From Lynne Waihee
There is something special about Hilo. And it’s not just Big Island Candies or Sig Zane’s upscale Hawaiian-wear shop. It’s the people. This is why every year, I visit students at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo campus to present a mini-workshop for future teachers and to read aloud at the preschools and elementary schools.
This year, Big Island RTM Coordinator Evelyn Togashi, RTM committee member Jenny Yoshizumi and I led a hands-on workshop at Dr. Michelle Ebersole’s elementary education class on the importance of reading aloud. The UH-Hilo students learned about reading aloud and practiced making the read-aloud experience come to life by creating newspaper flower pots, toilet-paper shakers, and single-sheet books.
Following the workshop, we rushed to meet the Big Island RTM Committee, where KTA Super Market entrepreneur Derek Kurisu shared KTA’s successful literacy project with Meadow Gold, the "Lani Moo Books." The project publishes books written and illustrated by elementary schoolers, and then the students can then sell them for a fundraiser.
As always, the children were the cherry on top of the sundae. I enjoyed reading to the students at Ka ‘Umeke Kaeo Public Charter School, Keaukaha Elementary School, and Waiākea Elementary School. In between schools, I visited Hilo High School’s Key Club, whose members have an after-school read aloud project with elementary-aged students.
All in all, it was a time of reconnection and rejuvenation, Big-Island style. (I slept at Camp Togashi [Evelyn’s place] to the lullaby of coqui frogs!)
