An Amazing Morning

 So many schools and teachers are doing amazing things, but we aren’t always aware about them. Unless we are friends on social media or we know someone in the school or someone writes a news article or it’s shared on the nightly news, we might never know. Until I listened to Josh Reppun’s podcast (Episode 93), I had no idea about the Career and Technical Education (CTE) agriculture program at Leilehua High School.  

Today, my husband Randy and I were able to visit that CTE pathway. They are growing squash, pumpkins, corn, broccoli, Japanese cucumbers, and other vegetables which they give away to the students in their program or sell to their faculty or the community. Many of those crops were planted to be sold at the Fall Festival coming up in October. Additionally, students are growing flowers, a project that started during the pandemic where they discovered that people were eager to brighten their homes with the colorful flowers, mostly dahlias in all colors and shapes as well as anthuriums. (What started out as 60 anthurium potted plants has grown to over 400 pots, and the number keeps increasing!) They discovered that Wahiawa’s climate is perfect for raising protea, and now, they are cultivating protea plants; there is a market for these flowers which are generally only grown in certain areas of Maui. There are other sources of food on their premises - taro, banana, lemons, oranges.  There are animal pets - ducks, pot-bellied pigs, turkeys, a goat, a mule, and hens which lay eggs daily. There are even beehives .

Students don’t just learn about agriculture, though. A GEER grant provided funds to purchase equipment such as FarmBots. A space was cleared out for solar panels and solar battery storage which will power the FarmBots, and students will use this technology to hopefully increase production of food sources. The plan is to use the FarmBots to raise Romaine lettuce which will be served in their school cafeteria. As students experience success in using these FarmBots, I am certain they will use them to provide an ideal environment to grow other vegetables.

Here in Hawaii, 90% of our food is imported. We recognize the need to change that, statistic,  and it is possible. Starting in our schools is one of the best ways to change our habits. Just recently, Civil Beat published this article about Hana, Maui, where they are working to make their community more self-sustaining, starting with students at the school growing and harvesting local foods. In the rural community of Ka`u, students are also making a difference for their community and learning to not only grow and harvest food, but to market them as well. (Read article.)  These rural communities recognize the need to provide opportunities for their children to live and work in the area where they were raised. Leilehua High School is involving younger students as well with partnerships and mentoring for elementary and middle schools in their area. Hopefully, all of their complex area schools can be involved in the future. 

Schools are still recovering from the pandemic. Yes, there was learning loss, but students need more than academics and test-taking skills to be successful in their future. They need these kinds of hands-on, real-world experiences where they can apply the academic skills they are learning, where they work with others to achieve success, where failure sometimes happens but they problem-solve to make improvements. I believe that innovation in schools needs to be encouraged. Leilehua’s CTE agriculture program can be a model for other schools to follow. 

With Principal Nakamoto and Teacher Jackie Freitas

Students are already harvesting and selling some of the squash that are growing. 

One of the larger pumpkins that are growing; the school is preparing for the Fall Festival for the community that will be held on October 22. 

These are some of the students in the CTE agriculture pathway. They are weeding the area where the protea are growing.

These colorful dahlias were an unexpected hit during the pandemic. People wanted something beautiful in their homes during that time. Now they are expanding their flower sales to include different kinds of flowers including protea.

They are growing Japanese cucumbers in this hydroponic system. 

One of Jackie’s students painted a mural to honor her teacher and the Leilehua CTE agriculture program. 

This area will soon have solar panels as well as a solar battery system to power the FarmBots in that greenhouse. The students also have composting pits and a vermiculture bin, and only organic products are used for the crops.