School Wellness Newsletter – February 2022
Welcome to our new monthly school wellness newsletter update! We invite school leaders, parents, students, and anyone interested in school wellness here in Hawai‘i to check out our newsletter that's jam-packed with upcoming events and opportunities as well as community and school highlights.
"What's New with Schools?" will also be featured in all our statewide newsletters so make sure you're signed up to receive the latest Blue Zones Project – Hawai‘i news!
EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES
FOR EDUCATORS
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The 2022 Keiki Rainbow Wellness Challenge is a free, fun, and flexible challenge to encourage keiki to be active and healthy. This activity will be available to all schools—public, private, and charter—across the state serving students in preschool through 6th grade. Each school will be able to choose when to host the activity during the months of April and May. Best of all, it will be easy to coordinate—we promise! Schools can register their interest at: http://kahoomiki.org/school. For students whose schools are not participating, or homeschooled students, individual registration will open next month!
You can still register for the last two in HAA’s SEL Training Series:
Part 3: Rationale for Threat Assessment – Wednesday, February 23, 10:00 - 11:30 a.m.
One of the most useful tools a school or facility can develop to identify, evaluate, and
Part 4: Community of Practice – Wednesday, March 23, 10:00 - 11:30 a.m.
This session will provide follow up and Q&A time for the threat assessment, social emotional learning, and basic behavior management sessions previously attended. It will provide a space where people can share the challenges or successes they’ve had in implementing what things they’ve learned and also hold each other accountable to make changes.
Farm to School Toolkit Mini-Grants K-12 schools on all islands (public, public charter, independent) are invited to sign up as "Participating Schools'' with the Hawai‘i Farm to School Toolkit! The purpose of the toolkit is to ʻimprove access to experiential farm to school education for all of Hawaiʻi’s students through systematic integration of farm to school programming into school culture.’ Each school can receive reimbursement of up to $430 for farm to school supplies and printing from the toolkit! To get started, complete the pre-survey HERE. For details contact stormy@malamakauai.org.
Virtual Training: Better Being for Clearer Seeing
Thursday, February 24, 7:00 - 10:00 a.m. HST
Approaching evaluation with a foundation of equity and justice is a vital component in moving towards National Farm to School Network’s Call to Action that 100% of communities hold power in a racially just food system by 2025. To better equip the farm to school community with the experience and tools to move towards anti-racist, equitable and liberatory evaluations, please join us for this special 3-hour training session with Dr. Geri Lynn Peak of Two Gems Consulting. This workshop is designed to help evaluators examine the construction of persistent biases that impede excellence in discerning reality with a particular emphasis on learning within the farm to school and farm to early care and education (ECE) context. Learn more and register here.
In celebration of Black History Month, check out these resources:
- Racial Equity Resources - Hawaiʻi Afterschool Alliance
- Black History Month Resource Guide for Educators and Families- Center for Racial Justice in Education
- Why We Need Black History Month- Teaching Tolerance
- Do's and Don'ts of Teaching Black History- Teaching Tolerance
- The 1619 Project: Partnerships for Afterschool Programs - Pulitzer Center
FOR STUDENTS
Hawaiʻi students and school groups grades K-12 are invited to participate in the 2022 Plastic Free Hawaiʻi School Mural Contest. Create a mural that showcases how innovation can have a positive impact towards solving plastic pollution using bottle caps, marine debris, and other found objects via a beach cleanup, campus cleanup, waste audit, or a recycling drive! This year's theme is INNOVATION! Entries must be submitted with an entry form and photos by February 25, 2022. Click here for entry form and complete details.
BRIGHT SPOTS
What's happening in our schools to support wellness?
Ka’u Kea’au and Pahoa Complex Area had a virtual staff summit this month for their 700+ teachers and educational assistants. Chadd ʻŌnohi Paishon, Captain of the voyaging canoe, Makaliʻi, and Crew Member and Volunteer Pomai Bertlemann provided an inspirational keynote talk with themes of culture, collaboration and connection. Complex Area Superintendent Keone Farias closed the day with phrases in ‘olelo Hawai’i to focus the mind and guide intention.
Senate panel OKs bill to bring menstrual equity in Hawaii public schools. Hawaii would become the sixth state in the country to provide quality menstrual supplies free of charge to public school students, under Senate Bill 2821, which the state Senate Education Committee unanimously approved. Sarah Milianta-Laffin (Ms. Mili), a STEM lab teacher at Ilima Intermediate School and HSTA member, is cultivating student voice and advocacy efforts through such groups as the Activist Club. Her students provided testimony in support of the bill at the Senate meeting. Get a glimpse of Ms. Mili speaking on the subject here, and listen to the full conversation on Maestros Vibe’s podcast. You can also follow the conversation @end_period_poverty_hi on Instagram.
Waikiki Elementary School has a Walking School Bus! Principal Ryan Kusuda joined the school this year from Blue Zones Project Approved school Mānoa Elementary School, and wanted to provide a way for students and their families to connect and get more physical activity. To make walking to school safer, more fun, and more convenient, schools are using Walking School Buses. These schools have experienced a real difference in child and community well-being and continue to have growing success. Children who walk to school are: more alert and ready to learn; strengthen their social networks; develop lifetime fitness habits; help reduce traffic; and learn to be good/safe pedestrians.
Students in Campbell High School’s Entrepreneurship class with teacher Michael Hanakahi applied the design thinking process to develop a product or service that meets the needs of a particular customer segment that either embodies or promotes Blue Zones Project values and Power 9 principles.
Mahalo to all the students and schools that participated in Power Up with Power 9, and practiced well-being wherever you are! Congratulations to Major Sheldon Wheeler Middle School who had the highest participation percentage overall! The school earned a $500 award toward a campus well-being project. Ho‘omaika‘i to all our participants and winners!
Have a success story to share? Email Megan.Yarberry@sharecare.com and you could be featured in our next newsletter!
Join the Well-Being Movement!
Email our team to learn more about partnering with us to make healthy choices easier at your worksite, school, grocery store, restaurant, or faith-based organization.
Check out all participating organizations.
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Learn more at www.bzphawaii.com
