Welcome, prospective Hawai'i travelers!

Aloha to rising-sophomore honors students in Hillyer College! If you look through this blog, you’ll get a glimpse of what went on during January 2008. We hope you’ll consider becoming part of the group for January 2009.

First of all, congratulations on your honors status! The Hawai'i trip offers you a reward for doing so well at Hillyer, and an unforgettable experience delving into the culture of the Hawaiian people. You will have the opportunity to learn firsthand from an amazing series of experts in Hawaiian culture: for example, this past year, students worked with
• the director of the Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai'i, who sang them a welcome chant and introduced some of the complexities of Hawaiian history; many students commented that history books seem distanced, while being in a culture and learning about it firsthand from a member of that culture bring it to life.
• a hula master, who helped students try some traditional hula moves (wish we had a video to post—we were, well, let’s say, . . . beginners!); through her, students came to see hula not in its guise as a tourist art but as a transmitter of the traditional stories of a culture.
• an expert in Buddhism, who told some of its founding stories and history and then led a tour of local temples and shrines, many students’ first exposure to the rich traditions beyond their Judeo-Christian heritage.
• a PBS host, who surveyed current issues in Hawai'i (and even hosted us for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant!)

The schedule often entails morning classes and afternoon field trips, which take you all over the island, from Pearl Harbor to the North Shore. This year's students found themselves surprisingly moved as they stood on the Pearl Harbor memorial above the USS Arizona and speak with a survivor volunteering there. Quite a few students chose to write in their blog entries below about our first experiment in Hawai'i with service learning, preparing food for Honolulu’s homeless. Next year will likely bring more of this kind of experience, taking students further into the “other” Hawaii that tourists don’t see. In their off-hours, students explored a wide range of experiences, from surfing, bodyboarding, and kayaking to visiting the ‘Iolani Palace (the only royal palace on U.S. soil), attending performances, and climbing Diamond Head (whew!).

As one student put it in a course essay, “Upon my arrival on the island of Hawai'i, I believed what I saw on television and what the media said about it. After spending three weeks I have come to the realization that it is so much more.” This process of beginning to look beyond preconceived notions about other peoples on this planet is a great result of the Hillyer in Hawai'i program. Another student adds, “We may not be able to go and undo the past and the mistakes we made, but we can change our attitudes on the importance of maintaining and preserving traditions, cultures, and societal identities. Our lives will be richer for it, and we just might learn a thing or two.”

Prof. Marcia Seabury (January 2008 faculty)

p.s. If you’d like to read/see more, you can check out a website by one of our January 2008 group, Melissa Dion: uhaweb.hartford.edu/dion. Melissa was selected to present her work at the university’s Undergraduate Research and Creativity Colloquium, quite an honor. (Yes, students did essays/journals/websites, etc., both in Hawai'i and after their return—it’s a course, and you get 3 credits for it. A great way to do that!)