For Hawaii's seven community colleges, the first Friday in March has been named "Wo Innovations in Learning Day," in honor of the Wo Endowment. The primary function of the endowment is to support faculty professional development in the form of the Wo Learning Champions - one or two faculty or professional staff members who are selected at each campus. Every other year, the Wo Learning champions plan and coordinate activities for a WILD day of community sharing and professional development activities and workshops for each campus.
I was lucky to attend Maui College's WILD day 2010, which was held at Kanaha Beach Park in Kahului. We started out with a conservation project within the beach park boundary, planting native plants and removing invasive weeds.
Planting native plants at Kanaha Beach
Removing invasive grass
After the restoration project, we divided up among a number of different activities designed to teach us about Native Hawaiian culture.
First I got to try paddling in a 6-man outrigger canoe. Five of the seats were taken by me and my co-workers from Maui College (all novices), and the last seat, which was the steering position at the rear of the canoe, was expertly commanded by our coach, Puka. Puka taught us the Hawaiian names for all the parts of the canoe (which I've forgotten, but can remind myself here). He also told us what to do (and what NOT to do) if we tipped over! Fortunately, we didn't have to remember this since it didn't happen. It was also reassuring to look over the side of the canoe and see that the water was only about 5 feet deep. I don't have any photos of us in the canoe because I didn't want to get my camera wet, but I like to think we looked like this:
It was great fun! I was in seat number three, which meant I had the duty of calling out when everyone had to switch their paddles to the other side of the canoe. My job consisted of counting to twelve, over and over. Each time I got to eleven, I was to call out, "HUT!" At twelve, I called out "HO!" and everyone switched, and I started counting again. Naturally, I took my job very seriously! We paddled around for about 30 minutes, then landed safely on the beach again. Thank you Puka!!
After paddling, there were several other activities to choose from, but I was still savoring my ocean voyage, so I just wandered around and watched.
Lei making
Husking coconuts
Cleaning and smoothing out coconut shells to make 'awa cups
Pounding bark to make kapa cloth
Printing designs on the kapa cloth
WILD day was so much fun - do I have to wait two years til the next one?
