February 2022 Newsletter
Welcoming Water + Tiger Energy
The year of the Metal Ox was indeed one of steady, organized progress, trying to make sense of new work environments and pandemic shifts. Transitioning to the year of the Water Tiger brings us the desire to open the flow of communications, to let things rise to the surface and shift into higher gear. What will we allow to happen and manifest in this once every 60-year cycle of the elemental energy of Water + the animal energy of the Tiger? What brave new waves and roads will we travel, what fears will we face, what fierceness will we find inside? And how will our ALOHA continue to guide us throughout the year, and our lifetimes?
Foundations of ALOHA
Cohort 14 of our Foundations of ALOHA programming is set to start on February 20! We invite you to be a part of our family by registering at this link (bit.ly/cohort14reg); please share the link with anybody you think who might be interested. We look forward to spending this time together as we work to grow our homes and hearts into centers for learning and healing inspired by the teachings of ALOHA of Auntie Pilahi Paki and Pono Shim. Please join us, via Zoom, daily at 7am and 4:30pm, and Sundays at 4:30pm with Uncle Pono.
We send our mahalo to the Dartmouth students who spent time in ALOHA practice with us via OEDB’s Higher Skills Academy with Uncle Pono Shim, and our Foundations of ALOHA program. Reflections and discussions traveled the paths of what it means to be a visitor, what it means to take responsibility, and what it means to walk with purpose upon the land of another. Mahalo nui to all of our partner organizations at ʻIolani Palace, Living Life Source Foundation, Hoʻokuaʻāina, Mālama Maunalua, Mānoa Heritage Center, and Mālama Learning Center who helped ground this Oʻahu experience for such amazing young scholars. We are grateful for all the time, energy, and aloha.
EI Book Nook
This month we will be reading VOICE: Poetry by the Youth of Kalihi. Thank you Katrina from Hawaiʻi P20 for introducing this to us! Let us know if you’d like to join us in this month’s reading; we share ideas and wonderings each month via an asynchronous discussion doc, and will host a synchronous debrief session on Thursday, February 24 at 12pm.
Another exciting opportunity is this upcoming Book Talk, featuring a book that we have scheduled for our EI Book Nook later this year: Anti-Oppressive Education in “Elite” Schools. We’re excited to share this opportunity to talk with some authors and explore chapters of this groundbreaking book, facilitated by Miki and the other co-founders of Impact.Ed.. Register here to join the conversation on March 2nd at 3:00 PM HST/ 5:00 PM PST/ 7:00 PM CST/ 8 PM EST.
HOPE Updates
Our Hawaiʻi Online Portal for Education team will soon be announcing opportunities for educators to attend and earn stipend pay via Spring workshops focused on finding, adapting and creating digital content that can be shared with other Hawaiʻi teachers. Stay tuned for this and other exciting HOPE happenings!
Community Bulletin Board
- Localicious Hawaiʻi Art and Video Contest – Students in grades K-12 are invited to submit entries of original artwork or video to support Hawai‘i’s agricultural industry.
- Honolulu Theatre for Youth – Free membership for educators and access to lesson plans and videos!
Sharing Our Gratitude
Thank you to the team at XLR8HI for the opportunity to join your 3rd cohort of preX! We have learned so much from this experience, connecting with other Hawaiʻi entrepreneurs, experts, investors, and investment programs, and have really enjoyed the meaningful discussions that arise from the topics each week. For those not yet familiar with preX, we encourage you to check out the Pacific Business News article for more information on the program and the enterprises that make up Cohort 3.