Nehemiah Kuhaulua

Ms. Lindsey

Junior Projects

3/5/2019

Cultural Connection

How can People Embrace Hawaiian Culture?

Our initial goal was to spread our knowledge of the Hawaiian culture to people who are

not exposed to it. We partnered with Kihei Canoe Club and worked with the Visitor Paddle

program to achieve that goal. The first steps we took was to speak with Mrs. Federoff. Since

she’s close with some of the paddlers who run the program she directed us down the right path,

she told us who to contact, who works for the program and even told them about our project. We

then emailed the head cultural director, Dottie Nykaza, and she told us when is a good time to

come down to the club and meet everyone. After we all got acquired with each other, my partner

and I spent three months working with Aunty Dottie and Uncle Kimokeo to lead the opening

ceremony.

Some lessons we learned along the way was that we can’t control the actions of others.

Sometimes Uncle Kimokeo wouldn’t show up or be very late. He doesn’t call anyone to let them

know if he’s not coming in the morning, so it leaves all of us in a frenzy to gather everyone and

start 30 minutes later than intended. Another lesson was that you can’t force the culture onto

anyone. There were some people who only volunteered to help the visitor program because it

gave them an excuse to get on the water. They didn’t want to participate in the chants or olis, no

matter how much I talked to them. This was something that surprised me. Some people just
downright refused to learn anything. It’s not that they didn’t like the culture, they just found it a

waste of time to learn things they’re going to forget in the long run.

My favorite part of this whole project was chanting and singing in front of the tourist.

While chanting I could feel the power that the beach holds. When the voices come together, the

beach echos. I had a few solo chants from time to time, so I definitely enjoyed that. I also liked

the reactions of the tourist when I start chanting. They would be taken aback to the volume and

power in a single chant and scramble to record it. I always found that funny.

A part of the process that challenged me was not being able to go out on the water with

the tourist like we originally planned. Both my partner and I were taking college classes that

started at 8:30 am, the same time the tourist go out on the water. If we were able to do that, then

we would’ve explained more of the cultural aspects to paddling.

If I could go back and do this differently, I’d start it earlier. We started working with the

visitor program during winter break, at the start of January. If we started earlier, than we

would’ve gotten more pictures and videos of us doing the opening ceremony and have enough

time to gather everything into a short video compilation like how we originally planned.

Some advice I have for juniors next year is to choose a project that you like. Don’t

choose a topic that would be easy or less time consuming, choose something you’re passionate

about. If you like writing, then write a short book. If you like sports, choose something that

keeps you active and that involves your favorite sport. Don’t choose something because it seems

easy, because you won’t learn along the way or have fun.

Some lessons I will apply to my senior project is to, of course, start early and don’t

procrastinate. But also ask for help when you need it. I tried to shoulder most of my project by
myself, despite having a partner. I’ll also think ahead, start coming up with steps to achieve my

goal and a schedule I’ll (attempt) to stick too. I’ll also choose something I like doing, that is the

biggest concept I’ll be applying.