Ka ‘Umeke Kā‘eo Hawaiian Immersion Public Charter School

We are a K-7 public charter school located in the community of Keaukaha in Hilo.
Experiential learning at Uluhaimalama

Ma ka hana ka ‘ike! (In doing one learns.)

Our school garden provides the keiki of Keaukaha with an opportunity for hands-on experience with the ‘āina (land). Students plan the layout, prepare the soil, plant, tend, harvest, clean, cook, and eat all produce from the patches that are cultivated just outside our classrooms.


Math, science, nutrition, botany, connections to the environment, physical education, art, values, and community service are only some of the experiences we gain by tending Uluhaimalama. Active, hands-on learning inspires students to really care about the products of their labor. They know which plants they cultivated; they watch as the leaves unfurl on their kalo; they know if bugs have been eating during the night. Our students learn the lessons of reciprocity: if they take care of the ‘āina, then the ‘āina will take care of them!


I ke ala Hāloa!

Our schools are located in the midst of a Hawaiian Homestead community. Growing kalo and other native foods as part of an integrated school curriculum allows us to perpetuate planting traditions and familial relationships that have been nurtured in Hawai‘i for millennia. Hawaiian food products include: A collection of Hawaiian kalo varieties, ulu (breadfruit) kō (Hawaiian sugar cane), ipu (gourds), mai‘a (banana) and many, many other foods and Hawaiian medicinal plants.