News 2011
Hawaii school gardens receive grants from Kohala Center
December 14, 2011
Sixteen Hawai‘i Island schools have received grants from The Kohala Center to support funding for garden educators, for curriculum development, and for garden supplies. The Kohala Center funding supports school garden programs at participating K-12 schools in order to improve the quality of food and agriculture sciences education in Hawai‘i.
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Used with permission from Big Island Video News
New Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center blessed
December 6, 2011
A new visitor education experience awaits visitors to Kahalu’u Beach Park. The Kohala Center has entered into a 10-year contract with the County of Hawaii to establish the Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center, a new, portable facility to house the educational center and the snorkel rental concession at the popular beach park. The new education center was blessed this Saturday.
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Used with permission from Big Island Video News
Protecting Kahaluu Bay
December 4, 2011
The Kohala Center has entered into a 10-year contract with the county to establish a learning center at Kahaluu Beach Park. The Kahaluu Bay Education Center offers a learning experience for visitors and residents — one that teaches respect and reverence for the natural and cultural resources of Kahaluu Bay. “It’s a great day today, to be able to move forward with this project,” said county Parks and Recreation Director Bob Fitzgerald at Saturday’s blessing of the education center.
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Used with permission from Hawaii 247
Kaiser supports Big Island healthy eating initiatives
December 2, 2011
Kaiser Permanente Hawaii has announced $20,000 in grant funding to the Food Basket and The Kohala Center to address healthy eating initiatives on the Big Island: * The Kohala Center – A $10,000 grant to support setup of SNAP/EBT redemption systems in six farmers markets involving 170 local vendors on the Big Island. Incentives will be offered to promote consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by low income families. * Food Basket – A $10,000 grant to Hawaii Island’s foodbank to extend their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and provide seniors with greater access to fresh produce.
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Used with permission from Hawaii 247
The Kohala Center: Message from Hamabata
November 30, 2011
From Matt Hamabata, The Kohala Center executive director: As we celebrate the end of our first decade, The Kohala Center has much good news to share with you. We have begun to fill a vital niche in Hawaii by simply responding to the needs and wise advice of island residents. We have planted seeds across the islands by working in partnership with communities to advocate for healthy, fresh, and locally grown food in the meals we serve to children in our schools; with farmers’ and fishermen’s co-ops to provide them with resources to help them succeed in the marketplace...
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Used with permission from Hawaii 247
Mellon-Hawaii Fellows Present Their Work
November 21, 2011
Four Native Hawaiian scholars are on their way to completing a prestigious fellowship. Hawaii Island's Kohala Center administers the program supporting a special kind of scholarship. HPR's Sherry Bracken tells us more from Kona.
Used with permission from Hawaii Public Radio
Education center on wheels rolls into Kahaluu
November 13, 2011
By the month's end, The Kohala Center plans to have a soft opening of its Kahaluu Bay Education Center -- a 1995 Ford van retrofitted to be an educational tool to share the importance of the resources at the popular West Hawaii snorkeling and surfing spot. While this new education center is small, The Kohala Center and Hawaii County officials say it will make a big impact in further enhancing the area's natural environment and protecting cultural resources. It will also serve as a focal spot for educational, public outreach and research efforts, as well as a concession stand, renting snorkel gear for about $9 plus tax. tourists.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today
Dispatch from Hawai‘i: Supporting the Growing School Garden Movement
November 2011
Think "Hawai'i," and lush, abundant landscapes likely come to mind. Yet statistics tell a different story: Located more than 2,000 miles from the nearest port, Hawai'i imports 85–90% of its food and has less than a seven-day supply in stores at any given time, making it vulnerable to economic disruptions and natural disasters. Over 9% of residents are "food insecure," which means they lack consistent access to enough food for a healthy, productive life. There is heightened demand to feed the state's 1.3 million residents and 7 million-plus annual tourists.
