CAMP EXPERIENCE

A core piece of our leadership training is camp. Camp is held at the beginning of each school year. Typically, Students in grades 3-6 and 7-12 stay overnight at a host facility on the North Shore. The purpose of camp is to increase a sense of belonging in the community, which thereby increases the sense of responsibility. Through a number of activities and debriefs such as team-building games, songs, shared meals, bonfires, bunking together, hikes, climbing walls, rope courses, beach art, skits, chores, and high expectations for cooperative behavior, student are challenged to increase communication skills, work through physical and emotional challenges, face actual fears, and work as teams to reach group goals. These skills promote unity and forge a sense of community that they build upon throughout the school year. These experiences are vital to our curriculum, are counted as regular school days, and thus are not optional.

Ho`ala School senior Audrey Martin, rolled a 585 to take the Varsity Girl's ILH Bowling Championship, October 23rd.~

Audrey started slowly posting a 159 in the first game, but then caught on fire in the second game shooting a 278 to take a commanding lead in the competition. During her near perfect game, her teammates kept her lose as they cheered her on. "I felt excited because I was inspired by my teammates" Audrey said.

After the string of strikes in game two, Audrey opened the third game with four splits as the lanes started to break down. "I became a little concerned about Audrey after the four splits, but I knew if she refocused and had fun, things would be all right", said Betty Squatrito-Martin, Ho`ala girl's varsity coach.

This was Audrey's first year bowling for Ho`ala School and Ho`ala's first venture in ILH Bowling. Audrey has been bowling since she was 11 years old and completing for 6 years.

After graduation in June, Audrey plans to attend either Alcorn State in Mississippi or DePauw University in Indiana.

As part of the educational component of the upcoming worldwide voyage, Nainoa Thompson and The Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) has offered Ho`ala School’s 10th & 11th grade Biology class a unique overnight opportunity to sail on a voyaging expedition to Maunalua Bay on South Shore, O`ahu. Ho`ala Biology students will be performing scientific experiments from a cultural perspective.

During the trip, Ho`ala students will conduct biological survey experiments and gathering information on their own coastal ecosystem by swimming and snorkeling. They will use the data they collect to test their hypothesis and develop a conclusion. In addition to spending the day participating in scientific activities, the students will be engaging in various Hawaiian cultural activities. With the guidance and supervision of PVS crew members and Ho`ala teacher and PVS member Maggie Pulver, students will sail a traditional Polynesian-design canoe and modern-day catamaran, as well as experience voyaging as a crew member of PVS. Students will also spend the night on the ocean, camping on the catamaran, doing overnight crew watches with trained crew members and experiencing navigation training with current navigators in training. Since community service is an important part of living the Hoʼala Philosophy, the students will take part in a service activity to help support the Polynesian Voyaging Society dry dock efforts, as well as an activity to support the health of Hawai`iʼs oceans and reefs.

This semester, Ho`ala School’s Biology class has studied the various types of living creatures found on Earth. For their final project, Ho`ala students are being asked to research an endemic Hawaiian marine organisms and the various threats to its survival. Students will then define a research question and develop a hypothesis and test it using an experiment they design and implement.

Ho`ala teacher, Maggie Pulver is currently part of the PVS education hui, responsible for pilot testing educational projects and programs, as well as for developing lesson plans and curriculum materials. Her duties on the upcoming worldwide voyage will include ship’s cook, navigation, watch captain, educator and teacher hoping to share her experience of the world wide voyage with students all over the world, as well as leadership training for the PVS future.