In 2013, Parker Sawyer, a sixth-grade math teacher at Kaohau Public Charter School in Kailua, volunteered to lead the school garden.
He had no gardening experience.
But 10 years later, the school has a garden for nearly every classroom, an award-winning zero-waste program, a hot compost pile and worm bin, the beginnings of an agroforestry on campus, and a rich project-based science program. gives birth to a child. expert. it provides stability.
Oh, and he turned an old shipping container into a place where kids can play guitar and drums on vacation.
It's all thanks to Sawyer, who has taught in Kaohau schools for more than 20 years and was named the 2024 Hawaii Charter School Teacher of the Year and a finalist for the Hawaii State Teacher of the Year awards announced Tuesday. (Lailehua High School's Jackie Freitas will represent Hawaii in the National Teacher of the Year program this spring.)
"Mr. Sawyer is a true teacher who truly loves his students and will go above and beyond to build meaningful relationships with every child in his class," said Principal Keoki Frazier. It gives you the opportunity to teach and apply the practice of persistence in problem solving. to help our environment... He is a teacher who cares more than the math you learn.''
It's vacation time at Kaohao School and the kids are packed into a shipping container with a guitar, keyboard, two drums and a stand microphone. The school guard was tied to an electric pole and sat in a chair. Sawyer holds an acoustic guitar. The children – all sixth graders – began singing original songs about sustainability.
This happens every day during recess, sometimes during lunch. Most of these children have never touched a musical instrument. Sawyer and the other workers taught them what they knew. The drummer, who keeps the rhythm of the band and also plays some riffs, played the drums for the first time three weeks ago.
Because Rock School started three years ago when two of Sawyer's students got into trouble at school. He learns that they both love music and invites them to dance with him during a break in class. He brought a guitar and a bass from home to the children. It just grew from there and now the class is talking about opening a cafe in their backyard.
Because, as sixth graders learn from their math teacher, no idea is a bad idea.
"I love continuous learning," Sawyer said, sitting in a classroom filled with science books, equipment and student project ideas written on index cards and taped to the walls.
In 2013, I joined GoFarm Hawaii, a statewide farmer training program, when he volunteered to take over the management of what were then few school gardens. He studied agriculture for just a few months and after about five years completed the program and operated a ½ acre farm in Waimanalo where he grew and sold lettuce, beans and cabbage. Sweet potatoes and bananas.
The practice spread across campus. The orchard has several mafala ulu (breadfruit) trees that produce about 400 kilograms of fruit per year and two banana plots. He plans to agroforestry the forest by planting more ulu and mamaki trees, as well as uala (potatoes) and kalo (taro). The project will be led by his students.
There are also dozens of compost piles and heated vermicompost pots created by students in one way or another. Children collect cardboard and paper from the cafeteria for worm beds and food scraps, and remove nitrogen from garbage cans. At six months of age, when the nutrient-rich vermicast is ready, the pup engages in what is called search and rescue; Dirt is thrown into children's inflatable pools, children collect road worms and other insects.
Undergraduate students distill vermicast and brew vermicast tea, which is used as a soil repellant and foliar spray. Intermediate compost is used to enrich school gardens, landscapes and lawns; The surplus is placed in used plastic ice cream containers and sold to the public. (All monies generated are returned to the program.)
Students carefully monitor the hot compost piles, recording how much feed and mulch is added, as well as the temperature of each pile. Decomposition of the compost heap occurs under the influence of heat. Composting takes about a year. Students create 12 of these hot compost piles each year, removing six tons of food waste from the waste stream.
Target? Zero waste - and Kawhao School does just that. Everything from food waste to old math tests can be composted.
In 2016, the school won the Environmental Protection Agency's national Food Recovery Challenge award. But that's not why Sawyer did it. He truly wants to fulfill the school's mission of preparing students to face life's challenges and become compassionate stewards of the future.
"We want to value what (students) bring to campus," Sawyer said. "Everything you do and carry has a price."
It encourages sixth graders to think about solutions to real-world problems. During the school year, each student works on their own project (although they are encouraged to collaborate with classmates whenever possible). The concept is divided into four categories: water, energy, food and waste. This project started with the planting of yew trees on the campus and continued with the construction of a chicken coop. Fellow students analyzed the data and found that the school had no solar panels on its roof, so the school was moved.
"You know their seeds are sprouting when they come to school early or when it starts raining and they run to check the catchment system," Sayer said with a laugh. "We want to see that every day."
According to STRIVE HI's 2021-2022 school performance results, 77 percent of Kaohsiung's 341 students met or were proficient in science standards on state assessments, compared to 45 percent statewide. And perhaps more importantly, the vast majority of students report a positive school environment.
“I wanted to create a day that I enjoyed as a student,” Sawyer said.
I think he achieved that and more.
Civil Beat's education report is supported by the Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.