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Used with permission from the Center for Ecoliteracy
Fresh produce for low-income folks
October 27, 2011
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently awarded nearly $165,000 to two West Hawaii nonprofits to support direct marketing efforts and increase access to fresh produce in low-income areas. Getting fruits and vegetables from six area farmers markets into the hands of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients will get a little easier next year. A $90,460 grant to The Kohala Center will allow these customers to pay with electronic benefits transfer, or EBT, cards -- the replacement for food stamps, said Melanie Bondera, rural cooperative development specialist for the Laulima Center, a program of The Kohala Center.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today
Truth Seeker
November 2, 2011
by Mindy Pennybacker
Cross-cutting between territorial and contemporary Hawaii, Sydney Lehua Iaukea’s brilliant memoir/ historical expose provides a gripping and revelatory read, endowed with all the trappings of romance, melodrama and ghost story. There’s a mysterious old family portrait, two young heiresses robbed of their birthright growing up in poverty, and Iaukea’s discovery of uncovered chapters in Hawaiian history, in the long-forgotten papers of her great-great-grandfather, Curtis P. Iaukea, that her book brings to light. As the author plunges into her research, shades of the past–her ancestor and Queen Liliuokalani–come to dominate her own life in scenes worthy of Julie and Julia, Rebecca, or Great Expectations.
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Used with permission from Honolulu Weekly
South Kona: Seed exchange set for Nov. 5th
October 22, 2011
By David Corrigan and Stephanie Salazar
Captain Cook, Hawaii: In South Kona, today we report on a West Hawaii Seed Exchange set for November 5th. According to the Kohala Center, Island farmers and gardeners who save seed are invited to attend the annual West Hawai‘i Seed Exchange from 2–4 p.m. Saturday, November 5, at the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook. The exchange coincides with the garden’s annual Arbor Day Plant Give-Away. Farmers and gardeners are invited to bring saved seed, cuttings, huli, and corms of food crops that grow well in home gardens and on farms.
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Used with permission from Big Island Video News
Saving Seeds
October 13, 2011
by Joan Conrow
“I pretty much think saving seed is the most important thing we can do on the planet,” says Paul Massey, founder of Regenerations Botanical Garden in Kilauea. “We’re at a tipping point, where we still have an amazing amount of plant diversity, but it’s disappearing rapidly.” Massey will be one of the speakers at a two-day workshop aimed at teaching folks how to save seeds. The deadline to register, and apply for youth scholarships, is Thursday, Oct. 20.
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Used with permission from For Kauai Online
Kamehameha Schools names three finalists for top job September 19, 2011
Kamehameha Schools has narrowed down the search for a new head of school for the Kapalama campus to three finalists, officials announced in a news release today. They are: Lee Ann DeLima, currently the headmaster of Kamehameha Schools Maui campus. J. Noelani Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua, a professor of political science at UH-Manoa. Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua has helped to build UH's indigenous politics program. She received a doctoral degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
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Used with permission from the Star Advertiser
Kamehameha Schools names headmaster finalists
September 19, 2011
Kamehameha Schools on Monday named three finalists for headmaster of its Kapalama Campus. The Honolulu private school is searching for a successor for Michael Chun, who said in May that he would step down in July 2012. The finalists are: Lee Ann DeLima, headmaster of Kamehameha Schools’ Maui Campus; J. Noelani Goodyear-Kapua [sic], a political science professor at the University of Hawaii Manoa and Earl T. Kim, superintendent of the Montgomery School District in New Jersey.
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Used with permission from Pacific Business News
Hawaii Island's Best Beach for Snorkeling
September 23, 2011
By Kim Steutermann Rogers
When I arrived at Hawaii Island’s number one snorkeling beach last week, the tide was low, revealing bright green seaweed growing on rocks. Exactly 77 beach-goers were out--reclining on beach towels, wading in the water, swimming and snorkeling. A dozen more sat at the picnic tables under the pavilion. Sean, a one-time public defender from California, manned the lifeguard tower, and two retired school teachers, Ken and Regan, set up shop for ReefTeach. On the back of Ken’s blue, volunteer-issue ReefTeach shirt, he’d handwritten in permanent marker: Please Kokua: No Touch Turtles!! No feed fish!! No touch coral!! *Mahalo*.
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Used with permission from The Outrigger
Counting Crows
September 22, 2011
By Kim Steutermann Rogers
I’m standing on one side of a window in the library of the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center. On the other side of the glass, two crows, a couple, go about their day. The male presents the back of his head to the female. She reaches over, opens her bill and plucks out a feather. He flinches but presents his head to her again, and she reaches, opens and plucks. It’s molting season, a prickly, itchy time for a bird. A little help snagging those feathers in hard to reach places is greatly appreciated.
