Students Learn about Traditional Wayfinding and the Iconic Hōkūleʻa

Assets students went to learn about the Hokulea.

Feb 7 2025

Assets Middle Schoolers, Y1 and Y2 (third and fourth graders) explored the legacy of Hōkūleʻa, the Polynesian voyaging canoe that navigates using traditional wayfinding techniques recently.

"I liked seeing where the navigator sits," said Kaholu '29. "I enjoyed learning when the Hōkūleʻa was built and where it has traveled, like Japan, Australia, New Zealand, California, and Alaska."

Hōkūleʻa, meaning "Star of Gladness," is a double-hulled canoe built in the 1970s. Her maiden voyage to Tahiti took place in 1976. She docks at the Marine Education Center in the Mauli Ola (Sand Island) area when not at sea. In March, she will continue the Moananuiākea Voyage. This year is her 50th-anniversary celebration, which includes several public events.

To prepare for their field trip, students studied the significance of Hōkūleʻa in Science, Humanities, and Literacy classes for two weeks.

In Humanities, they explored a timeline from the arrival of the first Polynesians in Hawaiʻi to the 1993 Apology Resolution, signed by President Bill Clinton, acknowledging the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. They also studied the Hawaiian Renaissance and Hōkūleʻa's role in preserving traditional culture.
In Science, they learned about the star compass, constellations, canoe plants, and the ecosystem, including the white tern seabird.
In Literacy, they discussed stories of legendary way finders like Eddie Aikau and Nainoa Thompson and examined words such as navigate, navigator, navigation, and unnavigable.

On Wednesday, January 22, students honored the Hōkūleʻa crew by offering their school oli (chant), which the crew reciprocated. They boarded the Hōkūleʻa and explored its deck, though it remained docked.

"It was heavy and hard to move," Kaholu recalled about the steering paddle.

Students asked many questions, including:

Where have you traveled?
Where do you sleep?
How do you get food?
How do you go to the bathroom?

Beyond the canoe, students explored interactive booths hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Loko I'a Pā‘aiau fishpond, whose stewards, Kehaulani Lum and Bruce Keaulani, previously hosted an Assets Middle School field trip. Students learned how to identify different types of kelp by their shape and scent. Students learned how one group takes invasive species wood to use it to make surfboards.

After the field trip, students reflected on their experiences. In Literacy class, they wrote essays and poems. One student wrote from the perspective of a crew member leaving their family, while another imagined life as a barnacle.

Here is a poem by Kau'i '30, read aloud by her teacher at the K-8 Friday assembly on February 6. Click here to watch and read it below.

Land or People; Both are Home
by Kau'i '30

Found myself on a boat
Don't know when or where.
Flew onto it when I was lost at sea
Following wherever the boat flowed.
A foreign word
Hōkūle'a carved on the side of the clean kane wood.
Silly crewmen thought I was a Manu
I thought anyone could tell the difference between a blue beaked beauty
And a black-fronted tern from New Zealand.
Gave them false hope in finding land
So I fly by every morning
Making them think they were waking up to see home.
A crew member they all called Alohi
Always looking up at the stars
Says they are the old ancestors of our past generations
Leading us to a safe place.
The stories she said sounded ridiculous
But I stick around to listen.
She talks of Chiefs and Kapunas, mana and war games
Sounded like jokes to me.
The sun and moon rose and fell multiple times
Until we finally found land.
The crew settled on the land, greeted by the locals
I saw birds fly by me; birds of my kind.
Joined them in a tree and watched the boat I was once sailing on
Sail away to who knows where before I got the chance to thank them.
A few moons have passed, and news arose.
The familiar word was spoken by the humans: Hōkūle'a.
They spoke of a tragedy; a permanent loss of the crew.

My heart ached for once at the thought, realizing that the voyagers that helped
me return to my homeland
Have met their end to a storm.
Went onto another boat, knowing it would take me to my old comrades'
homeland.
Sailed through the waters, the memory of their hard work and dedication
The stories told by Alohi lingered in my mind.
As the new crew I sailed with pushed through waves
All I could think of was my old one.
Land at last, and I immediately flew off the boat.
Searching for the cemetery
I found it in Lanai; 8 rocks laid in the ground with names carved on them.
I laid inside the lei placed on the middle of the memorial
Pikake flowers on Alohi's paddle
Though they sailed me home so long ago, I came back to them
My real home, where I lay and cry. Each tear of my thanks.

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Students Learn about Traditional Wayfinding and the Iconic Hōkūleʻa

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