COURTESY OF ISLAND SCHOOL Island School seniors Jeannie Smith, Sarah Shaw, Kyle Marsh and Jennie Ray help eradicate invasive species to protect the sinkhole at Makauwahi Cave on Kauai.

Island students go
back in time

Seniors explore a limestone sinkhole
on Kauai that is a "poor man’s
time machine"

Crawling through a muddy tunnel, Island School seniors enter Kauai's distant past. Inside the open cave, it feels as if you have stepped into Jurassic Park. The cave walls stretch toward the sky and are made up of layers upon layers of rock, clay and minerals.

Island School Name The Switch Faculty adviser Robin Worley Editor Aria Juliet Castillo Address 3-1875 Kaumualii Highway, Lihue, HI 96766 Headmaster Bob Springer Web site www.ischool.org Colors Blue and gold Nickname Navigators Enrollment 300

"I was awe-inspired by the beauty of nature when I saw the cave," student Laura Brown-Clay said.

Sunlight streams through the top of the cave, illuminating sediment containing bird fossils, shells, seeds and pollen of rare plants. The treasures found within the cave give scientists a picture of how the lowlands of Hawaii looked even before human inhabitation. As the layers go from the long-ago past toward the present, there is evidence of population changes and natural disasters.

The senior class at Island School visited Makauwahi Cave in Maha'ulepu on Jan. 22 as part of a celebration of Island School's 27th birthday. Traditionally, on the school's birthday, the students give a ho'okupu in the form of community service at the school and around the island. The purpose of the ho'okupu is to give the students a chance to show their appreciation and respect to the community.

The senior class chose to learn more about Makauwahi Cave, assist in eradicating invasive plants from the area and plant 'a'ali'i (Dodonaea viscose), a sturdy native shrub.

Maha'ulepu is the last accessible undeveloped coastline on the south shore of Kauai. It's a place where the locals come to relax, swim, surf, fish and escape the crowded resort beaches. It is also a sacred place for native Hawaiians, who continue to use the area for spiritual and cultural purposes. Maha'ulepu is also an important research site and habitat for rare and endangered plants and animals.

Actually a limestone sinkhole, Makauwahi Cave is the most diverse fossil deposit known in the Hawaiian Islands. Since 1992, researchers have been digging and sifting through more than 200 meters of sediment that dates back 10,000 years.

"I call this site my 'poor man's time machine,' because it is probably as close to a real time machine as any of us will ever get," said David A. Burney, director of conservation at the National Tropical Botanical Garden. "Most fossil sites are like a snapshot of some preserved moments in time."

The students met with Burney's wife, Lida Burney, who gave a historical background about the sinkhole and the surrounding area of Maha'ulepu. She led them on a short hike along the beach and then into a high-shrub area leading to the entrance to the cave. Inside, the students explored stalagmites and stalactites that covered the interior. But the cave held more than just interesting geologic formations.

"For me, the most intriguing thing about the cave is that it used to be an ancient Hawaiian burial ground," senior Kasey Alcott said. "In the entrance of the cave, there is a square still visible in the mud where the shaman used to practice. I find it fascinating. I fell in love with the cave."

Lida told the students how the cave was formed several hundred thousand years ago by re-crystallized sand in a dune field. Fresh water formed the limestone cave; however, the sea levels rose and caused the cave's roof to collapse.

Lida also told the students stories of how the cave was used in the Hawaiian culture.

"Learning about Hawaiian history was very interesting," senior Akira Nordmeier said. "We learned that teachers in the old days lived in the cave and used smoke to tell about the weather and people's lives, kind of like fortune tellers."

Several students sifted through mud settled in the depths of the cave floor. In the screened mud they found shells, fossilized seeds and fish bones.

After exploring the cave, the students hiked back through the high shrub to an area overgrown with invasive species. The students helped clear out the overgrowth and planted 'a'ali'i.

"It felt good to help, because we're preserving important places on our island," senior Sarah Shaw said.

Gym, cultural center
construction to begin
this summer

Walking through Island School on any given day, one is bound to come across classrooms of a less traditional sort. Island School's flexible curriculum allows students to pursue special offerings even when a classroom is unavailable. Advanced calculus, quantum physics and hula classes can all be seen outside.

The students and teachers are invariably in the best of spirits when Kauai is displaying postcard-perfect weather, but when the wind and rain pick up, these students spend more time running after their calculations blowing in the wind than doing work.

This situation will soon change, however, as Island School plans to invest $6 million in new facilities. The school has raised $3.4 million to date, and fund-raising continues.

The construction of a state-of-the-art gym with locker rooms, showers, weight room, a concession stand, offices and a physical education classroom will begin this summer. The new gym will allow for the expansion of the athletics program. These facilities will also be available to the Kauai community, just as the school's soccer fields are currently available to many unaffiliated soccer programs.

Construction of a Hawaiian cultural center will also begin this summer. It will include classroom and performance space, teacher offices, storage, bathrooms and a kitchen.

COURTESY OF ISLAND SCHOOL An artist's rendering shows the proposed plan for the Island School Hawaiian Cultural Pavilion. Construction on the facility is scheduled to begin this summer.

Hawaiian studies instructor kumu Sabra Kauka is excited about this new facility. "It is my dream to open a halau hula at Island School for our students and for interested members of the community."

Administrators also hope to begin construction this summer on a much-needed new entrance route. This should alleviate after-school traffic that occurs from parents and Kauai Community College students competing for space on the small exit road.

The construction of new classrooms, a library, a performing arts center and cafeteria will follow the first phase of construction. The timeline of the planned additions will be based on the success of future fund-raising.

Assistant Head and Director of Development Joan Shaw describes Island School as "a private, independent school with a public purpose." Island School's expansion is intended to benefit not only the institution, but the entire community.

Island School provides a college preparatory curriculum as an alternative to the public school system. Headmaster Bob Springer is thankful for the support Island School has received in this project. "We are deeply appreciative of Island School's board of directors, who have taken a lead in this project. In addition, we have been supported by numerous trusts, businesses and individuals, without which this venture would not have been possible."

You asked...

"How can we preserve the
beauty of Kauai?"

Jena Smalling
Sophomore
"Pick up trash and don't draw vulgar graffiti everywhere."

David Miles
Junior
"I personally would rather not have the island developed, but I think it's inevitable. I believe we have to control the development by preventing the destruction of the aina."

Kimo Merrin
Junior
"Stop cutting down trees and keep lands like Kokee as reserves."

Simon Sakai
Senior
"Respect da aina; Kauai is too cultural and traditional for it to become another city life."