Aloha Island School ʻOhana,

I hope you all have had a wonderful week. I had the great pleasure to be the “mystery reader” with the 2nd grade and share my love of reading and poetry with them as they shared their enthusiasm for rhyme with me. What a gift. I also had my first meetings with our newest families in the Island School ‘Ohana. My goal is to spend time with parents and guardians of families who joined our school community this year and last. It is a pleasure to be with our newest community members, talk story, and listen to their hopes for their children and why they chose Island School.

Frequently across my three years here, because of so many weeks like this one, I have felt so grateful for our beautiful little school in the middle of the Pacific because it allows me to feel sheltered from the big waves of world issues that I see crashing in on schools across the continent. There are many complex issues our country faces today. I hope we will always be open to communication as we seek to build a positive future for all. And so as I read about current events impacting Hawaʻi today, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how aligned we are with Kamehameha Schools in our shared work to uplift our communities through educational opportunities for Hawaiʻi youth.

I realized that Island School has had a long relationship with KS well before we became a formal partner school in 2018 along with five other schools across Hawaiʻi through our Hoʻoulu I Ke Ola O Na Pua program – to enrich the lives of children. In fact, I think we would not be the school we are today if it were not for the powerful education at KS. Today we have families from as far west as Kekaha and as far north as Ha’ena. We have students whose first language along with English is ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog, or local Pidgin. We have families that have relatives who have graduate degrees and are multi-general college graduates, we have some families who are leaders in the trade industries, and still others whose child will be the first in their family to earn a 4-year college degree. We work hard to fulfill our mission to serve Kaua’i youth at Island School.

As I alluded to a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about my own family experience, it only took 1 generation to lose access to Tagalog (national language of the Philippines) and Waray (my parents’ local dialect). Due to discrimination my parents experienced in their early years in California as immigrants, they wanted to protect their children from the injustices they faced. They pushed my siblings and me to excel academically and gave up Tagalog and Waray for their children so we would all speak “perfect English.” And it is with this life experience that I humbly participate as a newer resident of Kaua’i in the preservation as well as the thriving practice of Hawaiian language and culture and the prioritization of ‘āina-based stewardship. I am inspired and moved by it all. I am proud we are a part of a community of schools who support, love, and grow our students to become the leaders our communities of Hawaiʻi need. 

Wishing you and yours a wonderful weekend. And as always, mahalo for the opportunity to walk with you through these important years.

Together,

Nancy Nagramada P’29

Head of School

n.nagramada@ischool.org