Nine high school and college students spent five weeks exploring natural science, conservation and food security through the N¨¡ Pua Noʻeau program (a pre-K–college enrichment program) at Kauaʻi Community College. The month-long paid internship combined hands-on community service in ±á¨¡ʻ±ð²Ô²¹ with academic learning, earning participants three college credits in sustainable science management.
Four days a week, students worked with experts and cultural practitioners at Limahuli National Tropical Botanical Garden and Hui ²Ñ²¹°ì²¹ʻ¨¡¾±²Ô²¹²Ô²¹ o Makana, learning environmental engineering, policy building, botany and horticulture. One day a week was dedicated to studies at Kauaʻi CC. The summer intensive concluded at the Â鶹´«Ã½ Conservation Conference on Oʻahu.
Community-based stewardship
Intern Kealaula Perry, a senior at Kamehameha Kap¨¡lama, said the program helped narrow her interest to water and cultural engineering.
“It¡¯s cool to see how they¡¯re revitalizing native plants and reestablishing the cultural practices attached to them,” Perry said. “The funds and the transportation to get there to learn how unique ±á¨¡ʻ±ð²Ô²¹ is something I¡¯m so grateful for.”
N¨¡ Pua Noʻeau Program Director M¨¡lia Chun said the beautiful thing about working with the ±á¨¡ʻ±ð²Ô²¹ community is what it symbolizes in community-based stewardship.
“As someone from Kauaʻi, I¡¯ve seen how the burden of tourism has affected the small community and its resources,” Chun said. “This initiative and partnership have really become an example of how community-based stewardship is effective, and is a great model for other small communities in Â鶹´«Ã½ who feel overburdened, and these interns get to see and experience this system up close.”
Non-cookie-cutter solutions
Kauaʻi CC Sustainable Science Management Instructor Kama Chock said the program¡¯s first week focused on building pilina, or connection, with the land and people.
“We are able to come up with non-cookie-cutter solutions to environmental problems. This model of college overlap with community work is the future of education in Â鶹´«Ã½,” Chock said.
Chun added, “One of the reasons I helped to plan this internship is because I want these students to see themselves as part of a succession plan. There is a way for them to make a living wage at home doing what they love, and we need more Native Hawaiians represented in the natural science and conservation fields.”
—By Caitlin Fowlkes
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