Week of 10/13/23

From the desk of your Division Principal, Dora Kwong

Aloha Lower School families,

What do you think of, when you think of childhood? I think of guffaws, from deep inside the belly; donning a firefighter hat, imagining oneself a hero; eating starfish arms for lunch (grown-ups know them as baby corn); the satisfaction of solving a complex problem, all by oneself; the waxy aroma of an open box of crayons. I remember immersion into a storybook that mirrors and articulates notions never before understood; the pungent scent of a freshly mowed lawn (no one else in all the world has ever smelled anything like it); grandma’s chicken and potato curry (more potatoes, please); stinging skinned knees and runny noses; drippy sticky bubble wands, leaving soapy trails down arms; hurt feelings, happy feelings, embarrassed feelings, so many feelings.

What do you think of, when you think of childhood?

This bustling week, I do believe our Lower Schoolers participated in so many of the above markers of childhood. Kicking off our week (Fire Prevention Week, to be exact), with a visit from our local fire department set us up for discussions about kuleana and caring for our community. Touring the inside and outside of these amazing first responder vehicles was surely a highlight! Now with the closing of the first quarter, all classes K-5 are deep in their core academic work and projects are underway, or even being culminated and celebrated, across all areas. At the time of this writing, our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are performing in their Lower School musical, Where the Wild Things Are, with our lower elementary grades supporting and watching in the audience (click to watch and share!).

In our primary outdoor learning space, Ulumau Garden, our young gardeners are reaping the benefits of Ms. Prutow McKennaʻs Korean Natural Farming methods. And did you hear that we have opened up our compost system to our community? Check out our brief video introduction here and feel free to drop off your compost every day during our morning drop off from 7:40 to 8:00 am!

We are looking forward to connecting together at our upcoming Rocktober! event after school on Friday, October 20, at the Village Campus! Do you need a keiki Halloween costume? Our ʻOhana Association will also be holding a costume pickup/drop off tent at this event. Please bring your cleaned and gently used old costumes to donate, or check out the Costume Tent for a new one. Costumes for donations should come on a hanger or clear package with sizes marked. You do not need to have donated a costume to pick up a new one!

Finally, cold and flu season is here. As a reminder, if your keiki is experiencing any symptoms of sickness, please keep them at home so they can rest. Mahalo for helping to keep our community safe and healthy. If you have any questions or would like any health support for your keiki while they are on campus, you can always reach out to Nurse Crissy at vcinfirmary@hpa.edu.

So, what do you think of, when you think of childhood?

Author Maurice Sendak believes it is making “mischief of one kind and another,” sailing off in a private imaginary boat and wanting to be where someone loves you “best of all.” He reminds us of the significance of imaginary play and the importance of home and ʻohana. During these times of turbulence and high emotion, I feel grateful for the power of literature, music, and imagination to soothe the soul, inspire action, and bring us together.

P.S. It was a delighted Lower Schooler last week who told me we had starfish arms for lunch (yes, I only knew them as baby corn).

Mālama pono,

Dora Kwong
Lower School Principal

From the desk of your Division Principal, Glenn Chickering

Aloha Middle School families,

It has been quite a week in Middle School, as students have been engaging in experiential learning excursions around Hawaiʻi Island and over to Oʻahu as well. This year’s Mālama Kaiāulu Theme Week continued to build on the work we did during the pandemic to evolve our Theme Week experience to be more connected to our communities, island, and our curriculum.

This week’s Fly on the Wall boards an airplane to Oʻahu with our grade 7 students who spent two nights aboard the U.S.S. Missouri and exploring Pearl Harbor and the Bishop Museum. We got started bright and early on Tuesday morning and after arriving in Honolulu, we arrived at the U.S.S. Missouri got a quick view of the ship and our sleeping quarters, and then headed off to the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum where students had a guided tour of the museum and its hangers full of planes, learned the basics of being an aviator and were able to experience a flight simulator, complete with taking off, navigating and landing the plane. We then went back to the Missouri where we engaged in a number of activities that shared a common theme of the importance of ensuring clear communication when working together in teams.

We spent the night aboard the Battleship Missouri in authentic sleeping quarters with bunks stacked three high. There was room to roll over, but not much more than that, so we reminded students to not sit up too quickly at morning reverie. Out of 13 boys in the bunks, we heard six bumps at reverie, but none too serious.

On Wednesday morning, we were off to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial in the morning, where we learned quite a bit more about the events of December 7, 1941, visited the memorial, and enjoyed a virtual reality simulation that put our students back into the cockpits of planes.

