Ho\u2018ola Leadership Academy is a success story that seems too good to be true.<\/p>\n
Ho\u2018ola is one of several Kapolei High School career academies, with a focus on natural resources, green-collar jobs and sustainability \u2014 and a 90 percent graduation rate.<\/p>\n
The average week might find Ho\u2018ola’s approximately 200 students in the classroom, conducting lessons in Hawaiian, drawing 3-D models for math and discussing current events like the Baltimore riots, and later outside, working with earth ovens and planting herb microgardens around campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’re not just learning to learn. They’re actually able to apply (what happens in the classroom) to the community in which they live,\u201d said Ho\u2018ola founder and teacher Joan Lewis. \u201cWe teach our students: Every single one of you has a value to the community. You can’t afford not to be here. We can’t afford for you not to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what might be more impressive is how Ho\u2018ola manages to get all that done.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beauty of our program is that it’s actually completely on the school campus and part of the school population. … We don’t require special or separate funding, and we run the program using all of the graduation requirements,\u201d said Lewis.<\/p>\n
She explained that Ho\u2018ola initially began as an alternative intervention program that \u201cmade it unnecessary to intervene,\u201d targeting at-risk students early \u2014 as freshman, rather than as juniors or seniors.<\/p>\n
Ho\u2018ola also expanded the definition of \u201cat-risk\u201d when culling its initial class.<\/p>\n
The academy asked teachers to recommend to the program students who need \u201ca little extra aloha\u201d to graduate successfully.<\/p>\n
Low-income and academically and behaviorally challenged students were on the list, but Ho\u2018ola was keen to help some nontraditional can-didates.<\/p>\n
\u201c(These students had) solid academics, not a problem in class \u2014 but their teachers knew a little extra aloha would help them,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cThe referrals that have come through for us are spot on … Every referral was a student that benefitted from being in Ho\u2018ola.\u201d
\nNot having extra monies isn’t a big deal either, Lewis said, noting that the program benefits from the annual budgetary review and self-reflection.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll schools have limited resources,\u201d she said. \u201cHow we choose to use our resources says a lot about where the school’s priorities are, and this says a lot, that (Kapolei) continues to make our program one of the school’s priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis isn’t sure where Ho\u2018ola will go next. Kohala High School from Hawaii island has used Ho\u2018ola as a model to start a similar program, and other schools have also come to check out the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don’t know if the future is Ho\u2018ola everywhere or some version of Ho\u2018ola<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ho\u2018ola Leadership Academy is a success story that seems too good to be true. Ho\u2018ola is one of several Kapolei..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-central-oahu-news","category-west-oahu-news"],"yoast_head":"\n