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You’re Invited to the Crop Swap!

Photo: Fresh tomatoes from Hamakua Springs Country Farms.

Do you have more tomatoes, avocadoes, or lemons than you can eat? Join us at the inaugural Crop Swap at The Mala‘ai School Garden at Waimea Middle School on Saturday, October 16, to trade your surplus produce for crops grown by your neighbors. The Crop Swap, coordinated by The Kohala Center and funded by a Ho‘ohui ‘O Waimea grant from the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, is open to everyone in the community.

Based on an traditional system of sharing among neighbors and ‘ohana, the Swap will provide a gathering place for farmers, home gardeners, and local residents to exchange their surplus produce with one another. The Swap will be held on a regular basis throughout the year, and will include workshops on various topics related to food production, such as seed saving or composting techniques, to encourage and enable families to grow more of their own food and incorporate healthy food choices into their diets.

Photo: The Mala‘ai School Garden at Waimea Middle School has hosted several free markets over the past few years to share the bounty of the garden with the community. Here, pumpkins grown in the garden are offered free of charge to community members.

To participate, community members simply bring surplus produce from their farm or garden to Mala‘ai School Garden between 12:30 and 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 16, to exchange with other community members in attendance. Swap coordinators will facilitate exchanges by displaying and storing produce, helping participants determine fair exchange conditions, and collecting excess food at the end of the day for delivery to Waimea-based food pantries. No one will be turned away. If you don’t have produce to share, you can just lend a hand to participate. For more information about the Swap, please contact Nicole Milne at 987-9210 or via e-mail at nmilne@hawaii.edu.




From Beekeeping to Grant Writing

Photo: School Garden Teachers enjoying the Seed Exchange at the HISGN Summer Conference. Photo by Colleen Carroll, Director, NatureTalks. Read more about the Summer Conference at http://naturetalksnews.blogspot.com/2010/08/have-i-taught-you-well-enough.html.

The Hawai‘i Island School Garden Network (HISGN) invites garden teachers, volunteers, and interested community members to a series of educational workshops at sites around the island this fall. HISGN garden teachers were surveyed last fall to determine what kinds of professional development opportunities they wanted to participate in—and here’s some of what they requested:

A complete listing of workshops is posted at www.kohalacenter.org/HISGN/events.html. Classes and events are free to school garden teachers, students, and garden volunteers. For additional information or to register, please contact Donna Mitts at dmitts@kohalacenter.org or call 936-2117.

Community members are also invited to Practical Agriculture for Hamakua 2010, a series of free Saturday farm tours and events sponsored by the Hilo Hamakua Community Development Corporation and the Hawai‘i County Department of Research & Development. Download the program flyer.




Achieving the Dream

Photo: UNUKUPUKUPU Hālau with Kumu Hula Tangarō. Noe Noe Wong-Wilson is seated second from the left.

In 2001, at the age of fifty, I received my bachelor’s degree with honors in anthropology. It became apparent to me that I would have to achieve my master's degree in order to become a program coordinator within the university system. Once I completed that, in 2007, I knew that my journey would not end until I finished my doctoral program as well. I love the intellectual stimulation of the doctoral journey. I want my effort to be meaningful to the community and to the Native Hawaiian students who are the focus of my work. —Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, 2010–2011 Mellon-Hawai‘i Doctoral Fellow

2010–2011 Mellon-Hawaiʻi Doctoral Fellow Noe Noe Wong-Wilson is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Maori and Pacific Development at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. Noe Noe’s thesis topic is dear to her heart: “Achieving the Dream at Hawaiʻi Community College: An Initiative for Native Hawaiian Student Success.” Noe Noe currently serves as the Native Hawaiian Student Success Coordinator at Hawaiʻi Community College (HawCC) on Hawaiʻi Island. She has been instrumental in establishing the Paepae ʻŌhua Student Success Center at the college and has served as the college’s coordinator of the Achieving the Dream initiative, a movement to address the success of underserved, underrepresented populations enrolled at community colleges across the nation. Noe Noe will complete her doctoral program in residence at the University of Waikato’s School of Maori and Pacific Development in Kirikiriroa, Hamilton, New Zealand.

Five Hawaiian scholars were selected as 2010–2011 Mellon-Hawaiʻi Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellows in recognition of their commitment to the advancement of scholarship on Hawaiian cultural and natural environments, Hawaiian language, history, politics, and society. The program provides scholars the opportunity to complete their dissertations or to publish original research. Postdoctoral fellowships amount to $50,000 each, and doctoral fellowships are $40,000 each. The program is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Kamehameha Schools, and Kahiau Foundation. Noe Noe Wong-Wilson says this support of Native Hawaiian scholars “is a remarkable testimony to these organizations’ commitment to excellence in education and the well-being of our island communities.”

Read Noe Noe's story, "The Architects of Our Own Future" on the Back Page.




Supporting Academic Excellence

Photo: Sixth graders at Ha‘aheo Elementary School work with the periodic table of elements.

In 2009, the Hilo School Complex was awarded approximately $700,000 in Math Science Partnership (MSP) funding for the three-year Frameworks Project. The goals of the Frameworks Project are to improve student achievement in science, to promote the integration of science across content areas, and to create a framework that will sustain ongoing improvement of teachers’ professional practices in science. The project is currently in its second year. University and nonprofit academic partners, including The Kohala Center, UH Hilo, and AIMS Education Foundation are serving as consultants and support providers for curriculum alignment, development and implementation of instructional units, assessment, and publication of curriculum. The MSP grant is focused on the six elementary schools within the Hilo Complex.

