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Sacred Hearts student wows attendees at Schools of the Future Conference

By Staff | Oct 31, 2013

J.P. Hill spoke at the fifth annual Schools of the Future Conference.

LAHAINA – Sacred Hearts School eighth-grader J.P. Hill was recently invited to speak at the fifth annual Schools of the Future Conference at the Hawaii Convention Center on Oahu.

The keynote speakers were Dr. Yong Zhao, an internationally known scholar, author and lecturer; and Linda Darling-Hammond, professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and driving force behind the School Redesign Network, Stanford Educational Leadership Institute and Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education.

Hill participated in the hour-long “Worldwide Voyage: Island Wisdom, Ocean Connections, Global Lessons” presentation with Hokule’a teacher crew members.

Hokule’a just finished a five-month voyage around the Hawaiian Islands, visiting more than 25 ports and engaging in 15 “Learning Journeys” with schools and community organizations.

Crew members discussed a sampling of “Learning Journey” findings and explained the exciting opportunities to get schools, students and communities involved with Hokule’a’s upcoming Worldwide Voyage.

Touching on the role of Hokule’a in reinventing education and his classroom’s experiences with voyaging canoes, Hill’s impressive speech is posted online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3LM98HPYJs.

“Attending the 2013 Schools of the Future Conference was like being in a portal of the 21st century, learning with one foot in the past and one foot in the future. Hokule’a and the Worldwide Voyage is the bridge to link past generations of ‘ohana and curriculum together,” he said.

Hill did such a fine job that Mark Standley, director of the Professional Education Center at the University of Alaska Southeast, invited him, SHS Teacher Mary Anna Enriquez, Polynesian Voyaging Society Navigator Nainoa Thompson and members of the Hokule’a team to present at the Alaska Society for Technology in Education Conference on Feb. 22-15, 2014, in Anchorage.

Linda Lindsay from Seabury Hall also invited Hill to apply to speak at TEDx Youth at the Upcountry school on April 6, 2014.

The Schools of the Future Conference is a collaborative event presented by the Hawaii Community Foundation, Hawaii Association of Independent Schools and Hawaii Department of Education in partnership with the Hawaii Society for Technology in Education and Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network.

Thousands of educators from Hawaii’s public, private, charter and parochial schools came together to learn from the two keynote speakers, nationally recognized featured speakers and more than 100 sessions offered by Hawaii’s own teachers and administrators.