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Used with permission from The Outrigger
The Story of "Lefty" the Sea Turtle
September 1, 2011
Share The Story of “Lefty” the Sea Turtle …By Margaret Kearns… Green sea turtles (honu in Hawaiian) are among Hawai‘i’s most popular, positively charming marine creatures. Revered by ancient Hawaiians, one legend tells the story of a mystical honu, Kauila, who resided in the waters off Hawai‘i Island. Kauila, as the legend goes, possessed special powers that allowed her to change into human form to watch over the village children playing near the shore.
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Used with permission from Ke Ola Magazine
Rebuilding Waikuaaala after Kona tsunami
August 15, 2011
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii: The community gathered to lend a hand to the cherished Kahulu’u Beach Park on Saturday, part of the Kokua Kahulu’u effort organized by the Kohala Center, Hawaii County and supported by other local groups and businesses. The Wai’kua’a'ala pond, once the royal bath for Hawaiian alii, was restored by heavy lifting volunteers under the direction of Kelii Freitas, a county worker and stone mason versed in the old style. Organizers said the March 11th tsunami that battered the Kona coast presented an opportunity to refurbish the pond that had fallen under disrepair.
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Used with permission from Big Island Video News.com
Volunteers Brave Heat To Clean Up Beach
August 13, 2011
Clean up continues in Kailua Kona 5 months after the Tsunami swept through the islands.
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Used with permission from KITV.com
From Punana Leo o Hilo to Oxford
August 13, 2011
By Peter Sur
For anybody who has questioned the value of a Hawaiian immersion education, consider the case of 'Oiwi Parker Jones. As members of Protect Kaho'olawe Ohana, his activist parents met in a courtroom following a protest. Raised by his mother in Hilo, he entered the first class of Punana Leo o Hilo in 1985, and stayed with the program until he was 15. Now 30, Parker Jones is a junior faculty member at England's University of Oxford, where he earned his PhD., and he was recently granted a prestigious $50,000 Mellon-Hawaii postdoctoral fellowship in linguistics.
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Used with permission from Hawaii Tribune Herald
UH Hilo’s Kimura awarded Mellon-Hawai‘i fellowship
KAMUELA, Hawai‘i—July 27, 2011— University of Hawai‘i at Hilo (UH Hilo) assistant professor Larry Kimura has been selected as a 2011–2012 Mellon-Hawai‘i Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellow. Kimura is one of four scholars receiving the fellowships in recognition of their commitment to the advancement of scholarship on Hawaiian cultural and natural environments, Hawaiian language, history, politics, and society.
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Used with permission from the Hamakua Times
Net Results
Keiki Learn About Hawaiian Fishing Techniques at Summer Camp
July 8, 2011
At age 18, kahu and Hawaiian historian Danny Akaka Jr. learned how to throw net along the shoreline fronting Eva Parker Woods Cottage at Mauna Lani Resort. Everywhere Akaka looked, he saw rainbow-colored waves full of fish. It was the 1970s, a time when Akaka said he could throw net once, eyes closed, and still bring home plenty of fish for his family, friends and neighbors.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today
Rare Find in Kohala
Volunteers seek to aid epiphyte plant presumed extinct
July 7, 2011
A voluntary coalition of private landowners and state land managers hopes to preserve and propagate a rare Hawaiian plant species presumed extinct until it was discovered last summer in a North Kohala upland forest. Kohala Watershed Partnership received in June a $7,550 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Recovery Branch for protection and restoration of oha wai, or Clermontia peleana singuliflora.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today
School garden conference at Makaha Elementary
July 11, 2011
MAKAHA—School garden and classroom teachers from around the state will converge this week at the oldest school garden in the state, Hoa ‘Aina O Makaha, for the 4th annual Summer School Garden Conference. The theme of this year’s conference is Planting Hope: Growing the Next Generation. The conference is hosted by The Kohala Center of the Big Island, an independent, not-for-profit center for research and education about and for the environment.
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Used with permission from The Hawaii Independant
From Farm to Fork
One possible solution to our local food system
by Melanie Bondera
June 8, 2011
Mauka to Makai / Imagine: It’s Saturday morning. You take the kids and head down to your local farmers market to pick up your weekly box of fruits, vegetables, taro and sweet potatoes from your ahupuaa co-op. You were able to get add-ons of mahimahi, Island beef, eggs, milk, bread, ohelo berry jam, and Kona coffee to round out your meals for this week.
