Our school's population falls in the lowest social economic category in the state. Our students also live in the largest geographic area in the island of Hawaii. For most students, it takes 30 to 60 minutes to and from school. They travel over unpaved roads with no street lights, and most extended families rent houses that are built in undeveloped Hawaiian native forests. Our students are in the first year of a pilot project called Project Ulupono. It was developed for students who just can't thrive in a normal classroom setting. They needed unique opportunities to display their knowledge. They also have not made very good choices in and outside of the classroom.
Ulupono — meaning to prosper through the right, or pono, path and that every person has the power to make a difference.
Now given that opportunity, it is time for them to correct their wrong choices, develop accountability, and give back by guiding our keiki.
My Project
As stated above, we are in a first-year pilot project called Project Ulupono. It is a project-based learning environment and one project they have developed is to be accountable for your decisions and actions. The members of the high school football team who are in Project Ulupono have chosen to give back to the community by holding football clinics at the middle school. The intent of these clinics is two-fold.
First, they want to educate middle schoolers of the difficult situations they will have to face when they enter high school next year.
Specifically, they want to share the choices they made and what resulted from those choices. For instance, a lot of them had to sit out of games because poor choices in the classroom affected their eligibility to participate.
Second, they want to educate middle schoolers on techniques in football that will help prevent head injuries. All across the United States, a lot of parents are not allowing their children to play football because of the recent bad publicity of concussions in football. However, through proper education of players, parents, and coaches, a lot of these injuries can be prevented. Hopefully, this will increase the number of students trying out for football because parents are more willing to let their children participate in contact sports.
My students need t-shirts to make a declaration of their intent and dedication to the goal.
Ultimately, every child will have to decide for themselves what choices to make in life. However, by our Ulupono students showing or guiding these young adults along the right path, they will face fewer obstacles that make high school such a difficult time for adolescents. In the end, hopefully, our Ulupono members feel empowered and continue to be pono, and keep making a difference in life.
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