p4cHI at Koa Aina Camp

  The 2014 Koa Aina Camp focuses on the environment and cultivating a sense of environmental stewardship. The camp is organized by the PALS (Program for After-School Literacy Support) and PLACES(Place-based Learning And Community Engagement in Schools), which are based in the Office of Student Equity, Excellence & Diversity (SEED) at UH Manoa.  For the 2014 camp, campers stayed five days and four nights and visited three different sites in the Waianae ahupua'a.  They learned about local me'e (heroes) who are making a positive impact in their community, about the geography of the sites and the mo'olelo surrounding them, and about what they could do to make the site healthier.  In addition to the field trips, campers learned about to make healthy snacks from locally available foods and how to reduce waste.  They also had a lot of fun, learning new hiphop and dance routines, and playing lots of game including one designed for the camp, Huli, which gave campers an opportunity to connect cultural knowledge and legend with the idea of transforming land and community. This year the p4c Hawaii team of Ben Lukey, Tammy Jones, Sean Pottenger, and Lydia Shigekane were fortunate to participate in all aspects of the camp and help facilitate intellectually safe communities of inquiry for all participants to think deeply about their experiences at camp.