Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 7, 1 July 1995 — Gifted and talented conference July 10-13 [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Gifted and talented conference July 10-13

by Jeff Clark When gifted and talented Hawaiian students smdy volcanology, it ean be helpful for them to look at the mo'olelo of Pele as well as purely geological concepts. Such native considerations will be the focus of the Third National Conference on Gifted and Talented Education for Native People, scheduled for July 10-13 in Hilo. Native educators from the continental United States, Alaska, Canada and Hawai'i will gather to focus on the schooling and futures of native children and youth. The conference theme is "Strengthening the Circle Through Sharing our Gifts." The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is a co-sponsor of the conference, whieh is being presented by the American Indian Institute at the University of Oklahoma and hosted by Nā Pua No'eau, the Hilo-based gifted and talented program for Hawaiian students. Nā Pua No'eau director Dr. David Sing said these conferences grew out of the feeling ' that "mainstream" gifted and talented conferences fail to address the educational and eultural issues important to native peoples - issues having to do with culture.

"Gifted and talented issues differ for native people in that before you ean really get to the 'gifted' issues, educators have to address cultural aspects and the vision native people have for education," he said. Hawaiian students, he said, must be "allowed to have a Hawaiian foundation in terms of perspective, history and values." The conference will be held at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel and the UH-Hilo Campus Conference Center. For more information eall 933-3678.

^'Kumu," by Dietrich Varez