Waipahu High
SUMMARY
Waipahu High School has worked together with GEER Grant Funding to provide support to students who are involved in the Academy of Natural Resources, the Ohana of Excellence Academy, and participating in the McInerny Early College 3.0 Program at Waipahu.
The students have worked through the Design Thinking Process to creatively create innovative solutions to providing more academic support and opportunities within the High School.
The Design Thinking process includes five different steps: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Through this process students were able to find solutions to the following questions:
How can the Tagnawa Learning Center effectively offer its services to students?
How can students be more successful in more leadership role opportunities within their future employments?
Is Aquaculture a more effective way of growing crops?
PROJECT LEAD : Steven De Silva
CONTACT :
steven.de_silva@k12.hi.us
(808) 425-7566
OUTCOME :
With GEER Grant Funding, Waipahu was able to fund multiple programs and opportunities for students from the Fall of 2021 semester going into the current Fall 2022 semester. We are extremely grateful for this opportunity to create innovative ways through education to prepare our students to be more college and career ready by the time they graduate from high school.
GEER grant funding was instrumental in providing students with real-world, work-based learning. About 100 students in the Natural Resources Production I and II courses were offered the opportunity to work with the Autogrow system.With grant funding, Autogrow system upgrades allowed the students to spend more time analyzing data and expanding their knowledge and inquiry skills, rather than spend the majority of the class period maintaining the system. Students compared an indoor vs. an outdoor system to the growth rate of a variety of lettuce. This gave students the opportunity to apply analytical skills to determine how to improve the production of the lettuce types. As a result, students learned valuable skills in the scientific process and applied research.
GEER grant funding also helped The Ready to Work Project. It dramatically advanced the way we prepare our students with disabilities (9.8% of our total school enrollment) for post-secondary careers and educational opportunities. We strived to disrupt the status quo by providing industry-standard job training modules in high demand careers. Students gradually learned marketable job skills in a safe environment where content and practices were rigorous and modified in real-time to meet the learning curve of the student participants. Students matriculated to community-based instruction (CBI) that applied research-based interventions, including a paid work experience at minimum wage, a powerful indicator of future employment success for students while in high school.
Lastly, GEER grant funding provided academic support for over 600 students who participated in Early College Courses during the Fall 2021, Spring 2022, and Fall 2022 Semesters. Academic Support was provided through the McInerny Early College Programs Tagnawa Learning Center in hiring 22 Content tutors. Tutors provides services such as, Content Tutoring, Quiz/Exam Prep, College Advisement, Proofreading/Editing, Group Facilitation, IT Troubleshooting, and Progress Checks.
LESSONS LEARNED :
The learning curve for implementing our innovative program was filled with trial and error efforts, financial maneuvering and Great Rewards! Having conducted research on best practices for meaningful student outcomes allowed us to fulfill our goal of providing: Innovative ways beyond “one size fits all” models by imagining “outside the box” possibilities. This resulted in a major Impact on individual students’ growth in academic, social and emotional skill sets to achieve a successful work experience. Most importantly, we were able to Inspire and nurture our students’ belief in themselves and their ability to learn, complete and work alongside non-disabled peers in a Competitive Integrated Employment environment.
Another successful innovation of the program included building inclusivity for our students within the Agriculture and Natural Resources Academy (ANR). ANR students helped install an irrigation system for an OEA Project Supported Learning activity, which included constructing and erecting a pergola, planting native plants and laying turf for a Bocce Ball field on campus. We have also begun preparing our students to become Greenland certified within the ANR Future Farmers of America division and to participate in the FFA Competition for Oahu High Schools in February 2023.
Finally, to instill the idea of lifelong learning and lifelong serving among our students, a Car Wash was held to raise funds toward relief efforts for Ukraine. Money collected, $427.00, was donated to the Doctors Without Borders organization. Students accessed the web, watched the news and discussed the social issues behind the war and the results of the invasion attempt.
We validated the notion of “never underestimating” the potential for learning and achieving for all students! Our belief in the students’ desire, commitment and ability to secure competitive integrated employment is validated by the number of jobs obtained by the participants in the program.
Overall, implementing innovation and implementing change is a scary concept for all of us. But working together as a one team towards one common goal, allowed us to establish a new culture of stepping outside of our comfort zones, to provide the necessary support and resources for our younger generation students to succeed in the real world. Thank you GEER for providing Waipahu High School and its Students with this opportunity.
