It’s been ten years since Kihei Charter School opened its doors.
"We’ve grown from 60 students as a high school ten years ago to 560 students this year," said Mark Christiano, Kihei Charter School’s Executive Director.
Now Kihei Charter School spans three campuses with students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
The public school focuses on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.
"We’re trying to help get as many kids as possible engaged in these career paths that are going to allow them to access hopefully some high level jobs in the future," explained Christiano.
Educators say it’s what the school of the 21st century should look like. There are computers at just about every desk and access to software used in the real world, like inventor, an engineering program.
"We had to make a train cart so here’s my cart and train," said Freshman Sal Laguttuta.
Math isn’t just an equation on paper.
"We had a sheet of work and we had to make each individual piece."
It’s a three dimensional object.
"I like math when it’s this way, but on paper it’s not the funnest," said Laguttuta.
Students also create robots.
"They gave us a box of parts and we came up with a design," said Sophomore Lucas Zarro, while showing off his robot.
"Programming skills and computer skills and just being able to build a computer, this helped me to build a computer too, it also taught me some mechanics," explained Zarro.
The students aren’t stuck in the classroom all day.
Students maintain a garden on campus, while learning sustainability. They grow papaya, tomatoes, bananas and peppers just to name a few. They are also working on growing lettuce and watermelons.
"The papayas they actually serve in the cafeteria," said Christianos.
Eight vans at the school shuttle kids to new scenes every day.
Students get hands on experience, whether they’re studying geology at the summits of Haleakala or marine biology out on the floating classroom.
The floating classroom is a vessel the Pacific Whale Foundation takes students out on every Friday.
"They also have a chance to get in the water and do some reef surveys and fish surveys, so these things are highly engaging for the students," said Christianos.
A teaching method that has a waiting list of hopeful students, and current students excited to learn.
"We’ve had kids who were sick before and still want to come," said 6th grade math and science teacher Melinda White.
"Even though we want to keep them home because they’re sick they still want to show up and they love coming to school. It’s great to teach in a classroom where the kids want to be there."
There are 31 charter schools in Hawaii.
What is a Charter School?
From the website www.uscharterschools.org:
“Charter schools are innovative public schools providing choices for families and students. Nearly 3,000 new schools have been launched since state legislatures began passing charter legislation in the 1990s. Chartering is a radical educational innovation that is moving states beyond reforming existing schools to creating something entirely new. Chartering is at the center of a growing movement to challenge traditional notions of what public education means. Chartering allows schools to run independently of the traditional public school system and to tailor their programs to community needs. While not every new school is extraordinarily innovative and some school operations may mirror that of traditional public schools,policymakers, parents, and educators are looking at chartering as a way to increase educational choice and innovation within the public school system. Over one million students are enrolled in more than 3,500 schools in 40 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico this year.”
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
