Community Events Upcoming

More Hawaii Island schoolchildren are receiving an opportunity to benefit from curriculum-related field trips to ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center during the 2018-19 academic year thanks to a gift from the Japan Foundation for Promotion of Astronomy through Subaru Telescope.

The donation of $8,950.15 enables ‘Imiloa to increase the number of public and charter school students served in its popular field trip program, especially those from the most geographically distant areas of Hawaii Island.

As a center for “informal science” education on the University of Hawaii at Hilo campus, ‘Imiloa has organized student field trips since shortly after its opening in 2006. The astronomy center now hosts nearly 13,000 students and teachers each year.

Each school group receives a customized program designed to take advantage of the center’s immersive environment, including a state-of-the-art digital planetarium, an interactive exhibit hall showcasing astronomy and Hawaiian culture and several acres of native gardens.

“Evidence shows that science ‘sticks’ when children can learn in an informal setting, outside the confines of a traditional classroom … how much more so in the hands-on environment of a dynamic and multi-faceted center like ‘Imiloa!” said ‘Imiloa executive director Ka‘iu Kimura. “We are very grateful to the Japan Foundation for Promotion of Astronomy and Subaru Telescope for sharing our vision and helping us inspire the next generation of explorers and innovators.”

During the course of the 2017-18 school year, ‘Imiloa estimates its 12,861 field trip participants included a record 5,000 students from Hawaii Island’s public and charter K-12 school population, just more than 18 percent of the island’s total DOE enrollment. While ‘Imiloa also hosts field trips from the neighbor islands, as well as from the mainland and overseas countries, it assumed a special mission to serve the students on its home island, raising funds each year to subsidize round-trip charter bus transportation for as many Hawaii Island schools as possible.

Subaru Telescope Director Michitoshi Yoshida shared that the observatory was very proud to be able to recommend funding for ‘Imiloa’s program to the Japan Foundation for Promotion of Astronomy.

“Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of Subaru Telescope’s receiving light from the universe for the first time,” Yoshida said. “We are indebted to the people of the Big Island for their support over these two decades and want to say thank you to the local community by helping to make it possible for local keiki to visit the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center.”

Since 2002, the Japan Foundation for Promotion of Astronomy through Subaru Telescope has made a total of $156,000 in grants to UH-Hilo to support initiatives that foster education about astronomy in the Big Island community.

Sharing Hawaii’s legacy of exploration, ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center is a world-class center for informal science education. ‘Imiloa is located at 600 ‘Imiloa Place in Hilo.

For more information, visit www.ImiloaHawaii.org or call 932-8901.

Maunakea Speaker Series closes out its 2018 monthly scholar-focused series at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 20, with a presentation on unique arthropod species found on Maunakea. by Jesse Eiben, assistant professor of applied entomology at UH-Hilo.

The free lecture by Jesse Eiben, assistant professor of applied entomology at UH-Hilo, will be held in the UH-Hilo Science and Technology Building, Room 108. On-campus parking is open and available without charge after 4 pm.

With hundreds of species of insects collected and identified during a five-year baseline arthropod biodiversity assessment in the UH Maunakea Science Reserve, Eiben will share stories of the unique species that have evolved and adapted over hundreds of thousands of years of “mountain-shaping” geological and climatological changes on Maunakea during his evening presentation.

Eiben has been documenting arthropod diversity and assisting with conservation planning on Maunakea since 2005. He has mentored graduate students and continues to collaborate with a wide variety of conservation and land-management specialists to better understand the unique natural resources found within the subalpine and alpine stone desert on Maunakea.

The Maunakea Speaker Series is a collaboration between the Office of Maunakea Management, ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center and the and UH-Hilo Hilo Department of Physics and Astronomy.

The series will return in 2019. For more information, visit malamamaunakea.org or call 808-933-0734.

The traveling exhibition, “Hawaii Nikkei Legacy,” is now open through Dec. 21 at the Hawaii Japanese Center in Hilo. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Admission is free.

Hamakua Baptist Church began a Celebrate Recovery group, a Christ-centered, 12-step program for people struggling with drugs, alcohol and other “hurts, habits and hang-ups.”

The group meets at 6 p.m. Sunday evenings at the church located at 35-244 Kihalani Homestead Road in Laupahoehoe.

Celebrate Recovery differs from Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs in that it is not limited to one specific problem such as drinking or drugs. Anyone in the grip of a problem habit is welcome.

Like Alcoholics Anonymous or other programs, Celebrate Recovery is absolutely committed to confidentiality and respect for the privacy of its members. The program is Christ-centered but nondenominational. It presents no theological viewpoint except that Jesus Christ is the source of salvation and that His grace is the higher power that will lead the addicted to recovery.

Celebrate Recovery asks only that participants respect the church’s beliefs as facilitators respect theirs.

Since its founding in California in 1991, Celebrate Recovery groups have been started in 35,000 churches around the world and have helped hundreds of thousands of people on the journey to recovery. There is currently another Celebrate Recovery group operating at New Hope Church in Hilo. The Laupahoehoe group is the first program on the Hamakua Coast.

Celebrate Recovery welcomes people at any stage of recovery, including those just staring on the path and people who are well along on the road to recovery.

If someone wants to talk in confidence about their problems or wants to join Celebrate Recovery, call Ray at 217-7425.