{"id":137020,"date":"2021-03-11T09:34:40","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T19:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=137020"},"modified":"2021-04-22T11:45:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T21:45:30","slug":"care-packages-brighten-student-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/03\/11\/care-packages-brighten-student-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Care packages brighten College of Ed. student lives during pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

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Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> April 22, 2021\u2014Project K\u0101koʻo held a second round of care package distribution for its teacher candidates on April 16, 2021.<\/p>\n

More than 100 University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa College of Education<\/a> (COE<\/abbr>) teacher candidates were recently treated to care packages through a pilot initiative called Project K\u0101koʻo. The gifts were assembled and distributed by COE<\/abbr> faculty and staff, two chapters of Alpha Delta Kappa (Nu and Xi), and members of the Pearl Harbor Rotary Club. <\/p>\n

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Each student received two bags—one filled with food and drink items and another filled with pandemic safety supplies. Senior citizens at the Lanakila Multi-Purpose Senior Center donated handmade face masks, which were enclosed with a note thanking the students for “entering a very noble profession and for choosing a career that has the potential positive impact on the people of Hawaiʻi<\/span> and abroad for generations to come.”<\/p>\n

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Kuʻulei Serna<\/strong>, director of the COE<\/abbr> Institute for Teacher Education<\/a> (ITE<\/abbr>) Elementary Education Program, got the inspiration for Project K\u0101koʻo after her daughter, a freshman, received a care bag from 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources<\/a>. <\/p>\n

“These bags seemed like a tangible way of showing our admiration and appreciation for the way our students have persevered through this pandemic,” Serna shared. “We are also very grateful for all of the community partners, faculty, staff, students and retired educators who assisted us with safely organizing and packing. I especially want to mahalo the coordination efforts of Alohilani Okamura<\/strong> and Kristen Ferrer for this beautiful event.”<\/p>\n

Okamura, a faculty member in ITE<\/abbr> Secondary, was instrumental in securing donations and volunteers. She is a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, an international honorary organization of women educators dedicated to educational excellence, altruism and world understanding.<\/p>\n

“In the true spirit of aloha, Project K\u0101koʻo was proposed to acknowledge our teacher candidates\u2019 commitment to the teaching profession and to provide support during COVID-19,” Okamura stated. “These goodie bag\/survival kits were thoughtfully created and made possible through generous donations from more than a hundred individual and group donors.”<\/p>\n

Okamura set up a Padlet post where participants could share messages to the donors. COE<\/abbr> teacher candidate Ashley Wong<\/strong> posted, “Thank you so much to everyone who put this together and helped make this happen. The care packages, notes of encouragement and the individual name tags are all so sweet and cute! This will really help me to push through this semester. Once again, thank you so much!”<\/p>\n

Thanks to the outpouring of support and donations, Project K\u0101koʻo will continue with a second phase in April, expanding and reaching more future teachers.<\/p>\n

This effort is an example of 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goal of Enhancing Student Success<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/small>), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Strategic Plan<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/small>), updated in December 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each student received two bags—one filled with food and drink items and another filled with pandemic safety supplies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[95,212,1411,1416,204,1466,9],"class_list":["post-137020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-college-of-education","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-covid-19","tag-covid-19-uh-helps","tag-education","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t