By Kara Nitta
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Mililani Waena Elementary School’s fourth annual fun fair celebrated the schools 40th anniversary, bringing together the staff, the community and students alike.
“This is a team effort. It’s custodians, it’s office staff, it’s teachers, you know we even tapped retired teachers to help get the word out so it is truly ‘teamwork that made the dream work,’” said event coordinator Lauren Kitabayashi.
The fun fair originated four years ago when the school wanted to create a fundraising event that could be combined with a curriculum fair. This year’s theme “Appreciating the Past, Envisioning the Future” focuses on the use of “sticky” learning, formally known as “authentic learning.” “We’re trying to make sure that when we teach them, we’re not just teaching them by the book, we’re trying to put it into real life situations outside of class later on in life,” explained fourth-grade teacher Jannelle Ichishita.
The planning for this event began in September and involved logistics like the date, time and events taking place. With this year being the 40th anniversary, the committee planned something special: a slideshow encompassing the history of the school as well as examples of authentic learning from each grade level. This, along with a performance by the school’s choir, Na Leo, was the main event.
Many of the attendees were high school students who came with their younger siblings as well as their parents and grandparents. “This is … good for the community, good for them to you know come and visit the school and some of them, old alumni of the school, come back and say hi to their (former) teachers,” said MHS teacher Todd Yoshizawa, whose son attends the school. One of those alumni was Lauren Cheape, Miss Hawaii 2011, who sat with other distinguished guests such as Representative Marilyn Lee and the Central District Complex Superintendent, Patricia Park.
To make this event happen they relied on not only teamwork from the staff; they also used parent volunteers to help run the booths. “I like the crowd, the community comes together. Each year they try to do a little something different … so it … (isn’t the) same old same old every year,” stated parent volunteer Cindy Chinen. “Without (the parents’) help we wouldn’t be able to run it as smoothly as we could … we would be running around,” explained Ichishita.
Despite everything else, the purpose of this event is to create a time when everyone can come together, “We value our parents and we value all the community partners that contribute to this event because you know, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ that’s what they say, and … we feel that we are helping to raise children (here at Waena),” explained Mililani Waena’s Principal, Dale Castro.
Mililani Waena looks to continue their fun fair in upcoming years.