Frameworks Project Curriculum Coordinator Pascale Creek Pinner, an award-winning science teacher at Hilo Intermediate School, reports favorable results based on participating students’ classroom performance. “At the end of year one of the Project, every teacher assessed the science units they presented,” says Pinner. “Students improved—sometimes dramatically.” According to Dr. Denise Uehara, the grant external evaluator, a variety of year one data shows significant improvements in both teacher pedagogy and student achievement in science.

The leadership team for the Frameworks Project, consisting of Hilo Complex administrators, Pascale Creek Pinner, AIMS Education Foundation, and The Kohala Center are pleased to announce that they will now be extending their successful collaboration in the Frameworks Project to establish the Hilo Community Learning Center (CLC). In August 2010, the Hilo Complex was awarded a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant from the State DOE, which will allocate more than a million dollars for after-school programming at Hilo Complex schools over the next five years. The Frameworks partners hope to integrate their innovative STEM curriculum into Hilo CLC’s after-school, intersession, and summer programs. “We also hope to build upon the strong working relationships we have forged amongst Hilo Complex schools through the Frameworks Project in order to extend learning opportunities for students and their families during non-school hours,” says Pinner.

Learn more about the Hilo Community Learning Center on the Back Page.




High Fives at Kohala Elementary School

Photo: First grade students at Kohala Elementary School can name all of these planets.

The Hidden Jewels (HJ) science program has been operational since 2005 at Kohala Elementary School. Initially targeted for the second grade, the HJ program gained teacher approval and was expanded to grades 1–5 by the 2008–2009 academic year. The primary program goals were to integrate science education into the school’s existing curricula, to engage elementary students in doing hands-on science, and to support teachers to become better science teachers. Prior to implementation of the Hidden Jewels Program, there was no formal school-wide science education in the community’s sole public elementary school, no formal science curriculum or training for teachers, no special science materials or facilities, and no linkages between science and math or science and literacy. Looking back, it is clear that the HJ program has met its initial goals. The HJ program has created a space for innovation in science at Kohala Elementary School.

We are fortunate to have a resource like Susan Lehner who provides our students with hands-on, inquiry-based lessons and activities. The students are captivated and energized with each lesson. I see pure teaching and learning every time I visit Susan’s lab. —Danny Garcia, Kohala Elementary School Principal

Photo: Fourth grade students studying electricity that's not from the sun.

Further, there is initial evidence that the HJ program has resulted in significant gains in student achievement at the 4th and 5th grade levels. Students at Kohala Elementary School scored higher than the state average on the Hawai‘i Statewide Assessment (HSA) science test, which was administered to all fourth graders at the school in Fall 2009. On previous testing in core subjects, Kohala Elementary School students, as a whole, have scored below state averages; so this new data suggests that the Hidden Jewels initiative is making a positive difference. Also, the HJ evaluation plan called for a simple pre/post design to look at the effectiveness of the Hidden Jewels curriculum on student knowledge increase in the fourth and fifth grades during the 2009–10 academic year. Results show a positive statistically significant change in pre post test mean scores for 4th grade and 5th grade HJ students.

Read "Science Is Now Their Favorite Subject" on the Back Page.




Heroes of Agriculture, Food and Environment Awards

Photo: Nancy Redfeather and Gerry Herbert ready to work at their mini-farm in Hōnalo.

The 2010 Agricultural Conference planning committee issued a call for nominations for the 2010 Hawai‘i Agriculture Awards: Heroes of Agriculture, Food and Environment. These nominations highlight outstanding organizations or individuals who contribute to the advancement of Hawai‘i's agricultural industry as businesses, leaders, researchers, supporters, volunteers, and/or friends. The Kohala Center is pleased to announce that Board Member Richard Ha, and staff members Donna Mitts and Nancy Redfeather received the following awards for their achievements in their respective fields and their significant contributions to agriculture in Hawai‘i. These statements are taken directly from the announcement provided by the nominating committee:

Farmer-Entrepreneurs Doing Business with Excellence:
Richard Ha, Hamakua Springs Country Farms, Hawai‘i

Richard is a pioneer who is constantly finding innovative ways to stay ahead of the curve to operate his farm sustainably. He is dedicated to his workers and thinks of them as family, and he works hard to build a community among other farms, fighting for everyone's benefits in agriculture.

Food Business or School Doing Business with Excellence:
Donna Mitts, Pa‘auilo Elementary and Intermediate School, Hawai‘i

Pa‘auilo School not only has a very productive school garden that involves all the students in the care and maintenance and sale of fruits and vegetables, but they also have a small livestock operation. They participated in the Federal Fruits and Vegetable program, providing a fresh fruit or vegetables to all students, faculty, and staff at the school. Donna's goal is to teach students how to produce healthy food and care for small-scale livestock operations.

Environmental Supporters Doing Their Work with Excellence:
Nancy Redfeather, Kawanui Farm, Hawai‘i

Nancy Redfeather of Kawanui Farms works tirelessly to promote and teach sustainable food growing. She organized the Hawai‘i Island School Garden Network and developed the annual Seed Exchange event to encourage the saving of food plant seeds that grow well in the islands. She has led the way by organizing the Hawai‘i Island Food Summit to promote sustainable agriculture amongst the leaders of all agricultural sectors in the islands.

Learn more about our "Home Grown Heroes" on the Back Page.





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