In the afternoon, we visited the beautiful Bishop Museum to stand in awe at some of the breathtaking Hawaiian art and cultural artifacts on display and engage with the many interactive activities in the Science Hall.

We spent Wednesday late afternoon and evening back on the U.S.S Missouri where we were able to explore much more of the ship, including the command center, the officer’s quarters, and so much more. One of the highlights was the surrender deck where General Macarthur, Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, representing the Emperor of Japan, and General Yoshijiro Umezu, representing the Japanese Army signed the Instrument of Surrender. Historic indeed.

On Thursday morning, we only heard five bumps at reverie – progress! Another few days and I bet we would have all rolled out of bed smoothly. It was a long two days and we were thrilled by how engaged our students stayed throughout all the learning and stepping out of their comfort zones. We received many compliments from our hosts about how respectful, attentive, and inquisitive they were.

We’ll give some updates from the 6th and 8th-grade trips after the Fly on the Wall gets a chance to check in with those teams.

We hope to see you at Rocktober! on Friday, October 20. This fun event at the Village Campus in celebration of the fall season will include scavenger hunts, rock painting, festival games, lei making, and even horse carriage rides! All the while we will enjoy the tunes flowing from DJ JBoogie. Please note children must have a parent present to sign a waiver in order to participate in the horse carriage ride. Do you need a keiki Halloween costume? Our ʻOhana Association will also be holding a costume pickup/drop off tent at this event. Please bring your cleaned and gently used old costumes to donate, or check out the Costume Tent for a new one. Costumes for donations should come on a hanger or clear package with sizes marked. You do not need to have donated a costume to pick up a new one!

A reminder to please keep your eye on the Wā Pilina ʻOhana Series schedule. These workshops are opportunities for our HPA ʻohana to learn together and connect moʻoleo, immersive experiences, and stewardship opportunities. Please see this flyer for the schedule.

When we get back to school next week, we will be looking forward to a few special presentations from Ian Groves of Soundcheck Prevention. He will be presenting about the dangers of addiction in general, and vaping in particular. Ian has worked with our students before and always does a great job.

We will also be shuffling our Club selections for the second half of the first semester. While many Club offerings will stay the same, students will have the opportunity to try something different. There will also be a few new offerings to consider.

Please see this garden update from Ms. Prutow-McKenna:

Join HPA in our composting mission!

Can’t compost at home? No problem! We’re extending a warm invitation to our friends and family to join us in contributing to our compost piles. As you drop off your children in the morning at the Village Campus between 7:40 to 8:00 am, swing by the garden. You’re welcome to park there and add your items to our bins. Look for the signs, and let’s grow a greener world together!

Check out this video on our school Instagram created in our Garden Leadership Class.

Finally, please help your children remember to wear orange to school on Wednesday, October 18 to recognize National Bullying Prevention Month.

Mahalo,

Glenn Chickering
Middle School Principal

From the desk of your Poʻo Kumu (Division Principal), Kaʻai Spencer

Aloha e nā maka o ka ʻupena a ka makani!

The school year is moving swiftly along, and we have reached the completion of the first quarter! The students have received a number of reminders and supportive encouragement to make any improvements that may be needed, especially if their grades were not at the level they wanted. While quarterly grades do not make their way onto transcripts, we do use the quarterly grades for two primary areas. One main use of quarterly grades is for our seniors who are applying for colleges, and the other important reason for quarterly grades is to determine eligibility for athletics and performing arts. As our fall athletic teams start to shift their focus to post-season play, we are hopeful that all of our student-athletes have maintained their eligibility and can continue to add value to their respective teams.

To continue our pursuit of excellence, upper school advisors will be utilizing a weekly academic progress check form for any advisee who has fallen behind academically. We often find that students who fall behind need a little assistance with learning how to be a student with improved habits. The weekly academic progress check form requires students to visit with each teacher to get a signature and create an opportunity for a conversation about assignments and due dates, to schedule time for additional guidance, and to ensure a degree of accountability that guides students in the skills needed to be an active participant in their own learning and success. If an advisor initiates the use of this form for one of their students, parents will be notified to ensure their awareness of their child’s academic progress and to assist with conversations that parents can have with students about academic performance.

If you feel that your child could benefit from the structure that is created with the use of the weekly academic progress check form, please reach out to your child’s advisor. Systems like this create a wider net of support that is managed by our advisors with support from each teacher and additional support at home by keeping parents well informed. When the fall semester final exams begin in December, we are hopeful that support systems like this will prove to be beneficial by teaching students to have more agency and to be in the driver’s seat of their own academic success.

Ke aloha nō,

Kaʻai Spencer
Upper School Poʻo Kumu