The Ulumau Garden at Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy’s Village Campus broke ground in spring 2009 under Georgette Kaniho and Jane Taylor’s care. The vision for the garden was to connect students to the earth and help them realize how important it is to nurture all things living. As of 2010, Noah Dodd was appointed as the Garden Coordinator. He is a certified school garden teacher who works in our local community and owns Hawai‘i Green Earthscaping, an edible landscaping business. He continues the original vision and has expanded it to create a space built on the developing industry standards for school gardens. This allows the Ulumau Garden to be a healthy, safe and sustainable garden that provides top quality organic produce to HPA and the Hawai‘i Island community.

K-8 students experience a placed-based/hands-on outdoor learning environment that reinforces and ties in subjects being taught in the classroom. For instance, vocabulary words or math equations being used in the classroom can easily be converted to a real application/learning situation in the garden showing the student a practical use for knowledge they are gaining in the classroom… the “ah ha” moment.

Students learn about Hawaiian culture/traditional practices with the help of Kumu Kuwalu, the resident Hawaiian Studies teacher. The curriculum also includes knowledge about soil science, composting, “living soil” biology, plant and insect identification, vermiculture, and liquid fertilizer teas. The culture of on-site materials that create “value added” products, demonstrate small business economics and encourage student’s to think about future sustainable business practices.

While we currently have a modest garden, our visions and potential for growth are not! We encourage all community members or fellow school gardeners to visit us and share in the glory of connecting with the earth.

For more information, contact Noah Dodd
HPA Village Campus office at 885-2500
Cell: 640-8304
ndodd@hpa.edu