April 2021: Striving for Balance, Inside and Out

April 1, 2021
April 2021 Newsletter

Thanks for

Joining Us!


Ka Lā traced Ke Alanui i ka Piko O Wākea a few moments ago, marking the Spring Equinox – a time of equal parts light and dark, of a balance between what is and what is becoming. We have passed into the realm of longer days as Ka Lā travels towards Ke Ala Polohiwa a Kāne, the marker of the Summer Solstice. What practices do we work to grow and bring with us into this season of longer days? What might we need to make sure that our roots grow deep and strong, as our branches and leaves grow tall towards the sun?

Continuing to Build Foundations of ALOHA

 

We are currently at the end of our 7th Cohort of FOA – what an incredible adventure it has been since our first cohort in May! In addition to the space we hold for families and youth to build ALOHA practices in our lives and homes, with Cohort 7 we also welcomed our first official educator professional development cohort in partnership with the Office of Hawaiian Education. We are so grateful for all the stories shared, and for the reflective time and space that we were able to hold as we all grow in our own practices.

If you were thinking about joining us for our eighth family cohort and our second educator cohort, please feel free to register with us via this link.

Although our credit-bearing Hawaiʻi Department of Education PDE3 section has filled up for the course at this point, we recommend signing up for the Waitlist if you think you are interested — last cohort, we were able to place almost everyone from the Waitlist into the Credit-course by the time we started. We also have a non-credit-bearing PDE3 for those who would like to register for hours in the PDE3 system.

  • PDE3 Credit Course #IS186325,Section #304731
  • PDE3 Hours-Only Course #HS186406, Section #304737

 

Home as Pānānā

 

During the Hawaiʻi Department of Education’s Spring Break, we offered two family learning opportunities focused around the concept of pānānā (pā = place, nānā = observe, notice, pay attention). Our first session was geared towards exploring ways to create safe spaces in and around our homes for health, well-being, and happiness. In our second session, we shifted our focus towards creating a centered space in and around our homes for kilo – building our relationships with the sun, moon, stars, and other environments around us. We enjoyed connecting with all session attendees, doing activities together, and sharing stories – and thanks to those who shared their expertise and ideas throughout, we love every opportunity for growing and co-creating! Mahalo to our friends at the Office of Hawaiian Education for your support in making this a reality!

Bringing MIT’s How To Train Your Robot to Molokaʻi and Lanaʻi Youth

 

 

We were privileged to work in service of the Queen and her kamaliʻi again, this time accompanied by this CuteBot! Our team joined Liliʻuokalani Trust in spending a full day with Randi Williams from MIT Media Lab to experience How To Train Your Robot, a middle school artificial intelligence (AI) and ethics curriculum. We then took CuteBot and the MIT activities virtually to kamaliʻi from Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi over the Hawaiʻi DOE Spring Break. It was such a fun week filled with lots of great ideas on how AI technology might help us in our everyday lives, and provocative discussions on the ethics of the ways AI shows up in our daily lives (without many of us knowing). Mahalo to MIT, LT, and Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi ʻohana for creating the space for us to spend time with kamaliʻi

 

Kealahou Initiative Cohort 3

Yet another amazing group of young entrepreneurs with ideas to help Hawaiʻi progress to a thriving existence for all! We have one more cohort coming up in May (register at www.hawaiiancouncil.org/kealahou) if you know of any ʻōpio (ages 14 – 30) who might be interested in joining us in this amazing journey to harness the power of youth ingenuity for positive change!

H.O.P.E. (Hawaiʻi Online Portal for Education)

 

 

In case you missed it, we hosted our first info session for the Hawaiʻi Online Portal for Education. In the session, we shared information about the goals, aspirations, and tentative plans for HOPE 2021 Institutes, an endeavor to support the creation of digital, free and open resources for Hawaiʻi educators, by Hawaiʻi educators. We are asking all educators – formal and informal, public-private-charter-home school, K-12 to college – to provide input to help us refine the focus areas and activities for HOPE content creation, and to express interest in supporting HOPE in some way. Here are the links to the surveys and the informational presentation about HOPE to-date — please note that it is an evolving and iterative project, so changes are to be expected and embraced!

  • bit.ly/HOPEsignup: to join the HOPE mailing list (includes a section to indicate interest and availability to participate)
  • bit.ly/HOPENeedsSurvey: to share what you consider high needs and priorities for Hawaiʻi digital curriculum and resource development
  • bit.ly/HOPEMarch2021: access the Session #1 info deck

 

Upcoming

Opportunities


Innovation Ecosystem Talk Story Series

 Why is an innovation-based economy so important? What does an entrepreneurial mindset look like? How might innovation and entrepreneurship play a key role in a thriving Hawaiʻi?

Join us for a 4-part Innovation Ecosystem Talk Story series to hear from local visionaries about the past, present and future of Hawaiʻi’s innovation economy, and place-based perspectives on business innovation and social entrepreneurship.

April 14 Hawaiʻi Startup and Innovation Ecosystem: Past, Present, and Future – Keoni Lee, Omar Sultan

April 21 Multiple forms of Capital and Investment – Keoni Lee, Omar Sultan

April 28 Perspectives from Hawaiʻi Business(es) – Pono Shim, Max Mukai

May 5 ʻŌpio Entrepreneurship – Kealahou Initiative (Kī) cohort members

 

 Campus Forester Info Session

Mahalo to Foundations of ALOHA cohort member Andi for sharing with us this opportunity. Andi is working with the The Muliwai Initiative and the Citizen Forester Program, and has invited us to learn more about “Campus Forester,” a PBL curriculum developed in partnership with the Citizen Foresters Program that supports “building knowledge of and care for our beloved trees.” You can sign up for one of their upcoming info sessions at this Eventbrite page.

If you have any opportunities you would like us to share with our community via newsletter or email, please let us know – we are happy to help spread the word on behalf of others doing great work to build a thriving Hawaiʻi.

 

Join EI at the

following events!


                                 

Wayfinder Spring SEL Summit
CEO Miki is speaking on one of the panels of this half-day summit

26th Annual TCC Worldwide Online Conference
CEO Miki is a plenary speaker on April 13

Education Incubator
Book Nook

The Diaries of Queen Liliʻuokalani of Hawaiʻi

Our team is reading The Diaries of Queen Liliʻuokalani of Hawaiʻi this month, and we invite anyone who wants to read along with us to join us for our asynchronous discussion throughout April and our synchronous talk-story on May 5.  Please email us at [email protected] if you are interested in joining!

Mahalo mahalo mahalo!

Mahalo to the Hawaiʻi DOE Office of Hawaiian Education for the generous support of our Home as Pānānā sessions and Building Foundations of ALOHA for Teaching and Learning. We learn and grow from our time together and are grateful for all the opportunities we get to have together.