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Used with permission from Honolulu Weekly
‘Lefty’ the turtle flipping through life
May 3, 2011
by Caroline Neary
One of the greatest things about ReefTeaching is getting acquainted with the Hawaiian green sea turtles that frequent Kahaluu Bay. Each day, ReefTeach volunteers educate visitors about the honu (sea turtles) we encounter as they are happily eating or basking. ReefTeachers have become so familiar with some of these turtles that we even refer to a few of them by name—‘Rocky’ and ‘Lucky’ are two well-loved visitors to the bay.
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Used with permission from Hawaii 247
Volunteers restoring Waikuaaala
April 30, 2011
Long overgrown with non-native plants, the Waikuaaala pond at Kahaluu Beach Park is regaining its stature. Work to restore the brackish water pond, located near the center of the park, began shortly after a March 11 tsunami inundated the area. Since then, numerous people and groups, including a few county workers, have spent hours clearing out weeds, trees and rocks in an effort to expand the pond from the small 12-foot-by-12-foot circle it had become to a nearly 25-by-40 oval.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today
Big Island Green
April 13th, 2011
School Garden fosters Community and Sustainability
By Roger Harris & Diane Koerner
Mala’ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School shares the bounty of their school garden with students, families, faculty and the community too. Long a teaching force that combines the pleasure and excitement of working with the earth and growing food, the Mala’ai Saturday afternoon Crop Share gathers the abundance of their garden as well as surplus produce from nearby farms and offers them to the community.
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Used with permission from Big Island Weekly
Volunteers vital to tsunami cleanup efforts
March 17, 2011
Heavy equipment, tools and tenacity were prevalent Thursday in West Hawaii, where volunteers banded together with government employees to clean up tsunami debris. Hawaii Rocks and Pineapple Custom are helping the state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation remove wreckage off Kailua Pier, as well as out of Kamakahonu and Kaiakeakua bays. Kamakahonu Bay fronts Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel while Kaiakeakua Bay is on the other side of the pier. The businesses began donating their time, equipment, labor and expertise Saturday. Their reason was simple.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today
UH Hilo students participate in Ivy League
March 10, 2011
Three students from the master’s program in tropical conservation biology and environmental science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo will go to Cornell University to complete their research as part of the “Cornell-Hawaiʻi Graduate Field Research Laboratory.” Ambyr Mokiao-Lee, Kainana Francisco, and Troy Sakihara joined a group of 14 Ph.D. students from Cornell’s tropical field ecology course in January to collect data for their projects on the wiliwili ecology and anchialine pond hydrology in West Hawaiʻi. They will spend two weeks in April at the Cornell campus in Ithaca, New York, to prepare their data for publication.
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Used with permission from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo
Cooperatives can help gardeners and farmers
by Melanie Bondera
March 6, 2011
Though we all probably love spending time working solo in our gardens or on our farms, we usually arrive at a point where we realize we might benefit from a little support. Then it's time to "hui up." Working together can accomplish many goals. Maybe you want some organic gardening supplies that are too expensive to buy locally. Perhaps you'd love to be able to use a piece of equipment occasionally that you can't afford to buy on your own.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today
Coastal Classroom Konawaena middle schoolers learn science in the field
February 18, 2011
Konawaena Middle School eighth-graders got a small taste of field work this week while spending time at Kahaluu Beach testing scientific theories. From determining the effects of nitrates and nitrites upon sea urchin diversity to discovering how sewage impacts marine life, students used an assortment of tests on collected water samples to see if their hypotheses proved true.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today
Pelekane watershed restoration project to finish on time, on budget
by Carolyn Lucas
February 14, 2011
Environmental benefits is the focus of the $2.9 million Pelekane Bay Watershed Restoration Project, but Melora Purell also shed light on economic factors Sunday during the Kawaihae Local Resource Council's monthly meeting. About 92 percent of this federal money was spent locally. It went toward purchasing soil, nursery and building supplies from Big Island businesses, as well as buying used four-wheel drive vehicles and generating business for mechanics who repaired those vehicles.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today
In R.I. and Hawaii, institute trains leaders
By Caroline Flanagan
February 14, 2011
From Rhode Island to Hawaii, high school students are learning environmental leadership through programs offered by the Brown Leadership Institute, a pre-college program that teaches high school students interested in global issues to take action in their own communities. In 2004, the Leadership Institute formed the Brown Environmental Leadership Lab, and has since partnered with a Hawaiian educational center, branching into the Pacific. Students enrolled in the Brown Environmental Leadership Laboratory program in Rhode Island spend two weeks living at the Haffenreffer Estate in Bristol, on the shores of the Narragansett Bay.
