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Kelvin Chun is an award winning teacher, magician, balloon artist and kite enthusiast. Kelvin has over 55 years of kite making and flying experience and has competed in local, national and international competitions.
Chun was in Weifang, China for the “Olympics” of kite making. He won the Award of Excellence at the 2025 and 2024 Weifang International Kite Festival, making him the first from Hawaii to ever participate and win the single line and traditional kite category.
Hawaiian kite-making is called ho‘olele lupe.
Kelvin Chun won the award of excellence two years in a row with his innovative traditional Hawaiian kite at the Olympics of Kite Festival in Weifang, China.
As a retired educator, he has taught kite making as an integrated curriculum for over 40 years.
Chun used his 55 years background in kite making and flying to create a Hawaiian kite for the competition.
Hawaiian kites are named for their diverse shapes, such as the lupe lā (round sun kite), lupe hōkū (star kite), lupe hīhīmanu (manta ray kite), and lupe mahina (crescent moon kite).
Adapted from the Hawaiian lupe, Chinese winged kites and Filipino Sarangola kites, a new contemporary design created with modern materials of mylar and fiberglass focusing on the lupe hīhīmanu or lupe hahalua (manta ray style kite).
There were 50 countries represented and 354 participants.
Only three teams represented the USA from Massachusetts, California and Hawaii.
Chun got an invitation to participate in the 2025 largest kite festival in the world in Weifang, China from April 17-20.
Most kites were giant and made with rip stop nylon materials without a frame weighing over 50 pounds.
Chun competed in the single line event in these categories:
Innovative Kite Competition
Traditional Kite Competition
Chun's innovation was to design a modernized Asian Hawaiian kite that was traditionally made with bamboo and leaf or paper and fits in a backpack.
The traditional frame was made of split bamboo. The modern solution was six telescopic fiberglass fishing rods, and mylar. He brought all the parts and pieces to the hotel and spent five hours assembling the kite.
https://youtube.com/shorts/8qcWtBdKLpE?si=0XVtkR0CwiWdPZYq
Weifang International Kite Festival.
Day 1
https://youtu.be/JAWIUTAG7KA?si=zBh5RfNmyaHcbxuz
Day 2
https://youtu.be/0LSOMsy8Yj8?si=7_YpqW3wm9Z7V7dk
Weifang is located in the center of Shandong province in between Jinan to the West and Qingdao to the East. Known as the "Kite Capital of the World", Weifang and its fresh winds are well known throughout the province.
Kelvin Chun is a retired award-winning educator and master kite maker in Hawaii for over 55 years.
Chun first won the award of excellence with his Hawaiian kite at the 2024 Weifang International Kite Festival.
He is the only kite maker in Hawaii who has accomplished so many awards and is recognized internationally for his lecturing abilities. Kelvin has over 60 years experience as an educator teaching students from grades kindergarten - adult. He has the experience to communicate effectively with people of all ages and also be a life-long learner. Kelvin has taught the art of kite making and flying to his students.
Here is a video integrating mathematics, art, history and science. Kelvin has been on television sharing the art of asian kites.
For over 50 years, he has done numerous hands on kite making and flying workshops for students and teachers for the Hawaii Department of Education including paper kites and plastic kites.
Kite Workshops for DOE
His presentations were done throughout the community including the Pasco event at the Academy of Arts, the National and Hawaii Council of Teachers of Mathematics conferences, the HSTA - Hawaii State Teachers Association Institute Day, and the public library system.
Student's Sled Kite:
His most recent workshop (May, 2008) was held in Los Angeles at the JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM. "Up, Up and Away!" is highlighted by three workshops including:
Workshop session 1: History of Kites / Kites Around the World / Asian-American Kites
Workshop session 2: Paper / Plastic kites - Students create kites of their choice after basic concepts are introduced
Workshop/Demonstration: Flying of Asian - American Kite and Kites the students created
Hawaiian/Asian Kite
... continuing the tradition
The Hawaiian/Asian kites are a mix between Chinese, Filipino, and American ideas. These kites must survive the gusty Hawaiian trade winds of up to 35 mph. The materials such as bamboo, kite line and plastic must be strong. From 1960 - 1990, there were many Hawaiian kite making enthusiasts. These numbers have dwindled due to a new generation of different interests.
Kites date back 3000 years, when the Chinese made them from bamboo and silk. Over the centuries kites have been used in religious ceremonies, scientific experiments, military maneuvers and, of course, for fun.
The kites in the Phillipines have designs similar to the Chinese kites. These are special tailless kites that are perfectly balanced. At times, they could glide almost perpendicular to the ground.
