Naalehu Elementary School | Starts at Home

IMG_E3777[1] — Mom Zjane, Shafer Santiago-Militao, Carl Okuyama at Wiki-Wiki Mart.

One day while working at Wiki-Wiki Mart, Naalehu I couldn’t help overhearing a proud mom sharing a story of her son who just completed writing and publishing a book for a school project. She was very proud of her son. This really peaked my curiosity so I asked the young writer Shafer about his book.

Shafer quickly went to get his book from the car parked outside. Smiling, he showed me his glossy soft cover book entitled Mr. Whale Shark Makes Friends. His writing was excellent for a nine year old who is originally from Brazil, he says he has two dogs and two cats. The illustrations in this book are his own drawings.

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I purchase a copy of Shafer’s book from http://www.Studentreasures.com/OrderCopies, using the book’s pin # 7481214. His teacher’s name will pop up, it’s Carlin’s.

The writing program is a curriculum at Volcano School of Arts and Sciences, a public Charter School, on the Island of Hawaii; Ms. Kalima Kinney, Principal, and Mr. Chris King-Gates, Assistant Vice Principal, are supporting the program.

StartsAtHome.org supports early parental involvement with their children, they have teamed up with Wiki-Wiki Mart who loves children and encourages them to do their best. Each semester the store rewards perfect attendance at Naalehu Elementary School. Students with three days or less are rewarded with an escorted excursion to the store, where they get $3.00 to spend as they please or save the money, the kids like the break.

IMG_3344[1] The goal of the Perfect Attendance Program is to have the school’s attendance rate pass the Big Island’s School District’s average of 94%. When the program started two years ago, the Naalehu school’s rate was 88%. They have gotten up to 91% and is wavering trending upward, we are praying they pass the district’s average of 94%. Since then another program was started “Challenge Five” that recognizes students with less the five absences in a semester. With good faith by students, parents, school faculty, and the community this goal will come to pass, yes #KidsKan.

To get more parental participation, Wiki-Wiki Mart has announced that parents with children attaining “Perfect Attendance” will receive a 25% discount coupon good at the store. Starts of Home is trying to build community partnerships that promotes improved student attendance, if you’re interested call (808) 937-4292, we would love to partner with the community in improving school attendance.

For our children and our community’s future, train a child in the way to go.

Written By Carl Okuyama