May - A Season of Celebration

4/26/2024

Aloha Island School ‘Ohana,

Next week brings us to the start of May and truly a season of celebration. In our final weeks of the 24-25 school year, we will celebrate:

Nā Pua Keiki who are ready to head across the road into Kindergarten and bring their infinite curiosity and readiness to explore with them.
5th Graders who have led our Elementary School all year with their strong voices and love of play.
8th Graders for their growth into adolescence and taking on more rigorous academics as well as learning to take on the duties of mālama ‘āina through Ho’okupu Days across the school year.
Seniors who have dug in their paddles to move their canoe through the last 4 years who are now ready to Voyage into whatever the vast ocean ahead has in store for them.

But really, these culminating events have already begun. This week the 12th Graders shared with the community their Senior Capstone Projects. What an inspirational Tuesday to see and learn about the passions and skills Seniors have nurtured and developed across this school year! And then that evening the volleyball fans got to experience the most amazing senior night for the final Boys Varsity Volleyball home game in their undefeated season! The love and community spirit expressed that night via the Boosters Club, athletics department, and team families electrified the Wilcox Gym for a “forever-memories” making night for athletes, their families, and all the fans alike. And to top it off, seniors slept in the gym to mobilize on Wednesday well before dawn with Nathaniel Evslin (High School Division Director) and meet up with Kumu Sabra who again made possible for Island School the tradition for seniors of a day of service and connection in the sacred and beautiful Nu'alolo Kai on the Nā Pali Coast. What a week it was for seniors!

And what does next week bring? I am also truly excited for our first Lā Lei event next week on Wednesday, May 1! I am so grateful for the ‘Ohana Association’s effort to create this new opportunity for all of us to celebrate the tradition and meaning of lei. In honor of the special day, ALL students (and adults) are invited to dress in aloha wear to school, and our food services team have designed a special menu too! (Students who choose not to wear aloha wear should follow the regular school dress code.) Please see below for more details regarding entering the Lā Lei contest. Whether or not your child is participating in the lei-making contest, please feel free to encourage your child to make a lei to give to a peer or adult at school in the spirit of aloha and as an expression of gratitude for our shared experiences this year.

Alongside these and other classroom and division culminating experiences, we will gather as a full school community for Hō‘ike on Friday, May 24, to honor the learning our students have done through mele and hula focused on our theme: Ola I Ka Wai – Water is Life. If you are new to Island School this year and aren’t sure about joining us for this event, please consider carving out the time to join us for this special all-community event for our morning program. And if you can, stay with us through our hō‘ike pā‘ina - lunch celebration - for a wonderful time together. (Don’t forget to order lunch tickets by Fri, May 17.)

Please take a look at the larger school events listed below to try and hold time and join us at school for events wherever you can. And we know your work or family obligations may mean you cannot make your way to campus, so we will have LiveStream available whenever we can.

As always, please know how much appreciation we have for your belief in Island School and entrusting us with these important years of your child’s education. And please remember, we bridge the gap between what tuition covers the full cost of the dynamic programming we provide through the unrestricted support of the Annual Voyager Fund. Thank you again to all those who have already contributed this year to get us to our current level of $160,000, and we continue to seek out all our families to participate in whatever amount is meaningful to you to help us meet our goal of $200,000. All gifts, no matter the size, make a difference in the support we can provide to our students!

Together,

Nancy Nagramada

Head of School

P.S. Thank you for sharing the Career Opportunities at Island School for next fall - especially the Chief Financial Officer and High School Division Director.

Important Upcoming Dates:
May 1 - May Day is Lei Day - As a part of our spring celebrations, the ‘Ohana Association is excited to introduce our very first Lā Lei! This special, in-school only celebration of the craft of lei making will be a wonderful way to kick off the month of May. Please see below for details from the ‘Ohana Association.

May 14 - Choral Celebration for Grades 4-12 at KCC's Performing Arts Center

May 21 - Academic Assembly - 2-3 pm, Wilcox Gymnasium - Grades 6-12 - This is a special gathering where academic achieve is celebrated and awards are given for students in middle and high school.

May 24 - Ho‘ike: Kumu Kanānā, Kumu Sabra, and the enrichment teachers are already getting to work across the entire school for our community Ho‘ike. This wonderful, long-time school tradition showcases each class as we celebrate Native Hawaiian hula (dance), mele (song), lei making, clothing preparation, and more! We have previously called this special day May Day, and across the years we have come to see that the Island School tradition is more of a celebration of learning, and thus the title of Ho‘ike, the ‘Ōlelo Hawaiian word which means to “to show or to demonstrate one’s learning” culturally fits our tradition. Please stay tuned when we return from spring break to hear about this year’s theme and ways you can be involved to support your child’s class or other classes as we get ready for our all-school Ho‘ike. You’ll also see in The Compass how your ‘ohana can stay and enjoy the community gathering afterward through our on-site special plate lunch.

May 27-31 - Final Exam Week for high school

May 31 - Final Day of School and Summer Blast Off for Elementary School

June 1 - Graduation: While of course this is a special day for the 12th grade and their ‘ohana, I wanted to be sure to note it here because the conclusion of our students’ journeys and launching them into the next phase of their life is a day for community celebration.

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