Oct 27, 2011 | Education
Retired educators Pat and Richard Endsley of Lahaina have built an after-school tutoring project that serves more than 300 children a year in West Maui. They say they could not have achieved success without the generosity of some 100 adult tutors and 70 high school students. They also give credit to their major sponsors — the County of Maui, Susan Bendon and her family in Paia, Debbie and Stuart Katz and their nonprofit Beyond the Rainbow and Aina Nalu. The Rotary Clubs in West Maui have also chipped in money and the Old Lahaina Luau and the Ritz-Carlton have provided volunteer tutors.
“You have to have a whole gamut of people who will help you,” Pat Endsley said. “Without them we could not do this.” The tutoring itself is free. In addition to being tutors, the Endsleys oversee other duties including tutor recruitment and training, ordering of books and supplies and maintaining a budget. The tutoring project costs approximately $26,000 to operate but none of the money is used for salaries. Expenses covered by a County grant and donations from businesses and residents include bus transportation, snacks, books and other tutoring supplies for the students.
Pat and Richard Endsley welcome volunteers from the Kaunoa Senior Service Volunteer Program while also being participants themselves. They say the majority of their tutors are retirees, of which only a handful are experienced in education. In addition, Lahainaluna High School students also help 4th-graders with math assignments. While the tutoring program focuses on skills in math and reading, the Endsleys were able to fulfill Pat’s dream to add extracurricular activities including lessons in history, ukulele and other creative arts. “To me the program’s perfect now,” Pat Endsley said. The Endsleys started ‘Wednesday Is Tutoring Day’ at one school in the year 2000 and have expanded it to three days of the week at all four public schools on the West Side.
Oct 20, 2011 | Community, Events
At age 25, Ashley Takitani says First Friday in Wailuku has given her the encouragement and affirmation to establish a career in her homegrown community. Takitani works as the marketing director for Maui Thing, the retail store, while also serving as a volunteer on the Wailuku First Friday Committee. Saedene Ota, the owner of Maui Thing and Sae Design, and her staff are active supporters of First Friday in Wailuku. Takitani, a 2004 Baldwin High School graduate, spent about six years away from home, going to school and working in Los Angeles. She jumped at the chance to work with Ota, an award-winning designer involved in many civic activities including the role of University of Hawaii Regent.
First Friday in Wailuku features an evening of entertainment and live acts, local food, art, jewelry and fashion on a block on Market Street. Attendance at First Friday has grown from a few hundred to as many as 4,000 in one night, Takitani said. Maui Thing designed one of the first flyers to attract both residents and visitors to the event and then sponsored the first live band performance at the attraction. “We offer something for family and friends to do on a Friday night,” Takitani said. The 10 or so merchants who put on the event have found that their businesses get a jump start every month by holding the event. “It just does wonders and gives us a really great start to our month,” Takitani said. The merchants have also been happy to welcome other local vendors to showcase their wares and also make money. “First Friday is really all about community. It’s what Maui is all about, we support each other.”
Takitani said the event has proven to her that she can thrive in a career here at home and believes the same can happen for her contemporaries. “Something like First Friday is enticing for young people. The island has grown so much and it’s made it a lot easier to come home,” Takitani said. “When it comes down to it, it’s so much fun and everybody can really have a good time.”
Oct 13, 2011 | Education
Science teacher Maggie Prevenas working on location at Portage Glacier, AK
Award-winning science teacher Margaret “Maggie” Prevenas shares her passion for learning by escorting her students outside the classroom. “As a teacher, I need to bring my students outside and into their environment so they can really see how it works,” she said. Over the course of one school year, the Kalama Intermediate School teacher and a colleague took 7th graders to the Waihee coastline and a protected reserve to see and study first-hand the richness and resources of the land and ocean in the area. This particular exercise was made possible through a Ke Alahele Fund grant administered by Maui Economic Development Board. Prevenas deemed the project “wildly successful,” particularly with “rascal” pupils who turn into engaging students. “Outside in the environment, they are wizards, they are leaders,” she said. “Not all kids are going to be scientists but science is going to play an active role in their future on Maui and they can learn how to be good stewards of their environment.”
