Kanoelani Elementary Student Career Academies

Mahalo to Kanoelani Elementary School Principal Stacie Kunihisa for the invitation to visit several classrooms on Tuesday, December 17 as her teachers and students worked on their projects representing the school's Student Career Academies.

What an amazing group of students from grades 4-6 who were all working together with their teachers in different diverse academies that I sat in on that included; sewing, building and operating Ferris Wheels out of popsicle sticks, painting, Karate, and robot building. There were actually 17 projects to choose from on Tuesday.

The students were intelligent, engaging, focused and polite while havung a great time participating in each academy. I truly appreciated the students for taking the time to introduce and explain their projects and tasks at hand to me.

Especially mahalo to Principal Kunihisa. She's an awesome leader and a wonderful friend who always includes me in the school's learning activities.

Principal Kunihisa adds her comments and more information about the Kanoelani Student Career Academies below:

Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]

Kanoelani Elementary School Principal Mrs. Stacie Kunihisa (far right)

is pictured with 6^th grade teacher Mrs. Patty Kenny (far left) and a

student who is holding his Ferris Wheel project made out of popsicle sticks.

By Principal Stacie Kunihisa

A bit about what we do...
Academies, loosely modeled after Pearl City High School’s structure and format, allows students to think through their interests and make choices about their learning. Our commitment is to foster student voice and choice through EXPLORATION. This is the first step in students identifying potential careers.

Our entire staff develops new “classes” for kids to select from based on interest and ability. Students select and classes are formed based on availability. Both kids and adults enjoy this opportunity to learn something unique and new. Please be sure to ask your child this week about what activity or learning he or she is exploring in their academy classes.

The class choices are a mixture of teacher generated classes, and also classes offered by outside community members who are sharing their expertise. Special thanks to our community members who are volunteering their time and expertise such as Japanese International Karate Association, UH West Oahu and Island Tumblers. We have diverse choices for each grade level and the kids absolutely love this experience. There are nearly fifty different class offerings from kindergarten to 6th grade. Below is a small sample of classes students choose from: