The changes have been profound, and so too is Raymond’s story as he went through his own transformation. In total statewide, there are 22 Hawaiian language immersion sites in the state Department of Education under the jurisdiction of its superintendent and six charter schools under state Board of Education. There are now three ‘Aha Pūnana Leo schools on Maui - Hāna, Wailuku, and Lahaina - and pathways enabling Hawaiian immersion language students to receive instruction and graduate from Lahainaluna, Hāna, and King Kekaulike high schools. It is the first formal stepping stone in a Hawaiian language immersion program that can extend from elementary through high school in the D.O.E.

He founded Pūnana Leo O Maui as a volunteer and not a paid staff. In 1986, he was asked to join the board of the ʻAha Pūnana Leo to found the first private, nonprofit pre-school in Hawaiian language on Maui.

With a Master’s degree in education, Raymond was hired by the state to create a Hawaiian Studies program at Maui Community College in 1982. However, A Hawaiʻi Constitutional Amendment in 1978 recognized Hawaiian as an official language, side by side with English, paving the way for the state to support Native Hawaiian language immersion programs. What became a cornerstone of the Renaissance was the revival of the Hawaiian language - a language no longer used as the official government language in newspapers and Hawaiʻi schools after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.

The Hawaiian Renaissance was in full swing with Native Hawaiians reviving their music and telling their history from their point of view. Maui Now: A People Of Maui Interview Kiope Raymond was working to establish a Hawaiian Studies Program at Maui Community College, when he started a new and volunteer effort to found a Hawaiian language immersion program for pre-schoolers called Pūnana Leo O Maui.Īt the time Native Hawaiian Kiope Raymond was attending the University of Hawaiʻi in the mid-1970s, the educational system was going through significant changes with a move by ethnic groups in Hawaiʻi and other parts of the United States to find a place to tell their stor ies and contributions to society in college courses.

Hawaiian speaking pidgin