Ho‘oha‘aheo Newsletter, Feb. 11

Aloha, HIDOE Community – 

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Ho‘oha‘aheo Newsletter.

Statewide coordination helps keep students and staff safe
Mahalo to our families and staff for your flexibility and understanding as we responded to this week’s severe weather. Following Gov. Green’s emergency declaration on Sunday, we aligned with the state’s guidance and closed all HIDOE schools and offices statewide on Monday to ensure the safety of our students and employees.

I want to thank Gov. Josh Green for his leadership and coordination across state and county agencies, our families for their patience, and our school and Department staff for their responsiveness in quickly adapting to the situation.

While instructional time is always a priority, safety must come first. In coordination with the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association, we have rescheduled Monday’s planned teacher institute day to Friday, Feb. 13 for O‘ahu schools. This aligns with neighbor island schools, which were already scheduled for a professional development day on Feb. 13. Students statewide will not report to school that day, but all HIDOE and school offices will remain open.

2025 Employee, Manager and Team of the Year awards
The Hawai‘i State Department of Education has announced its employees for the 2025 Employee, Manager and Team of the Year awards, recognizing employees whose work reflects sustained excellence, leadership and teamwork. One recipient in each category will be named at a recognition ceremony on March 9 at 3 p.m. at the Moanalua High School Performing Arts Center, honoring employees from schools and offices across the state. See a full list of employees.

Kea‘au Middle School: Congratulations to 8th grader Riana Forsythe-Delima for the poster she created warning, not just drivers, pedestrians against walking and texting! She created the poster when attending the "Making A You Turn" teen leadership summit last fall. The event’s sponsor, HIDOE's Driver and Traffic Safety Education Program, chose the poster to print and distribute to Big Island schools!

H.P. Baldwin High School: On Feb. 7, our Science Olympiad Team took 3rd place as a team in the Maui Regional Science Olympiad Competition at UH Maui College. 1st place Astronomy: James Ancheta & Emma Agcolicol. 1st place Designer Genes: Katie Dolin & Makena Loio. 2nd place Astronomy & Physiology: Jade Brown & Sahara Ortega. 2nd place Disease Detective: Merida Carino & Cyrus Villanova. 2nd place Boomilever: Katie Brown, Sahara Ortega & Cyrus Villanova. Way to go Bears!!!

James Campbell High School: A huge congratulations to our dedicated Sabers who represented James Campbell High School at the first in-person Hawaiʻi Educators Rising Competition last Friday! Our students showcased their talent and passion for education while competing against schools from across the state. We are incredibly proud of everyone who participated, with a special shout-out to our award winners: 🥇Luisa Patt: 1st Place – Job Interview 🥇Caylee Barnes & Alexis Riveira: 1st Place – Public Service Announcement (Teacher Recruitment) 🥇Penelope Oishi: 2nd Place – Exploring Non-Core Subject Teaching Careers. The future of education is looking bright! 🍎📚

Special education students at Kaimukī High School are designing and printing custom apparel to raise money for their program, while learning vocational skills. “We know that a lot of our kids, they don't specifically want to get into the field of making T-shirts, but what we do want to teach them is the work readiness skills that go along with any job.” teacher Ryan Swinehart said in an interview with Hawai‘i Public Radio.

American Savings Bank awarded $135,000 to nine student teams from seven public schools through its annual Bank for Education KeikiCo Business Plan Contest, a statewide student business competition that equips students in grades 3-12 with practical financial and entrepreneurial skills. Congratulations to the winning teams!

More than 80 public high school student delegates filled the state Capitol last week to discuss issues of importance with lawmakers during hands-on advocacy workshops. Some concerns that students brought up were campus safety, teacher burnout and creating more after-school programs.

Gavin Antonio is a junior and an International Baccalaureate Diploma Candidate at Kaiser High School. He serves as the recording secretary for the Hawaiʻi State Student Council, student body vice president, and president of the Interact Club. Gavin is involved in numerous extracurricular activities across various fields, including color guard, winter guard, VEX V5 robotics and track and field. Gavin hopes to highlight, represent and bring forth the perspective of as many areas of student life as possible.

Kaina Makua

Occupation: Executive director and co-founder of Kumano I Ke Ala
What school you grad? Waimea High School ‘02
College: Kapiʻolani Community College, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Location: Waimea, HI

Kaua‘i native Kaina Makua is a kalo farmer, cultural practitioner, community educator and the co-founder of Kumano I Ke Ala, a nonprofit dedicated to revitalizing West Kauaʻi through the restoration of native lands, food system transformation, workforce training and youth development.

In 2019, he was coaching Waimea High School’s paddling team at the state championships in Hanalei, when actor Jason Momoa noticed him and told him that he wanted Makua to be a part of a passion project he was working on. With no prior acting experience, he was later cast as King Kamehameha I in the series “Chief of War,” which premiered in August on Apple TV. The series tells the story of Kaʻiana (Momoa), a fearless warrior on a mission to unite his homeland as a monumental power struggle erupts among the four Hawaiian kingdoms in the late 18th century. It was filmed in Hawai‘i and New Zealand and features extensive dialogue in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.

“I constantly had to keep trying to convince him to play it,” Momoa said in an interview with the TODAY show. “And he killed it.”

Q: What was your journey like after high school?
A: As soon as summer was finished, I was gone. I moved to O‘ahu. I went to Kapiʻolani Community College for two years then transferred to University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. I got my bachelor’s degree in Hawaiian Studies, furthered my education and I got into the MEdT teaching program. I got a teaching certificate and became a certified teacher in secondary education and my focus was Hawaiian language. I did that for four years on O‘ahu, then moved home. I taught at Kawaikini Public Charter School for four years, until I felt like I could do more with the community.

Q: What makes you #PublicSchoolProud?
A: I never really understood the “private” and “public” school relationship much. I’m just proud that I’m from Kaua‘i. I’m proud that I’m from Hawaiʻi. I’m proud that I can help the community in some way. I’m proud that now when the world sees “Chief of War,” they are also going to see Kaua‘i. They’re going to also see and hear the stories of Kaua‘i, because of that level of cinematography.

Q: What type of extracurricular activities were you involved in?
A: I competed in paddling my senior year, which was the inaugural year for paddling as a sport. I was on the swim team for my junior and senior year and I also did surfing. I've been the paddling coach for Waimea High School for the past 14 years. 

Q: What advice do you have for students?
A: You don’t need to go to college to be “somebody.” But how will you help your community? How do you contribute and bring value to the lives of others instead of just yourself? Don’t live for just yourself. You should be living for everybody. If everyone had that mindset, imagine the things we could do.