He waʻa he moku, he moku he waʻa
“The canoe is an island, the island is a canoe”
This traditional ʻŌlelo Noʻeau honors the traditional sustainability mindset or way of knowing essential to survival in Hawaiʻi. The ’canoe is an island’ refers to the limited resources available on a voyaging canoe as a metaphor for thinking about how island resources might also be limited. The lessons learned from surviving, and ultimately thriving, on an island are lessons that can be applied from a local to a global context, considering the Earth as an island. This Hawaiian proverb is a tool and a guide as we apply traditional ways of knowing to meet the demanding challenges of today.
Sustainability Fellowship Program Curricular Overview
Guiding Vision: Every being has the opportunity to thrive and each of us has a role to play in making that happen.
The Sustainability Fellowship Program at Punahou School is a 15-month journey into the heart of sustainability and leadership. Fellows will explore critical sustainability challenges including actions to mitigate, adapt to and build resilience to climate change with a lens of equity and justice in the context of what it means to live on an island. By connecting traditional practices and ways of knowing, fellows will apply the knowledge and understanding of island ancestors to today’s existential challenges. The program is composed of three separate, yet connected, courses of learning that build upon one another into a culminating presentation of learning as described below.
The Sustainability Fellowship Program at Punahou School is a 15-month journey into the heart of sustainability and leadership. Fellows will explore critical sustainability challenges including actions to mitigate, adapt to and build resilience to climate change with a lens of equity and justice in the context of what it means to live on an island. By connecting traditional practices and ways of knowing, fellows will apply the knowledge and understanding of island ancestors to today’s existential challenges. The program is composed of three separate, yet connected, courses of learning that build upon one another into a culminating presentation of learning as described below.
Overall Learning Goals
Sustainability Mindset
Fellows will explore the values and attitudes that contribute to sustainability. They will learn about Hawaiian values, mental models, sustainability mindset principles, and be able to recognize and apply the principles when considering sustainability challenges in Hawaiʻi especially as they relate to equity and justice. Students will be empowered to advocate on behalf of a sustainability mindset in decision making. They will know, understand, value and draw from multiple perspectives to co-create with diverse stakeholders shared and evolving visions and actions in the service of a healthy and sustainable future both locally in Hawaiʻi and globally.
Literacy: Foundational Knowledge and Skills
Fellows will build a foundational knowledge in economic, social and environmental systems while recognizing that knowledge of all systems encompasses a vast array of information that is too great for any one individual. Rather, students will understand how systems thinking is essential in striving for sustainability at the intersection of all thriving systems. They will know how to access factual information on climate change including best practices for mitigation, resilience and adaptation. Students will recognize definitions for sustainability including sustainable development and frameworks that are global (UN-SDGs) and local (Aloha +) and be able to apply tools when investigating specific questions in sustainability.
Kuleana: Finding Purpose, Agency & Advocacy
Fellows will practice strategies for finding purpose and agency in sustainability and advocate for what they care about through grounding and a strong sense of self and place. Fellows will recognize the critical role policies and actions play towards achieving the guiding vision and their role in contributing to it. They will explore responsible local and global citizenship, what it means to be an active citizen and what the work needs from them by developing their purpose and kuleana.
Essential Questions Guiding Curriculum
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What does it mean to live on an island?
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How do mental models and mindsets influence perspectives and decision making?
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What does it look like when all living beings are thriving?
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What ethical considerations underpin sustainability?
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What influences our ability to advocate for ourselves and for others?
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How can technology and innovation contribute to sustainability?
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What will be different as a result of our fellowship?
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What is the role of creativity and innovation in sustainability?
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What does an equitable and just energy transition look like?
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What is stuff, how do we get it and where does it go?
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What do we eat and why; what defines our relationship with food?
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How do the lenses of equity and justice shape the decisions that have been made or that can be made?
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What role do individuals, groups and systems play in sustainability efforts?
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How do our daily choices impact the environment and others and what changes can we make to live more sustainably?
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What are the biggest obstacles to living sustainably and how can we, as a society, overcome them?
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What is stuff, how do we get it and where does it go?
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Coursework
Applied Systems Thinking to Sustainability Challenges in Hawaiʻi
6-week summer course
In the first summer course, students' learning is framed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and how to apply a global perspective with critical skills such as systems thinking to local sustainability challenges. Students explore essential questions through inquiry-based research, interactions with community experts and leaders and site visits. They focus on sharpening critical-thinking skills by exploring essential questions around sustainability, engaging in experiential learning activities, and building community relationships. To support collaborative learning, activities will intentionally serve to build community among cohort members and support development of leadership skills. By the end of the first summer, students will have identified a direction for their sustainability challenge project they plan to pursue during the intervening school year which will help them to define their internship or research project in the second summer.
Exploring Sustainability Seminar and Sustainability Challenge Projects
Intervening School Year
During the intervening academic school year, students will pursue individual sustainability research and discovery, exploring community partnerships and sustainability challenge opportunities that will help them to define their project during the program’s second summer session. Fellows will engage in monthly meetings with a program mentor, attend in person gatherings with the cohort and be prepared to present their findings prior to the second summer session.
Capstone Course in Sustainability
6-week summer course
Fellows will reunite at the beginning of the summer for a unique educational trip to Hawaiʻi Island. There, they will engage in hands-on activities and place-based learning with partners on the island. Following this trip, Fellows will intern or volunteer for at least four weeks with a community partner/mentor who will support them to advance their Sustainability Challenge Project. They will also participate in regular seminar classes with their fellow cohort members. The program culminates with a public presentation of their research project.
Presentation of Learning
Following the second summer course
Fellows will present the results of their project and personal growth in a public forum in August following the second summer. The forum will include industry leaders, government and school officials, organization leaders and others who will provide valuable and critical feedback to student projects.
6-week summer course
In the first summer course, students' learning is framed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and how to apply a global perspective with critical skills such as systems thinking to local sustainability challenges. Students explore essential questions through inquiry-based research, interactions with community experts and leaders and site visits. They focus on sharpening critical-thinking skills by exploring essential questions around sustainability, engaging in experiential learning activities, and building community relationships. To support collaborative learning, activities will intentionally serve to build community among cohort members and support development of leadership skills. By the end of the first summer, students will have identified a direction for their sustainability challenge project they plan to pursue during the intervening school year which will help them to define their internship or research project in the second summer.
Exploring Sustainability Seminar and Sustainability Challenge Projects
Intervening School Year
During the intervening academic school year, students will pursue individual sustainability research and discovery, exploring community partnerships and sustainability challenge opportunities that will help them to define their project during the program’s second summer session. Fellows will engage in monthly meetings with a program mentor, attend in person gatherings with the cohort and be prepared to present their findings prior to the second summer session.
Capstone Course in Sustainability
6-week summer course
Fellows will reunite at the beginning of the summer for a unique educational trip to Hawaiʻi Island. There, they will engage in hands-on activities and place-based learning with partners on the island. Following this trip, Fellows will intern or volunteer for at least four weeks with a community partner/mentor who will support them to advance their Sustainability Challenge Project. They will also participate in regular seminar classes with their fellow cohort members. The program culminates with a public presentation of their research project.
Presentation of Learning
Following the second summer course
Fellows will present the results of their project and personal growth in a public forum in August following the second summer. The forum will include industry leaders, government and school officials, organization leaders and others who will provide valuable and critical feedback to student projects.
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