The Aloha ʻĀina Education (AAE) program at Hālau Kū Māna is an essential component to the overall program. AAE places at the forefront an education grounded in native Hawaiian systems of knowledge as a critical component for learning in a heavily Westernized and colonized Hawaiʻi.

AAE project days focus on specific community, academic, and cultural objectives through an aloha ʻāina framework. Each grade level is based in a specific geographic location and utilizes native systems of knowledge to work collaboratively with community partners. These partnerships collaborate to develop driving questions and culminating activities to assess and address the community’s needs.

AAE projects are where real-world and hands-on learning take place and is the site for interdisciplinary academic rigor, synthesizing traditional and modern knowledge. Through this AAE program, students build their identity as kanaka maoli and become vessels for traditional practices to live on for future generations.

Aloha ʻāina education is grounded in our agency to make pono the wrongs that must be made right and to foster healing for the Hawaiian community. AAE is a political movement that demands our existence as a public education institution in Hawaiʻi.