Kū ʻĀina Pā Alumni Reunion
Kū ʻĀina Pā is a longstanding professional development for ʻāina-based educators. 10 years later and we can still feel the mana behind the school garden movement! On July 28th, twenty-seven (27) Kū ʻĀina Pā alumni, spanning the cohorts of the last decade, gathered to reconnect, celebrate, and of course, eat ʻono meaʻai. Themes of Joy and Nourishment wove their way through our entire gathering.
The evening took place at the serene Ahu Lani Sanctuary, a retreat center tucked away in a beautiful native forest off the Hāmākua Coast just above Kalōpā. It opened with inspiring words from Amanda Rieux, Nancy Redfeather, Wendy Baker and Dr. Koh Ming Wei, followed by even more inspiration and updates from Jennifer Ryan, Lydi Bernal, Debbie Millikan. Facilitated by current Scientific Observation leading to Agricultural Responsibility (SOAR) project leaders, our alums rotated through talk story tables, addressing the following questions:
What, from Kū ʻĀina Pā stuck with you this whole time?
How have you applied Kū ʻĀina Pā learning? What brings you joy as you apply your learning?
What needs to happen so we can continue building the school garden movement? What resources does this movement need?
Below is a summary of everyone’s manaʻo. Click on the image to see the infographic as a complete PDF:
We look forward to the next 10 years of this training but definitely plan to let it evolve organically with the help of our participant’s feedback and the current needs of teachers in the ‘āina-education landscape.
Are you one of our 290+ alumni of Kū ‘Āina Pā but never got an invite?? We apologize! We had a lot of old email addresses and had to search deep into the archives and across islands to find old registrations sheets -- so please fill out our alumni questionnaire to update your email and provide feedback on your Kū ʻĀina Pā experience. We hope to hear from you!
