Just under 50 kindergarteners at Chiefess Kapi‘olani Elementary School in Hilo participated in the Kristi Yamaguchi Always Dream Foundation’s reading program this year.
The program provided students with their own tablets they could use at home and in school, where they read a collective 6,500 books throughout the year.
“Our students are excited about reading and are reading more,” said Kapi‘olani Principal Kimberly Castillo. “It reaches students of this generation and gets them excited about reading. It’s also great to see parent involvement, as many parents have come to the school to learn to use these tablets or have supported their students at home by encouraging them to read more.”
In addition to their individual readings, students were invited to several online presentations hosted on their tablets by actresses Amy Hill and Kimee Balmilero, along with Kristi Yamaguchi herself, the Olympic figure skating champion who has her own ties to Hawaii.
Yamaguchi’s paternal grandfather, Tatsuici Yamaguchi, emigrated from the Wakayama and Saga prefectures in Japan to Hawaii back in 1899.
“About two years ago, during Women’s History Month, the children enjoyed listening to stories written by Yamaguchi and learning about her accomplishments as an Olympic figure skater and author,” said Kapi‘olani Librarian Jo Ann Ishida on how the program came to be. “Our focus on Kristi’s books and her life prompted me to write to her and the Always Dream Foundation. I had heard about the great things they were doing for schools on Oahu and asked if the foundation would consider adopting Chiefess Kapi‘olani Elementary School on the Big Island.”
Kapi‘olani is now the first school on the Big Island to be supported by Yamaguchi’s foundation.
“Some of our students prior to the Always Dream Foundation did not have books at home,” said Chelsea Yagi, who serves as the lead teacher for the program. “The students who participated definitely seemed to have enjoyed it. There were students who would read 100-plus minutes a week on the reading tablet.”
For the record-setters of the group, the students who passed the 100-minute mark were entered into a drawing where they could receive an additional hardcover book each month.
As the school year ends, the Kapi‘olani students will have the chance to continue their reading adventures during the summer.
“Yamaguchi’s foundation not only gave each kindergarten student a tablet to use during the school year, but also at the end of the school year when Kristi and her team came down in-person to our school, she gifted the tablets to each of the students to keep,” Yagi said. “Kristi’s foundation also gave students hard copies of different books for each student.”
The program aims to help students improve and achieve the reading requirements of future grade levels.
“It is critical to have all of our students reading before or by the time they finish third grade,” Castillo said.
Despite the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic, reading levels are improving for younger students in Hawaii, according to the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress report.
In 2022, Hawaii fourth-graders performed above the national average reading level, but by eighth grade, those numbers fell, with students just barely meeting the national average.
To set students up for a future of reading, Castillo confirmed Kapi‘olani will not only continue the program next year, but will expand it to include more students.
“We will once again partner with the Always Dream Organization next school year, which means our entire kindergarten class will get to experience what our current class experienced,” Castillo said. “We are excited to also be adding 4-year-old students in our (Executive Office of Early Learning) Preschool program to next year’s group.”
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com.