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Used with permission from the Brown Daily Herald
Laulima Center offers assistance for cooperatives
February 8, 2011
Groups across the state that would like to form a cooperative but need some assistance getting organized, writing a business plan, or becoming legally incorporated have a new resource—the Laulima Center. Established by The Kohala Center and funded by a USDA-Rural Cooperative Development grant and the Ulupono Initiative, the Laulima Center will serve all sectors of the rural economy by providing organizational support to cooperative ventures statewide.
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Used with permission from Hawaii 247
Bees Rock! at Malaai School Garden
January 28, 2011
Waimea families and friends are invited to Malaai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School 9-11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 29 as Jenny Bach shares her knowledge about the amazing wonders of bees and bee guardianship. Jenny is a seasoned bee keeper and has a deep understanding of the important work honey bees perform in sustaining agricultural health and also how we can best use and support them. It’s free — bring friends and family. This is one of a series of workshops planned in coming months to encourage home food gardens.
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Used with permission from Hawaii 247
Kauanoe Kamana The school principal champions Hawaiian immersion education
January 28, 2011
Punana Leo means "nest of voices," and at its start, the infants-to-preschool education program conducted all in Hawaiian was seen as that kind of a haven — a place where tots immerse themselves in the language at the feet of their elders. But baby birds do fly eventually. Kauanoe Kamana, 59, one of the two first scholars to earn a doctorate specifically in revitalization of indigenous languages, hopes to see the fruits of Hawaiian immersion education over more than three decades.
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Used with permission from the Star Advertiser
Organizations needed for Conserve Fundraise Learn program
January 19, 2011
There is still time for organizations to participate in the Conserve Fundraise Learn (C.F.L) Program. The Kohala Center, Blue Planet Foundation, and Hawaii Energy are seeking eight additional community organizations or school groups to help exchange incandescent light bulbs for energy-saving compact florescent light (CFL) bulbs. Twelve groups are already participating in the exchange.
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Used with permission from Hawaii 247
Pelekane Bay Watershed Restoration Project: 16 months later
January 19, 2011
by Barrie Moss, Outreach Coordinator
We are now 16 months into our 18 month timeline. Not too much can be seen from the roads that skirt the perimeter of our site. All that might catch your eye as you drive by at 45 mph are small sections of new fenceline, a couple of water tanks, and some strange looking horizontal lines in the distance that are rows of sediment stop fabric. But if you had the opportunity to walk the 6,000 acres inside the fence, all the hard work of our 13 member crew and numerous interns would be fully evident.
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Used with permission from Hawaii 247
Kaiser Permanente to "Walk the Walk" with Hawaii island school garden network Community to come together on Martin Luther King, Jr. "day of service" to promote healthy living.
January 12, 2011
Kaiser Permanente Hawaii physicians and clinic staff will set aside their sterile medical garb, equipment and working environment and, instead, get down and dirty working in the dirt - volunteering in Hawaii Island school gardens to celebrate the 25th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. "Day of Service" on Monday, Jan. 17. In doing so, they hope to practice what they preach daily to patients via their "HEAL" prescription for "Healthy Eating, Active Living."
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Used with permission from the Big Island Weekly
Scholarship offered for national environmental leadership lab April 15-22
January 11, 2011
High school leaders from across country to attend isle event Island high school students are invited to join teens from across the country for a week-long outdoor adventure and an outstanding environmental leadership program -- the Brown Environmental Leadership Lab (BELL) on Hawaii Island in April. The Kohala Center and Brown University are offering a full scholarship for one student to attend BELL Hawai'i from April 15-22. This select national leadership program integrates the development of leadership skills with outstanding opportunities for high school students to study the biology, ecology, and cultural traditions of Hawai'i Island.
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Used with permission from the Hawaii Tribune-Herald