Approximately 500 elementary students and their teachers and chaperones will meet at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s 30-acre Oʻahu Urban Garden Center in Pearl City on February 10 for the 2017 Oʻahu Agriculture and Environmental Awareness Day. The Center will be open to the public for its own Second Saturday event featuring many of the same exhibits and activities February 11, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Both days are hosted by the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR)’s Oʻahu Cooperative Extension Office and Office of Academic and Student Affairs.
Events and exhibits
The many crowd-pleasing ag- and environment-themed interactive exhibits and presentations will include 100 percent Hawaiian chocolate made by CTAHR’s Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences and information about the Oʻahu Master Gardeners program. There will be exhibits on tropical and subtropical fruits and on pigs, cows and chickens. The UH Honeybee Project will show how honey is extracted from the comb, and other CTAHR groups and departments will offer educational and fun exhibits. The Oʻahu 4-H youth group will also be accepting new members.
State agencies and community partners include the Hawaiʻi Cattlemen’s Association; the Hawaiʻi Nature Center, which will demonstrate the importance of wetlands; and the Board of Water Supply, which will discuss growing edible drought-resistant landscapes. There will also be the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture’s Plant Quarantine Branch, Oʻahu Invasive Species Committee and much more.
Creating ag awareness
The Awareness Day serves a double purpose: to create a greater awareness and understanding of agriculture and the environment in the community and to introduce students to career opportunities in agriculture and environmental studies on Oʻahu and throughout the state.
Students and teachers from eight schools—Kāhala Elementary, Liholiho Elementary, Hawaiʻi School for the Deaf and the Blind, Hahaʻione Elementary, Lunalilo Elementary, Hokulani Elementary, Kūhiō Elementary and Ala Wai Elementary—will attend the Friday event. The following day will be open to the public and will feature the Urban Garden Center’s annual plant and rose sale with the Honolulu Rose Society, as well as many of the same attractions and educational activities. Students who return from the previous day with their parents will receive a prize.
More images from the 2016 Agriculture Awareness Day at the CTAHR Waimānalo Research Station)
