December 2021

December 7, 2021

Dec 2021 Newsletter

Kāʻelo to Kaulua

As we flow from the months of Kāʻelo to Kaulua on Oʻahu, we contemplate these ʻōlelo noʻeau to help focus our energy towards the building of strength, well-being and abundance. What does it mean to heal from within, to feel our nets fill with sustenance, to grow our beauty and strength from the inside out? We take this moment to ask all of our EI ʻohana to please send healing thoughts and prayers to our beloved ʻanakala Pono Shim as he fights his battle against cancer. We look forward to the new year, when he will rejoin us in our cohorts and classes. We love you, Uncle Pono!

Foundations of ALOHA

This week, we are wrapping up our 12th Cohort of Foundations of ALOHA. For 18+ months, we have been on this journey of personal and professional growth, with youth, educators, families, and professionals from across Hawaiʻi (and the US Continent). With this 12th Cohort, we expanded to include a cohort from the City & County of Honolulu and a cohort of educators interested in writing curriculum woven with strands of ALOHA. We also incorporated new features like a daily email, sharing a practice of ALOHA and a teaching inspired by Mahina – the moon.

We invite you to join us in the new year for Cohort 13, which begins on Sunday, January 2nd with our 1-hour opening session. please register here (bit.ly/foa13reg) if you are interested, and feel free to share the registration link with others!

EI Book Nook

As mentioned last month, instead of diving into a new book, we are spending one more month revisiting the books from 2021 that some of us have not yet finished (or want to reread), and taking time to update our discussion docs for each book. Here are the books we read this year; we invite you to read any and all during this month, and and visit the discussion docs to engage with others:

When Grit Isn’t Enough
The Diaries of Queen Liliʻuokalani
Doughnut Economics
Nā Wāhine Kapu
Braiding Sweetgrass
Kaiāulu
Nā Kuaʻāina

In January, we will be reading The Properties of Perpetual Light by Julian Aguon. Stay tuned for that discussion doc, coming next month!

HOPE Updates

In the HOPE world, we are excited to present a bevy of opportunities this month. In the next coming weeks, we will be offering a Virtual Field Trips Content Institute, an Ocean Safety Education Content Institute and a Student Experience Lab! Stay up to date with the latest information and events via our hyperdoc. If you have any questions about HOPE or would like to be added to our weekly, HOPE-related updates, please email us at [email protected].

This week, we are sharing information about a Foundations of ALOHA Content Institute hosted by our EI staff. For returning participants from Cohorts 1-11, we encourage you to join us for Cohort 12, and for the content creation workshops we will be hosting in January. For those educators new to FOA, we ask you to register for Cohort 12 if you are interested in receiving a stipend to create ALOHA-inspired content for the HOPE project.

Another exciting opportunity taking shape is Ocean Safety ʻOhana’s ocean and aquatic safety-focused Content Institute. If you are interested, please fill out this google form to register. Ocean Safety ʻOhana has been working in collaboration with EI for the past few years, with a focus on raising awareness and support for swim safety and ocean education. Click here for ways to support OSO and its work, and to learn the story of inspiration and hope shared by founder Jessamy Town-Hornor. Our friend Jessy launched OSO as a healing venture after the heartbreaking loss of her husband and youngest daughter in an ocean accident in 2016.