UH Waimanalo Research Station to host Oahu Agriculture and Environmental Awareness Day events

Dr. Ted Radovich teaches students at a previous Ag and Environmental Awareness Day.

Some 500 elementary students and their teachers will visit UH Mānoa’s 128-acre Waimanalo Research Station in Waimanalo on Friday, March 4, when the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources' (CTAHR's) O‘ahu Cooperative Extension Office and Office of Academic and Student Affairs host the 2016 O‘ahu Agriculture and Environmental Awareness Day. The general public is invited for a field day featuring many of the same activities on Saturday, March 5.

The many crowd-pleasing ag- and environment-themed interactive exhibits available on both days will include free harvest-your-own sweet corn and information about the beginning farmer program, GoFarm. There will be exhibits on kalo, or taro, and on cacao, the tree used to make chocolate. The UH Honeybee Project will show how honey is extracted from the comb and provide information on pollinators, and CTAHR groups and departments will offer educational and fun exhibits. The O‘ahu 4-H youth group will also be accepting new members.

State agencies and community partners include the always-popular Department of Homeland Security Customs & Border Protection with their ag-sniffing beagles, and the volunteer organization Hui o Ko‘olaupoko, which focuses on ocean health. There will also be the Hawaii Department of Agriculture’s Plant Quarantine Branch, Oahu Invasive Species Committee, and much more.

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 O‘ahu and throughout the state.

Students and teachers from nine schools — Enchanted Lake Elementary, Kaelepulu Elementary, Keolu Elementary, Blanche Pope Elementary, Waimanalo Elementary and Intermediate, Aikahi Elementary, Kailua Elementary, Kainalu Elementary and Mokapu Elementary— will attend this annual event on Friday. The following day, Saturday, March 5, will feature the same attractions and educational activities for the general public. Students who return from the previous day with their parents will receive a prize.

WHEN:     

Friday, March 4, 2016 (schools)
8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (estimated peak activity: 10:00 a.m.)
Media are invited to cover the event.

Saturday, March 5, 2015 (general public)
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
All are invited to attend.

WHERE:     

UH Mānoa’s Waimanalo Research Station, 41698 Ahiki St., Waimanalo, Hawai‘i 96795

View photos from the 2015 event (which took place at the O‘ahu Urban Garden in Pearl City) here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ctahr/sets/72157650386923379/

For more information, visit: http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu