“History in Our Backyard” educates new teachers about Lahaina’s layers of history. The Sept. 12 group included (from left): front — ShaRon Fredy (Lahaina Restoration Foundation program director), Krystle Dunn, Renee Ligienza, Karee Carlucci (LRF board member); back row — Kimberly Walters, Clayton Walters, JoAnn Zukermen, Haley Van Noord, Jeremy Seamster, Alison Howland, Veronica Young, Rudy Reed and David Lanning (Pamela Gabroski is not pictured).

LAHAINA — On Saturday, Sept. 12, educators from the West Side were seen walking the streets of Lahaina escorted by members of Lahaina Restoration Foundation.

This is the fifth consecutive year teachers have participated in the “History in Our Backyard” orientation program developed by the foundation.

This program targets new teachers of both public and private West Side schools. Sharing Lahaina’s rich culture is the main emphasis of the experience.

LRF Program Committee Chair Andrew Kutsunai, a retired Hawaii Department of Education teacher with 30-plus years of service, stated, “The purpose of this project initially was to give these educators a sense of the history of the community in which they worked and to become aware of the important role Lahaina has played in the history of Hawaii. 

“By focusing on the teachers for this project, it was also hoped they in return would influence the youth in their classrooms about the community’s rich heritage.”

Jeremy Seamster, a teacher from Lahaina Intermediate School, receives instruction from Lahaina Restoration Foundation Docent Chi Guyer on how to use a Ramage Printing Press. The press is a replica made by students of Maui Community College in 1964.

The program will host 15 more teachers again in September.

Lahaina Restoration Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1962 with a mission to restore, maintain and interpret the physical, historical and cultural legacy of Lahaina, first capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

For more information, contact the Lahaina Restoration Foundation office at 661-3262 or visit www.lahainarestoration.org.