Our Kuleana and Our Pilina

As 5th graders, our kuleana and our pilina with others stretches wide - for ourselves, for our classmates, for our buddies, for our school community, for our families. The month of February, and these first few days of March have been filled with responsibility and connection.

Our experiences at Camp Erdman not only will stay with us for a lifetime, but we also worked on our kuleana for land and for the ocean, as well as our kuleana to each other and ourselves. We are responsible for each other and to take care of one another. We worked on our Pilina with each other and our environment as well through team building experiences, learning hikes, and experiences with our land and ocean creatures. Your children learned about native and non-native trees, grasses and plants, as well as some of our local sea life. They even got to touch and hold some sea creatures. Camp Erdman helped our children learn more about working together, and challenging ourselves to go beyond what we thought we could.

Our kuleana for and pilina fo our school community was at the forefront of our minds as we spread our Kindness Rocks throughout campus once returned from camp. We made these rocks on Valentineʻs as a way to show love for our community here at Mid-Pacific. Your children then got to place them around campus (including throughout the middle and high school outdoor spaces) to hopefully share a little kindness with someone who might need it. We talked a lot about what it felt like to leave our rocks behind, and placed them with the hope that they would help someone feel good in the future. Later on, we will take another campus walk to see if our rocks have moved, and to see if anyone has added to what we’ve placed.

On Grandparents’ Day and Virtual Grandparents’ Day this year, I so thoroughly enjoyed meeting your families. I loved seeing the children interact with their kupuna, and watch the joy on all faces as they spent time together. Your children learned so much, and have shared so much about their grandparents with me and with the rest of the class. Continuing connection (pilina) and sharing stories is certainly an important kuleana for all of us!

As our kuleana to all around us and to ourselves continues to grow, our pilina to our classmates, community and families grows as well in importance to help us in our responsibility. I look forward to more experiences with your children as we grow this year together.