Music ensembles prepare for upcoming summer trip to Hawai’i

so I want to take the students that understand that they’re actually humans whom the land is connected to,” he said.

For this reason, Ho only does the trip on years when he knows that he has the right group of people to bring with him. “I looked at all of the grades in choir this year and knew that these are the people that I want to introduce to my family,” Ho said.

and most significant chant. “The chant is mainly about introducing ourselves to our hosts,” Ho said. “When we go to wide spaces of learning, we all stand, chant, and we hope that it’s sincere.” was struck by the erasure of Hawaiian culture in the first half of the twentieth century. Simultaneously, she was inspired by the cultural renaissance that began in the 1970s, she said.

On June 15, Upper Division (UD) students from the school’s bands, choirs, orchestras, steel bands, and faculty chaperones, will fly to Hawai’i for a week of learning, music, and fun. This trip has been in the works for over five years, since the current seniors were in seventh grade, Choir and Music Department Chair Timothy Ho said. As a Native Hawaiian, Ho finds this trip especially important and a great opportunity to introduce students to his home and culture.

From finding the right chaperones to figuring out the flight details, there were many different moving parts when planning for the trip, music instructor Dr. Amir Khosrowpour said. “We wanted to ensure that we found a mix of chaperones, including some who are CPR certified,” he said. Luckily, the tour guide was able to handle all of the flight information, allowing Khosrowpour to share all of the trip in- formation with parents and students.

Students will participate in many activities, ranging from visiting Pearl Harbor to experiencing Native Hawaiian culture through workshops at the He’eia Fishpond. “The fish pond that we’ll be going to is a really cool experience where we’re going to get dirty, muddy, and wet,” Khosrowpour said. Students will also have the opportunity to perform at a local church and a shopping center, he said.

To prepare students for the trip, Ho taught the students attending about Hawaiian culture and Native Hawaiian History. “I do it so that students have the opportunity to understand where Native Hawaiians are coming from in terms of presenting actual culture to us,” Ho said.

Most people come to Hawai’i for the stereotypical aspects, such as the beaches and Luau shows, Ho said. However, this trip will highlight the indigenous people’s perspectives and respect their land. “Horace Mann students have a lot of heart and empathy,

Despite traveling to the same location, Ho believes that this trip will be different from the previous Hawai’i trips in 2011 and 2018. In 2011, the trip was a typical trip to Hawai’i, as the group behaved very touristy. While during the 2018 trip started to do more authentic Hawaiian activities, the group still didn’t have as much access to Indigenous Hawaiian spaces. Since the members of the 2018 trip were so respectful, Native Hawaiians were increasingly willing to share their culture with the school. “There is still the memory of Horace Mann being there and representing us, so this trip is different because I think we will be embraced automatically because of our association with 2018,” Ho said.

Prior to the trip, students have learned three chants to be used throughout the trip at various occasions. The first chant is derived from a Native Hawaiian tradition of chanting up the sun out of the ocean, he said. The second chant is used as a form of gratitude that students will chant to show appreciation to their hosts. To get into Native Hawaiian learning spaces, students will need to chant the final,

UD history teacher and trip chaperone Melissa Morales is excited to experience Hawai’i through an indigenous lens, she said. “I’m really excited about it being a learning experience and having access to cultural experiences as opposed to just traveling there for tourist reasons.”

Morales attended Ho’s cultural orientation presentation and saw that the trip was extensively planned to expose participants to varying cultural and historic spaces, she said. “What stood out to me the most was how thoughtful Mr. Ho was in thinking about how he could share the true story of Hawai’i with us.”

As Morales teaches about imperialism in many of her classes, she is interested in learning more about native Hawaiian culture. “I’m really excited that I’ll actually be able to see these sites and actually be able to experience them as their own primary sources, and hopefully bring that back to students,” she said.

Morales believes that it’s important for everyone going on the trip to understand the history of people who still live there. “Their history is also a part of American history, even though native Hawaiian history is also very distinct,” Morales said.

Head of the UD Dr. Jessica Levenstein, another chaperone for the trip, also attended Ho’s presentation and

Levenstein was also intrigued by the cultural aspects of the trip. “I was also really interested in the culture of respect that Mr. Ho discussed, whether that means eye contact, attentive listening, or slowing down enough to make meaningful connections with others,” Levenstein said. She is very excited to see these concepts come to life through their interactions in Hawaii, and is looking forward to seeing a version of Hawaiian life that visitors might not usually get to see, she said.

Like Levenstein, Khosrowpour is excited to experience the trip from a Native Hawaiian perspective, he said. “We will come there and enter their spaces in a way that is culturally correct.”

Jiwan Kim (10), a member of Glee Club, will also be attending the trip and is very excited to travel to Hawai’i, as well as learn about all of the indigenous places that they will be going to. “I’m glad that all of us will have the opportunity to not only visit these spaces, but also perform at them as well,” she said.

Jiya Chatterjee (12), in both Concert Glee and Treble Choir, is looking forward to the trip, she said. “I’m excited about the whole trip in general and to sing some of the songs I sang in middle school will be a full circle moment for me.”