On Nov. 7, the blacktop at Pūʻōhala School in Kāneʻohe turned into a mini launch pad as families packed the campus for the annual STEM Night. Haumāna, mākua, and kūpuna rolled paper tubes, tweaked fins, and sent small rockets flying, all while working in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. The hands-on evening mixed simple engineering with intergenerational learning and a concrete effort to normalize Hawaiian-language STEM terms, with organizers saying the goal was to spark curiosity about flight and bolster the school's kaiapuni mission.
Roughly 270 people showed up for the event, which was strengthened by a partnership with the UH STEM Pre‑Academy, according to the University of Hawaiʻi System. The Pre‑Academy supplied facilitators and simple materials so families could test how launch angle, fin shape and tube stiffness change a rocket's path. The university's write-up also connected participants with UH programs and pathways in space and engineering for students who want to take their interest further.
“It was awesome to see families come and build rockets together!” said Nikki Saito, a program specialist with the STEM Pre‑Academy, as reported by the University of Hawaiʻi System. Saito and her colleagues walked families through iterative experiments: make a change, launch, observe, then tweak again. The low-tech and easily repeatable activities kept the spotlight on testing and revision instead of on formal lectures.
Local aerospace partners plugged in
STEM Night also highlighted local programs that can support longer-term pathways in aerospace and engineering. Windward Community College's Center for Aerospace Education, which runs the Imaginarium and a NASA Flight and Rocketry Lab, was among the partners contributing curriculum and outreach. The UH STEM Pre‑Academy, an initiative of the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, helped tie the hands-on activities to university resources and internships for older students, per the STEM Pre‑Academy website.
Language as a learning tool
To support Pūʻōhala's kaiapuni focus, teacher Kalani Kuloloia developed ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi versions of the rocket-building instructions and STEM vocabulary so families could do the entire project in Hawaiian. Pūʻōhala's staff list identifies a Hawaiian-language immersion program and names Kuloloia on the school's tech team, according to the school's faculty page. Parents and educators at the event said the bilingual setup helped make physics concepts feel more approachable and culturally grounded for keiki.
Events like this serve as a practical example of how place-based language education can work hand in hand with STEM goals: simple materials, strong community partnerships and language-first instruction. Community members interested in similar outreach can find more information through the STEM Pre‑Academy and Windward Community College's Center for Aerospace Education.
