March 2007 SPECIAL SECTIOn: Kamehameha Schools Annual report Fiscal Year 2006 page 9 PUBLISHED
FOR
THE
KAMEHAMEHA
SCHOOLS
‘OHANA
Inside KS in the News 2 Education with Aloha 4 Na¯ Mea Hoihoi 5 Alumni Class News 13
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Billy Fields and the Fields Masonry crew of Kona display the restored terrace at Keanakamano¯. Fields is the leading authority on traditional Hawaiian dry masonry.
Creating Hawaiian Spaces
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Restored Ancestral Site Keanakamano¯ Brings Educational and Cultural Opportunities to Kamehameha Schools Kapa¯lama
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hat’s old is new again in the area just ma uka of the Kapälama campus front gate. Drivers can’t miss the oneacre site on the left as the winding climb up to campus begins along Ke Ala Manö road. In January 2006, president and headmaster Dr. Michael Chun established the Kapälama Task Force to develop a plan for the restoration, use and maintenance of the area which is rich with history.
Several previous archaeological studies have been done in past years, including one in 1985 which involved Kamehameha students working closely with Dr. Chuck Burrows ’51 and Virginia Bail.
In 2002, a further archaeological survey identified this section of campus as a wahi küpuna, or ancestral site. It was one of 63 sites located on campus, 39 of which were in Keanakamanö Valley. A Hawaiian adze and an ‘ulu
“We’ve been striving to create spaces where we can practice cultural activities in Hawaiian ways on our own terms.” – Jamie Fong ’78
Students and staff plant kalo at one of the lower terraces at Keanakamano¯.
maika were recovered from the area during previous studies. A main feature discovered at the site was a large terrace with a rock wall facing and a flat area behind it believed to have been used as a kahua, or foundation, where any number of activities could have occurred. Four smaller terraces were also found, but these are believed to be remnants of a World War II Italian prisoner of war camp. When the 2002 archaeological survey was complete, Kapälama high school teacher Jan Becket and other faculty helped supervise student efforts to begin clearing the site, so that parts of it could be seen as people entered the campus. Operations Support staff also played a huge role in clearing the site of heavy plant growth, bringing new light to the area. Chun then tapped Kapälama Operations Support director Don Kawahakui and Ka‘iwakïloumoku coordinator Jamie Merseberg Fong ’78 to lead the task force with a goal of enhancing the site aesthetically and culturally. Ka‘iwakïloumoku’s mission is to provide Hawaiian cultural activities as one of the ways Kamehameha Schools can meet its educational and cultural kuleana. “We’ve been striving to create continued on page 6