5,000 students throughout Hawaiʻi dive into history with unique curriculum

Students from throughout the state discover their unique voices through a history and civics education curriculum that ends with a creative project for Hawaiʻi History Day, a state affiliate of National History Day. 

The Hawaiʻi Council for Humanities organizes the year-long history education program to reinvigorate the joy of learning history.

On Saturday, students from Kauaʻi schools competed in the Kauaʻi District History Fair at Kauaʻi Community College. The fair was one of eight in the state, with about 5,000 students in grades 4 through 12 participating.

Students at every fair are tasked with producing a project on any historical or civic event that follows this year’s theme of “Rights and Responsibilities.”

“During the fair in Maui last weekend, we saw such a wide range of topics from the Hanapēpē Massacre [on Kauaʻi] to gun violence to ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi,” said Aiko Yamashiro, executive director of the Hawaiʻi Council for Humanities. “These topics are local, national and international and the students are relating them back to the present day. It’s powerful to see them really dive into the past and relate it to our current events in the present.”

In 2019, the Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities began incorporating ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi as a presentational language for all of the categories during Hawaiʻi History Day.

Since the annual Hawaiʻi History Day fairs began this month, which is also Hawaiian Language Month, Hawaiʻi History Day is honoring Aha Pūnana Leo, the first Hawaiian immersion school and an organization that has strived since 1983 to ensure the native language lives on.

“In honoring ʻAha Pūnana Leo, we celebrate their ongoing revitalization of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, as language is an important right and responsibility,” said Cassie Chee, director of communications at Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities. “Kaʻiulani Neff Laehā, the Chief Executive Officer of ʻAha Pūnana Leo, reminded us that in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi there are not separate words for ‘rights’ and ‘responsibilities,’ but both are encompassed in the value of kuleana.”

According to the Council, incorporating ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi into presentations for Hawaiʻi History Day was not just about creating a new category in an academic competition, but about the kuleana to the community and supporting the diversity and wealth of Hawaiʻi’s humanities resources. 

“With the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893 and the subsequent ban in Hawaiian language and education, we almost lost the language of the land completely, banished to the pages of history books as something that once existed,” said ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi judge Bruce Torres-Fischer. “However, due to the great effort by determined souls, the Hawaiian language is making a comeback today. For me, Hawaiʻi History Day is an important hōʻailona, or sign that Hawaiʻi’s language is alive.”

After these discussions, Hawaiʻi became the first and only state to have a History Day category for projects completely created and judged in an indigenous language.

“We are the only affiliate where the students can complete research and a project in a non-English language. It’s beautiful to see how strong the ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi is in our communities,” Yamashiro said. “We want to remove the idea that learning Hawaiian is a barrier and reframe it as a doorway to the world. We are really proud to be able to support that growth and celebration of the  language.”

While Kauaʻi will not have any participants from Hawaiian Immersion schools, there will be a total of 67 students from five Hawaiian Immersion schools presenting 42 projects entirely in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. 

After the fairs, students who qualified for the Hawaiʻi State History Day Fair will have the chance to make changes to their projects before the competition at Windward Community College on April 5.

If students succeed there, they will go on to the National History Day competition at the University of Maryland in June.

“For the students, teachers and us as the organizers, this is more than just a day. It’s a time for students to share and showcase the knowledge they gained,” Yamashiro said. “It doesn’t feel like a competition, but more of a time to come together and learn.

“It has been striking to hear the voices of these students as they make connections and talk about the complexities within their projects that they are so passionate about.” 

Public, private, charter and home school students are eligible to participate in the Hawai‘i State Department of Education District in which their school is located. There is a senior division (grades 9-12), junior division (grades 6-8) and youth division (grades 4 and 5)

Students can choose from one of five different project formats: exhibit, performance, documentary, essay and website. Students can also enter their project in one of the formats above in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.