{"id":616,"date":"2026-05-27T08:05:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T08:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=616"},"modified":"2026-05-27T08:05:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T08:05:59","slug":"maui-school-successfully-launches-garden-to-cafeteria-lunches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=616","title":{"rendered":"Maui school successfully launches garden to cafeteria lunches"},"content":{"rendered":"
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H\u0100NA (HawaiiNewsNow) – A campus garden in East Maui has rich soil and hardworking kids.<\/p>\n

Read more HFD suspends search for missing jet ski operator off Oahu\u2019s North Shore<\/a><\/p>\n

The m\u0101la (garden) at H\u0101na High and Elementary School has everything from \u02bbuala (sweet potato) to corn and many other crops, providing a hands-on learning opportunity for students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in the fabric of our school,\u201d said Christopher Sanita, H\u0101na High School principal. \u201cKids are not having to leave or take a bus or go somewhere far away. It\u2019s in our DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n

For H\u0101na High students Puna Boy Phillips and Orama Tehiva, the garden is their classroom, their kuleana (responsibility) and their way of life.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhenever we go hunt or go fish, we get the garden for go to,\u201d said Phillips, a sophomore.<\/p>\n

H\u0101na is a rural town in East Maui reachable by a road with curves and one-lane bridges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are two hours plus away from Central Maui,\u201d said Hau\u2019oli Kahaleuahi, community outreach coordinator for Ma Ka Hana Ka \u02bbIke. \u201cIt takes a long time to get here. If we\u2019re talking about food, it has to travel a long way to get here.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many of them, learning these skills is not just important, but necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can provide for my family and give them the food and nutrients that they need throughout their daily lives because sometimes things can get hard and tough,\u201d said Tehiva, a junior. \u201cYou don\u2019t have too much supplies. So, you\u2019re gonna have to use the things that you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ma Ka Hana Ka \u02bbIke started at H\u0101na School in 2000 to provide opportunities for students who might not thrive in a traditional classroom and to give back to their community.<\/p>\n

Read more JBPHH to conduct Major Accident Response Exercise<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is either food, medicine, flowers or different fixtures,\u201d said school garden coordinator Ryan Poe.<\/p>\n

Twenty-six years later, it has flourished into an award-winning vocational training organization for youth of all ages.<\/p>\n

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The garden is worked on seven days a week, 365 days a year, and students as young as four years old come and help out.<\/p>\n

Although crops on campus have been around for about a decade, the organization recently became certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and approved by the Hawaii Department of Education to serve its homegrown food to students at lunchtime \u2014 a goal leaders said they have been working toward for five years.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s goal is for 30% of food served in public school meals to be locally sourced by 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a great goal and something that I\u2019m sure everybody can get behind. However, the systems to support that in actually becoming a reality, I don\u2019t think are there yet,\u201d Kahaleuahi said.<\/p>\n

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Ma Ka Hana Ka \u02bbIke hopes to work with the DOE and other schools to help reach that goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important for our students to learn about these things, and hopefully we can keep this going for generations to come,\u201d said Tehiva.<\/p>\n

Read more Maui County seeks resident, business input on safety survey<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new program on Maui aims to bring healthier food options to students. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMaui school successfully launches garden to cafeteria lunches - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=616\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maui school successfully launches garden to cafeteria lunches - Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new program on Maui aims to bring healthier food options to students.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=616\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-27T08:05:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=616#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=616\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"headline\":\"Maui school successfully launches garden to cafeteria lunches\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-27T08:05:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=616\"},\"wordCount\":531,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=616#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/62a7b6399880f9d91b9f5ba021d9de65.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=616#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=616\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=616\",\"name\":\"Maui school successfully launches garden to cafeteria lunches - 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