At our general meeting on August 17, 2024, at Unitarian Universalists of Puna,LWV of Hawaiʻi County celebrated 2024 LWVHC Hawaiʻi History Day Award winner Cole Aragaki of Waiākea Intermediate School. After an excerpt of his 10-minute documentary, "Ma ke kai: William S. Richardson and the (Re)turn to Tradition, was shared, Cole talked about why he chose this topic, how he did his research (including identifying primary sources), and why he chose the documentary format for his project.

Joining Cole were Jonathan Peralto, his social studies teacher, and Whitney Aragaki, his mother and a science teacher at Waiākea High School.

In the photo, from left: Michele Mitsumori, LWVHC co-president; Whitney Aragaki; Cole Aragaki; and Michael Bitter, HHD Hawaiʻi District consultant.

This is the fifth consecutive year that LWVHC has participated in the Hawaiʻi District Hawaiʻi History Day program by sponsoring an award for an outstanding student project that demonstrates civic engagement, advocacy, and/or voter education on strengthening democracy and transparency.This year, we also provided a voter registration/education table and an election-themed art activity.

Hawaiʻi History Day, a state affiliate of National History Day (NHD), is a year-long history education program that invigorates the teaching and learning of history in grades 4-12. It promotes a theme-based, research-centered model for history and civics education. Students present their projects in an exhibit, performance, documentary, essay, or website project. Hawaiʻi History Day culminates in the presentation and evaluation of these projects at school, district, state and national history days. It is a program of the Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities.

We were honored to also be joined by Michael Bitter, Hawaiʻi History Day Hawaiʻi District consultant and a history professor at Hawaiʻi Community College; and Aiko Yamashiro and Rob Chang, executive director and deputy director of the Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities.

Congratulations, Cole!