As the sun rose over Pākī, haumāna and staff gathered outside Mr. Duane Iwamura’s classroom for an opening ceremony and blessing of the campus’s new greenhouse, Hale Uliulimau.

Natural sciences teacher Mr. Duane Iwamura originally proposed the building of a greenhouse several years back.

The original proposal was inspired by King Kekaulike High School’s greenhouse, and he included pictures of theirs within the proposal alongside his written statement.

“A lot of it had to do with administration pushing for it,” Mr. Iwamura said.

The proposal was adopted, and although construction was postponed, the plans were finally acted on early this school year.

After several months of construction, the greenhouse was finally finished and given a name by Kumu Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier.

Kumu Ekela said that “uliuli” is the dark-luscious greens, while “mau” means everlasting; therefore, Uliulimau means the “evergreen.”

At the dedication Monday, Jan. 16, in addition to Kumu Ekela’s manaʻo on the hale, Hawaiian classes 3, 4 and 5 performed an oli, and Kahu Kalani Wong gave his blessing.

The blessing included both salt and water being spread around the hale.

Kahu said the reason behind the salt is that salt traditionally stands for cleansing.

Mr. Iwamura, as well as academies principal Ms. Jay-R Ka’awa and senior natural science student Lily Gavagan each ate a grain of salt in the process of the blessing.

To finalize the ceremony, Ms. Ka’awa cut a maile lei binding the doors together and opened the greenhouse.

“The intent is to be a place for us to try out new things, experiment, and learn as we go along,” Mr. Iwamura said.

The agriculture class will begin planting ʻaʻaliʻi this week, but as time goes on, the greenhouse will house numerous species all chosen by haumāna.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Photo by Aaron Veincent

Advanced Hawaiian classes oli at the ceremony.