The skill of stringing delicate Niihau shells into beautiful, intricate lei has been passed down for generations.
Now Niihau students have new ways to learn about and share their history and culture.
This is the recording and video studio at Ke Kula Niihau o Kekaha, one of two Niihau-focused charter schools in west Kauai. That school and Kula Aupuni Niihau a Kahelelani Aloha P.C.S or “KANAKA” serve Niihau students who go back and forth between the islands, or have Niihau ties.
"I don't think technology and the idea of saving a language and culture are at odds at all with each other," said Jim Lucas, who heads up Ke Kula Niihau o Kekaha’s tech programs.
It’s something the students dive into with a fervor.
“To see them walk through the door, their eyes go up, and realize that this is available for them and anybody in the community who really has the same ideas about saving a language and a culture,” Lucas said. “It's fun work."
Science and technology are among kids’ favorite course at KANAKA as well , and computers come in handy there for lessons in everything from language to history.
"The history that I know about my island will be dear to my heart forever,” said teacher Lauae Kanahele, a Niihau native. “I’m sharing it with my students here and the school, and I try to make them realize the importance of their life now and the life before."
On Niihau the village school has computers. Island co-owner Bruce Robinson says the students are quite tech savvy.
So what does a Niihau student, who has had the best of both worlds, decide to do after school?
"There are a lot of them that want to stay, it depends on what lifestyle they're enamored with,” Robinson said, “but they're definitely different from the past in that any of them are completely computer literate."
For those who choose to stay or return to the Forbidden Island, the owners envision a workforce ready for 21st-century jobs, from potential clean energy harvesting and generation, to supporting the military installations on island.
“We're very hopeful that we'll be able to produce technicians in the future which will be able to help the base and improve our relationship," Robinson said.
