When nine-year old Itzuri Lemus walked through the double doors of the Outrigger’s Kaleiopapa Convention Center for her third-grade field trip, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Oh my!” Lemus gasped. “I’ve never seen so many Lego boxes in my life!”
Similar sentiments were expressed among all third-grade students from Kahakai Elementary School as they were greeted and invited into the ballroom — filled with hundreds of Lego boxes — by Aloha MAP staff members who had planned a free, fun and engaging Lego-building workshop and cultural experience.
For Aloha MAP (Meritorious Achievement Program) Founder and Project Director Lilinoi Grace, offering students ranging from third grade through high school an opportunity to build with Legos was all about fostering an engaging hands-on experience at an impressionable age. Grace hopes that the experience will allow students to make connections with their core curriculum at school and, ultimately, to contemplate future career paths.
“A lot of students that we are reaching have never experienced Lego building,” Grace said. “There’s a lot of learning going on from opening and looking at the box, to the hands-on learning portion. (Legos) help students to make connections to the types of careers that can be attached to what they are building like being an engineer, or an artist, or even marketing skills. I want them to see that there is a direct connection to their core subject material that they are studying and that it can be fun, and that it can evolve into a career that can also be fun.”
Students were tasked with an initial “Lego build” as a warm-up exercise. Each student received a small pre-packaged bag with the goal to take one’s time to complete the build correctly before submitting to an Aloha MAP Lego teacher for inspection. Once inspected and given the “green-light” to proceed, students could select any Lego box of choice to complete and take home. Many students ended their day with a total of five Lego builds.
For Niamh McCarron (9) and Rise Slade (8), both third-grade students from Mrs. Henderson’s class, the Lego Camp was “their best day of school — ever!”
“What I really like about today is that we get to build Legos with our friends and if we need help, we can ask any of the adults,” McCarron said. “I feel like it’s like art, but in a different way. In art you are creating and drawing things that are beautiful, but with Legos, you are building things that are just as beautiful.”
Slade agreed and added; “This is so much fun! I like that it’s fun to build and now I can take it home to share with my baby brother.”
Grace said she created and founded Aloha MAP in 2012, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, as a way to give back to the close-knit community she was born and raised in.
“I wanted to bring high quality, engaging educational experiences for our students and schools,” Grace said. “I found that there was a need through my work within the schools as I attended Chaminade University and then came back home to at my alma mater, Konawaena High School, as a math tutor.
“When I was in school, I wasn’t good at science or math but I was a hard worker. So, when I went to college, math and science is what I actually majored in — I have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and I minored in math and physics.
“Knowing my own struggles, and also being the first in my family to attend college with having financial limitations, gave me the strong desire to come back and inspire the children within my community. I want them to know that math and science is very doable if we just continue to work hard at it, find ways to connect to it, and make it a fun and engaging learning experience for all. It can open so many doors.”
Grace added that there are well over 1,000 students from different schools who will have attended the free Lego workshop between the dates of February 1 through 17, with an average of 150 students per day.
“This year is the first year that we are actually field-tripping schools to us,” she said. “We have Kahakai Elementary School from grades 3 through 5, Kealakehe Elementary and Middle School grades 4 through 8, as well as Kealakehe High School’s automotive program. We also have Konawaena Middle School 6 through 8, and 200 students from Konawaena High School. For Holualoa Elementary School, we have been going to that school and bringing this resource to them.”
According to Aloha MAP’s website, the program is fiscally sponsored by Friends of the Future, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit located in Waimea, Hawaii. Aloha MAP is also funded by the US Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program.
At the end of Lego workshop, students were allowed to take home all of their builds including a beautiful Aloha MAP canvas tote filled with Dog Man books, a planner, folders and extra school supplies.
When asked what she would like students to learn from the Lego-building workshop, Grace beamed a wide smile.
“A lot of students that we are reaching have never experienced Lego building. At a young age, kids see Legos as toys. But at this age, they can see it in a whole different way and start to forward think about how their current school work relates to the toys that they are building. I want them to see that it can be fun, and that it can evolve into a career that can also be fun.”