Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 6, 1 June 2007 — OHA grantee profile: Ma ka Hana ka ʻIke Building [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA grantee profile: Ma ka Hana ka ʻIke Building

The Hāna School Building Program of Hāna, Maui is an exceptional integrated youth development program combining professional skills development with remedial education and community service components. Program graduates learn the relevancy of basic math and physics skills, participate in substantial construction projects and have the unique experience of contributing back to their communities in significant and meaningful ways. While program staff will tell you that it is all about the youth, their community building projects stand as a testament to what young people ean do when engaged, inspired and mentored. Their projects include a house

for a single mother and her five children to replace the one lost in a fire; four handcrafted cottages for mueh loved kūpuna; 17 safety improvement projects, such as ramps, enabling kūpuna to age in plaee; building retrofits and an additional wing for Hāna's senior center; a recording studio for loeal musicians to produce their work; remodeling of the students' own youth eenter using bamboo and mosaic tiles made by the students; and construction of a shed for a farm tractor. For the Hāna families unahle to assist themselves in eonstruction projects, this group of young students has been a blessing. They are also credited with on-campus projects that include:

(a) a 600-square-foot computer lab with ten inlaid oak and koa desks, fiber optic wiring for 24 work stations, koa and bamboo woodwork, and Hawaiian legend murals painted by the students; (b) a massive Polynesian-style pavilion with a 40 by 48-foot roof, concrete columns and floor serving as an outdoor classroom

for the elementary school; (c) a 1,200 square-foot custodial eomplex with shop, kitchen, lunehroom and storage; (d) a high school drug counseling center whieh allowed the school to receive ten-year funding from federal and state sources; (e) a 3,000 square-foot extension to the auto, building and construction

workshops creating a protected indoor/outdoor area that could also be used for additional classrooms; (f) a two-room guidance counselor quarters with stained glass windows and Hawaiian murals designed by the students; (g) a wheel chair ramp sided by a rock wall; and (h) an alternative energy lab. E3

HO 'ONA'AUAO • EDUCAĪION

Students of the Hōna School Building Program apply basic math and physics skills to construct this building. - Photo: KW0 Archive