WAIMEA — “Genius Hour,” one of the electives at Waimea Canyon Middle School, allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom.
Students choose a topic of interest, define a question or problem they want to solve, and then conceptualize and carry out the project from start to finish with outstanding outcomes, especially when the community gets involved.
“Many of this years’ projects reflected the students’ desire to help the community,” said teacher Meghan Tracey. She has been the Genius Hour elective teacher since the 2020-21 school year.
“The kids really want to make a difference, and I think it is very inspiring to see these young adults wanting to give back to the community.”
Several of these projects sparked the interest of community organizations and individuals, reaching out to support the work of the students and show them that their efforts are appreciated. The students’ projects benefited tremendously from their professional advice and guidance.
“We just wanted to help the homeless,” said Adrian and Jordyn, a sixth- and eighth-grader, respectively. “So we came up with the idea of 3D-printing items for them and organizing a houseless donation drive at our school.”
The YWCA helped to spread the word about the event and Adrian and Jordyn were able to collect two truckloads of donated items, including clothes, toys, sanitary products and canned food items.
When Stephanie Iona from the Kekaha Agricultural Association heard about this project, she connected the students with several organizations including the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i, E Ola Mau and the Westside Christian Center.
Together, they were able to distribute the donated items to families and provide over 300 families with food during spring break.
Sustainable tourism has been on the minds of the students lately, and several “Genius Hour” kids formed the group “Sustainable Tourism Kaua‘i (STK).”
Sixth-grader Brysten Nagamine and seventh-graders Kailana Tangalin and Vailea Maeda strive to make sure that visitors are informed about pono behavior on beaches and to encourage responsible traveling.
“We would like to help people understand how they can visit Kaua‘i without destroying its beauty,” Maeda said.
“We worked together to come up with a website and a short documentary with information,” said Maeda.
They were supported by Sue Kanoho, executive director of the Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau, who helped with messaging and informed the students about visitor trends. She met with them via Zoom and also taught the students the Aloha Pledge.
“Coding has been a passion of mine for a while,” said Simon Oyama, a seventh-grader. “So I decided to code a website from scratch as my project this year.”
He also has a passion for native wildlife, so he partnered up with the Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project to get information and photographs for his website. The website tells the story about the remaining forest bird on Kaua‘i, but also includes a section about the “Ghosts of the Forest,” with information about the extinct species.
“These are just three of the projects WCMS students have been working on this school year,” Principal Melissa Speetjens said.
“We see the students strive when they take ownership of their work. It encourages creativity, strengthens leadership skills and provides the necessary tools for a successful career,” said Speetjns.
She added that community engagement is a vital component of the process, and invites interested community members to reach out to the school to learn more about how to get involved.
“WCMS is grateful for all the support our students receive from the community. It makes all the difference in education,” sid Speetjens.
Links to select 2021-22 student projects include https://kauaibirds.info/ and https://stkauai.wixsite.com/stkauaip.
