose everything, the story changes and it won't be Hawaiian anymore," she says.
The revival is already starting at Waialua. The Hawaiian Club recently held "Makahiki Games" on Feb. 6, celebrating the Hawaiian harvest festival with other clubs on campus.
"The reason I'm doing this is to continue the work of our kapunas. There's no culture without language and no language without culture. When they come together, the person becomes whole," Bello says. "The Hawaiians were very spiritual people," she continues, "and there seems to be something missing in students, their mauliola, or spirit. Their mauliola needs to be nurtured in order for them to become whole."
BACK TO TOP |
Travel industry students
team up with hotel
Skills are necessary to survive the real world, whether they be in computers or communications. At Waialua High and Intermediate School, a group of young bright minds already see the realities of life.
Last year, eight students from the Business Management and Technology Core/Travel Industry Management class came up with the idea for a business club.
"We needed a name for our class," said teacher Cynthia Nunes-Taijeron, "so I put the class in charge of brainstorming a name, and they came up with Young Ideas Inc."
Members of the Young Ideas Inc. partnered with the Hawaii Prince Hotel to put on a massive fund-raising event. Food for Funds was held on April 25. Chefs from the Hawaii Prince came to Waialua to cook kalbi and mochiko chicken for bentos. All proceeds went to a scholarship fund for qualifying Waialua students who demonstrated interest in a career in travel industry management.
"Our initial goal was to raise $500 for the Lokahi scholarship, but it tripled," Nunes-Taijeron said.
COURTESY OF CYNTHIA NUNES-TAIJERON / WAIALUA HIGH SCHOOL
Students in Waialua's business class go to the Hawaii Prince Hotel once a month for career shadowing and service learning activities. Here, a mentor helps Michele Popek, Merci Warner and Janice Alfanta with Christmas decorations.
With only eight students in the class, it was a challenge to organize this event. Senior Janice Alfanta, an alumna of Young Ideas Inc., said, "Having a small class put out this event was difficult, but Ms. Nunes-Taijeron separated our class into different departments, which made the work easier."
The different departments took care of advertising, accounting and the general make for the fund-raiser.
"This class has enabled me to become more of a leader," said Alfanta. "It also gave me more communication and writing skills."
Food for Funds was a very successful event. The class of 1953 was there for a reunion, and Uprising Roots, a local boy band, helped celebrate as well.
This event aided students in other ways. With the help of the Hawaii Prince, Young Ideas members put on a "Why North Shore?" campaign. Students met with community leaders and created brochures for tourists stating why they should visit the North Shore. The students also produced another campaign, "Why Hawaii Prince Hotel?" introducing the hotel to the tourists and why it is the best hotel for them. The students made videos, which were taken back to the hotel and viewed by incoming tourists.
The class meets at the Hawaii Prince Hotel once a month at the minimum to do career education and career shadowing. On Sept. 22 the Hawaii Prince Hotel hosted a kickoff convention with other schools, but mostly acknowledging the successful event of Food for Funds.
"We were asked to speak about the Food for Funds and how we planned the event -- from advertising to the actual day," said Alfanta. During spring break the members of Young Ideas Inc. will be spending three nights and four days at the Hawaii Prince Hotel, which will pay for their stay. "This will allow students to get the feel of working with adults," said Nunes-Taijeron. "I treat my students as if they were adults. I teach my lesson for about 15-30 minutes, and they're off creating projects to promote the class and the industry, because this class is like the real world."
Because the first-year class was such a great success, Nunes-Taijeron and her new class will continue with the Food for Funds event and other partnership projects with the Hawaii Prince.
This year's Food for Funds event will be held on Friday, March 12, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the school. Mochiko chicken and kalbi bentos will be on sale for $5. The band Uprising Roots and a faculty pie-eating contest will provide entertainment.
BACK TO TOP |
About ‘Hawaii’s Schools’
Each week, Hawaii's teenage reporters and photographers tell us about their high school. This week's school is Waialua High and Intermediate School.
Newspaper: The Waialuan Editor in chief: Lorin Milotta Faculty adviser: Gail Kuroda Bulldog facts
Address: 67-160 Farrington Highway, Waialua 96791 Phone: 637-8200 Principal: Aloha Coleman Vice principals: Bart Nakamoto and Stephen Schatz Enrollment: 717 Teachers: 55 Year established: 1914, as a one-room school known as Mokuleia School Year established as Waialua High and Intermediate: 1936 Average years of teaching experience per teacher: 13.6 Total number of years teaching experience: 748 Number of individual stairs on campus: 358
BACK TO TOP |
You asked...
"What do you like most about
Waialua High and Intermediate?"
Leah Pollack
Senior
"Everyone is really nice and the teachers are really helpful."Kelson Silva
Senior
"Waialua is a close community and it's a comfortable environment."Shade Hookano
Junior
"Everybody here is like a big ohana, including the teachers."Chassity Suyat
Sophomore
"The people, because they are very laid-back."Boone Wilson
Sophomore
"It's small and easier to get to know everybody."Kylsie Tabladillo
Freshman
"Everybody knows everybody because it's a small school, so it's like a family."Jordan Chun
Freshman
"It's close to Sagara's (a community okazu-ya)."Kristy Santiago
Eighth-grader
"I like hanging with my friends at the pep rally because we show school spirit."Christopher Manera
Eighth-grader
"I feel safe in this school because we're surrounded by friendly people here."Momi Green
Seventh-grader
"Band, because I get to play the bassoon, and it's really challenging."
Click for online
calendars and events.
