In 1989, I contacted Papa Henry Allen Auwae, the venerable kahuna la`au lapa`au, and asked if he would be willing to travel to Kapalama and meet with my chemistry research students as well as the advanced Hawaiian Language and Hawaiian culture students. From this, I developed a 6 week summer program where the students would choose a Hawaiian medicinal plant or marine organism, seek out all available knowledge, including elder wisdom within their `ohana. For the next 4 days, we would explore organic and  analytical chemistry, microbiology, and cell biology both in the classroom and in the lab. During week 2, we traveled to the Big Island where we met with Papa Auwae, hiked on the lava with Jim Kauahikaua or Andrea Ka`awaloa, planted koa with Eli Nahulu, met with USGS scientists relative to the malaria and pox viruses that are decimating the endemic birds, cared for the lo`i in Waipi`o Valley, and met with Peter Van Dyke at Amy Greenwell Hawaiian Garden. The next 4 weeks were spent extracting and identifying the bioactive components in their plants or marine organisms, writing a 30 page paper on their project as well as preparing a 30 minute power point that was delivered to their parents, school officials, and their classmates. About half of the students were incoming 9th graders with the rest being 10th , 11th ,and 12th graders. According to Dr. Michael Chun, he never met a student from this program that didn’t describe this as transformative.  We practiced protocol when we were picking our plants as well as chanting while asking permission to enter classrooms and appropriate sites.  Many students continued their project during the year with one target being science fair.  

In 1995, I learned about a program at Kamehameha where you could apply for a Kamehameha Schools diploma if extenuating circumstances prevented you from obtaining it. Papa Auwae was dismissed from Kamehameha in 1921 after accumulating too many demerits for speaking Hawaiian. I spent the better part of a day discussing many topics including elder teaching pedagogy. His methods were consistent with those of my Tuscorora 1st and 5th grade teacher as well as my Abenaki and Tuscarora Grandmother. 

Their methods are what I incorporated into my classroom and are shared in my presentations/workshops.  Papa Auwae received his diploma in 1997.  His son Henry told me that everything from the wall of his room at there house in Waikoloa was removed and replaced with his Kamehameha diploma. When I spoke with Papa after that, he was proud of how far Kamehameha had come since he was a student.