The Filipino kite is known as "saranggola." (Spelling variation: sarangola)
Gurion - is the name of a classic Filipino kite design, characterized by an oval shaped main body, a pointed nose and fish-like tail, it can also be designed as a tail-less variant. (Spelling variation: guryon)
In 1989, I have received a grant through the Hawaii State Cultural Arts Foundation to learn as an apprentice under the master kite maker Patricio Gongob. The Folk Arts Program was created in 1983 with funds and planning support provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Folk Arts Program seeks to: identify and document the diverse ethnic, cultural and occupational folk traditions in Hawai'i; assist in the perpetuation of folk traditions in Hawai'i; and promote public awareness of the beauty and value of folk arts in Hawai'i and the importance of preserving Hawai'i 's folk arts heritage. Over 80 hours of hands-on learning time was generously provided by Mr. Gongob.
Mentor of Filipino Kites in Hawaii: The Late Patricio Gongob
Mr. Gongob has been a kite expert throughout his life time, learning the art in the Phillipines. He entered numerous kite competitions in Hawaii and the US in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1971, his gigantic kites were on the cover of the Kite Tales magazine. To store these kites, they were either hung on the side of a two-story house, or hung from the ceiling of their garage. The kites were launched with rope using about 13 men and brought to Kapiolani Park using a flat-bed truck.
That year, Patricio Gongob and relatives won numerous awards among other outstanding asian kites. He even won a trip to the mainland to a national kite festival. In the 1970s, the Kite Festivals sponsored by the City & County of Honolulu were very competitive with many expert kite makers. To judge the high flying competition, a helicopter was launched to view the altitude.
There are no big kite festivals in Hawaii as in the past. The tradition is becoming lost because the younger generation has different interests.
A picture of his award winning (Most Beautiful) kite appeared in the 1977 summer issue (p. 43) of Kite Line. Mr. Gongob told me the stories of the Chinese introducing these kite designs to the Phillipines, and how modifications to the design have perfected its flight. Mr. Gongob was featured in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for his award winning kites.
2025 & 2024 Weifang, China - Excellence Flying Award
1989 American Kite Fliers Association National / International
Single Line Competition
3rd Place - Centipede of Train of Kites
(3 Hawaiian / Asian / Filipino Kites were strung together to win this award)
Honolulu City & County
Kite Festival
Senior Division
Awards
Presentation for National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) / Hawaii Council for Teachers of Mathematics (HCTM)
Japanese American National Museum
Lincoln Chang Rokkaku Modification
2016, June 8: Kukulu Kaiaulu 2016: Kamehameha Schools Ed Tech Conference, "I-Ikigai Portfolio for life"
2016, March 8: Pearl Harbor Kai Elementary School Career Day
2016, February 9: Kalakaua Middle School Career Day
2015, June 10: Kamehameha Schools Education Technology Conference 2015, "i-Portfolio for life"
Traditional portfolios have been stored in binders. This format was used for print-based materials. Electronic portfolios became an effective way to organizing, summarizing, and sharing artifacts, information, and ideas learning, along with personal and professional growth through text, visuals, audio, and video formats. Storage devices varied from floppy disks, hard drives, CD-ROM in digital formats such as text documents, picture files, web pages, digital video, and presentation files. With the development of social media and cloud storage, the electronic portfolio is a sampling of the breadth and depth of a person's work conveying the range of abilities, attitudes, experiences, and achievements. i-Portfolio is a redefinition of the electronic portfolio development process in a way that supports 21st century learning in which the individual learner will COLLECT, REFINE, DESIGN, and REFLECT on past and future experiences for life. By incorporating various resources, the learner will have the opportunity to technologically integrate their personal education, career, and life-long hobbies into their i-portfolio. Integration will reduce resistance to portfolio development as an activity and allow portfolios to become more personal, providing a richer connection between learning and their paths to knowledge.
2015, February 28:
Hawaii Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference
STEM- Mathemagic, Balloons & Kites
2015, February 9: HSTA-Retired - Life-long Activities after Retirement
2011, February 19: Hawaii Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference - Planet Turtle;
Mathemagic, Balloons & Kites
2008, May 10: Japan American National Museum in Los Angeles - Asian Kites
February 23, 2007: E-School Conference - June, 2006: Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Participant / Completion Certificate
2002: NCTM - Las Vegas: Mathemagic & Balloons
2001 - 2004: HSTA Conference: Mathemagic & Balloons
2000: E-School Conference - Technology Club of the 21st Century
2000: HCTM (Hawaii Council of Teachers of Mathematics) - Math in Magic
1999: E-School Conference: Technology Club at Nuuanu School
1997: HCTM (Hawaii Council of Teachers of Mathematics) - Technology
1996: HERN Conference, Leeward District Conference - Technology
1995: Math Conference: Mathemagic; HSTA Conference - Technology
1994: EDTECH and Middle School Conference - Technology
1993: Leeward/Windward District Math Conference - Balloons & Kite
1991: Academy of Arts: Kite
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