Back to Participating Schools Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy 65-1692 Kohala Mtn. Rd. Kamuela, Hawai‘i 96743 Laura Jim, Grades 6–7, 36 students Photo: The group explores the rainforest with Melora Purell, outdoor educator for HI-MOES.

Environmental Work in the Forest: Independent, student-driven field research projects celebrating the diversity of life in a native Hawaiian forest
Projects Included: Epiphytes, Birds, Nutrients in Soil and Soil Components between the Pasture and the Forest
Students created independent field research projects to explore the diversity of life in a native Hawaiian forest. Student-designed experiments included studies of the distribution of epiphytes on trees at Pu‘u Pili; the abundance of native Hawaiian birds; variations in soil nutrients between pastureland, pig-altered forest, and pristine forest; and differences in soil quality (nitrates, texture, acidity, etc.) between pastureland, the edge of the forest, and forested land.

Click here to see the PowerPoint presentations or read the full Conference Proceedings.

The following are just a couple of the poems created by Mrs Jim's students after their first field trip.

Poem on Hi-Moes adventure!
We laughed and learned!
But took notes as we went!
From grass to mud we all shifted gears
But we also went uphill!
The mud was oh so slippery
When we all got quite we could hear Mother Nature calling!
From birds chirping to the leaves blowing with the wind
It was all so peaceful
But we can only thank Ms. Melora and Mrs. Jim for coordinating such a thing!

I‘0 Song
A delicate fortress towers above me,
A wall ofhands block my verdant view,
Octopuses hang precariously,
By unseen ropes of woven sinew.

The ropes, they hold me here,
Letting me glide among the mist,
The tiny droplets of life fall near,
Closing me in eternal bliss.

A high pitched voice finds my ear,
Its feathers fluffed against the wind,
It swims along the mountain's tear,
As she too will cry about the end.

The wind creeps upward silently,
Conducting the sea of instruments
A beautiful calming symphony,
In waves of all the elements.

They whisper secrets unknown by man,
A sensory murmur of beating hearts,
The throbbing of the wounded land,
May shred them all apart.

To smell the fruit of life,
To taste the wine of dreams,
To feel the pain of strife,
You must see what it all means.

If seeing is believing,
Then why are you so blind?
To be born into being,
Your eyes should open wide.

You cannot hear without your soul,
A creature many lack,
They call and call, they pay the toll,
You have to listen back.
~ Kate Sensenig