Prevenas continues to improve her eight-year teaching career by learning more about how she can best serve her students. Earlier this year, she was awarded an Endeavor Fellowship with NASA. The project provides live, online training for K-12 educators who are working to earn a certificate in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York. “I’m trying to understand how my students learn so I can light their fire and get them to take over stewardship of the Earth and the environment they live in,” she said. Her lessons in Waihee have focused on global climate and ocean acidification. Prevenas’ mantra has been “let no child be left inside” which represents her stance that students learn best by engaging and connecting with the world they live in. “They all get to see how unspoiled, how beautiful Maui truly is and then they can become aware of this when global climate changes happen.”
Oct 6, 2011 | Community
Continuing our series on newly appointed County Department Directors, reflecting the role of government in responding to community values and needs.
Former County Council Member Jo Anne Johnson says she uses her knowledge of the governmental budgetary process and desire to lead by example to advance the mission of the County of Maui Department of Transportation. Johnson’s department manages one of the fastest growing transit systems in the United States — more than 2.5 million passengers use the public transit system each year, according to Johnson. “Transportation impacts the lives of everyone here in Maui County and especially those who are mobility challenged, so what our department does impacts the overall quality of life for all. We will always try to improve on that quality of life to the best of our ability and within our financial means.”
Johnson says one of the biggest challenges her department faces is the government’s dwindling financial resources. “We have to work more creatively in the area of finance to meet the growing needs of the people in the area of transportation. The old adage of ‘doing more with less’ has never been more relevant in carrying out the goals of the department.” Johnson says she takes a team approach to her job, seeking input from the people closest to the issue. “My basic philosophy is one of leading by example…My personal values are governed by my sincere desire to treat people honestly and respectfully and to do the best job I possibly can for the people of Maui,” Johnson says.
Johnson was married for more than 30 years to the late Jim Johnson who died of complications due to Parkinson‟s disease. She recently married Rabbi Larry Winer, whom she dated more than 35 years ago and reconnected with after Jim Johnson’s death. In her spare time, Johnson enjoys going to the movies and listening to music while she’s on the treadmill. She and her new husband also like to travel around the island and take in Maui’s sights and events. “I love my job and it is simply a continuation of my role as a public servant for the people.”
Sep 29, 2011 | Community, Events
Roy Silva has accepted the role of Maui Fair Director for the first time this year. “I’ve always loved the fair. I think it’s the greatest tradition Maui has,” he says. A former county employee, Silva served for nine years as its Parade Committee chairman. As Fair Director, he takes charge of all the committees and dozens of volunteers who operate the event starting Thursday and running through Sunday at the War Memorial Complex in Wailuku. As many as 5,400 participants including five grand marshals, Hawaii Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz and Mayor Alan Arakawa are scheduled to appear in Thursday’s parade, scheduled to begin at 4.30 p.m.
Silva said he wanted to serve his community in a unique way and took the opportunity to lead the Fair when he was offered the chance. This year’s Fair theme “A Timeless Tradition” represents what the event has meant to the thousands who have come to enjoy rides, learn from exhibits, indulge in local food and support nonprofits that use the Fair to raise money. “The Maui Fair is the oldest family tradition on island. You just can’t beat it,” Silva said. “There’s always a chance you’ll run into someone you know or haven’t seen for a long time.”
FOCUS MAUI NUI will be at the Fair again this year, gathering the opinions of the community with its Annual “Pulse of the People” 2011 Poll. FOCUS MAUI NUI is a voice, a plan, a vision for Maui County’s future created for and by the people who live here – people like you. Participate in the process by letting your views be known. Youth Alliance members and other volunteers will be on hand to help gather your points of view. Visit FOCUS MAUI NUI at the Entrance Lanai of the War Memorial Gym during Fair hours.
Retired educators Pat and Richard Endsley of Lahaina have built an after-school tutoring project that serves more than 300 children a year in West Maui. They say they could not have achieved success without the generosity of some 100 adult tutors and 70 high school students. They also give credit to their major sponsors — the County of Maui, Susan Bendon and her family in Paia, Debbie and Stuart Katz and their nonprofit Beyond the Rainbow and Aina Nalu. The Rotary Clubs in West Maui have also chipped in money and the Old Lahaina Luau and the Ritz-Carlton have provided volunteer tutors.
