Waipahu Students Making a Difference
Happy Presidents' (Washington's Birthday) Day y'all. I have the day off and am busy poke-ing it up in Hilo, but thought that this story would be a good read for those of you who are still checkin' on in today.
My friend and classmate from high school (Roslyn Kanae) is the Tech Coordinator at Honowai Elementary School. She shared a story about some of her students, known as the Honowai Robotek Team, making a difference in their community. Check out their story and I'll meetcha at the bottom:
Honowai Elementary School is located on Honowai Street in the Ewa end of Waipahu. It services 824 students, grades preschool through 6th. Many of our students walk to school due to working parents. Six years ago, our principal and vice-principal met with the Department of Transportation to resolve the issue of speeding cars in front of the school. (Honowai Street is a busy road that leads into Fort Weaver Road before it joins with H2.) This meeting resulted in having two bright yellow pedestrian signs posted at the crosswalks fronting the school.
For the past two years, students at Honowai Elementary School have studied the traffic patterns fronting Honowai Street. Students have clocked cars going 5-10 miles over the speed limit in front of Honowai before, after, and during school hours.
Students have also interviewed faculty and community members about the speeding issue. Some nearby residents have seen many near- misses between speeding cars and students. Speeding cars injured three students during the past five years. No residents can recall ever seeing a police car ticketing cars for speeding down this busy thoroughfare. There are currently no posted signs to remind drivers that an elementary school is present; only the signs for pedestrian crossings and one 25 miles per hour speed limit sign.
To help slow the traffic fronting Honowai Street, the Honowai Robotek Team proposes that the two lane road be restriped to visually narrow the road and posting signs with flashing lights to remind drivers that children are present. They are also recommending that police cars monitor Honowai Street more frequently during school hours.
The students have presented their suggestions to Councilman Nestor Garcia, Representative Henry Aquino, Senator Clarence Nishihara, the Waipahu Community Neighborhood Board, and forty families from Honowai Elementary School. On February 12, 2010, the student members of the Honowai Robotek Team presented their findings at the 2010 S.M.A.R.T. Youth Summit held at Leeward Community College. The Honowai Robotek Team is also currently drafting a resolution for the Waipahu Neighborhood Community Board to approve at the February 25th meeting. The resolution, like their presentation, is completely student written. This is the most comprehensive traffic safety project ever undertaken by students at Honowai Elementary.
Pretty impressive yeah? Our young keiki making a difference! Congrats Honowai Elementary! Keep it up gang!
Post your words of encouragement below if you gotum! Have a great week y'all!
February 18th, 2010 at 2:48 am
Go honowai robotek team ! Keep doing your best on stopping speeding cars at honowai . All students want to be safe. Honowai robotek can make a difference with this problem. They know what they are doing and they're doing their best ! GO GO GO !
February 18th, 2010 at 2:48 am
I think Honowai Robotek is right because I have almost been ran over by a car at the pedistrian crossing because of a speeding car. I also think that they can put the two signs that says "School ahead" or "Children Crossing". Our community should be safe for schools and people.
February 18th, 2010 at 2:49 am
I like this article because speeding cars is a big problem. I think Honowai needs more traffic lights/flashing lights because the road leads to the freeway,and you will need a lot of speed to get in the freeway.Kids will get hurt this way, by speeding cars.
February 18th, 2010 at 2:50 am
I think this article is really awesome and it was really interesting. And our school is really proud because they had came up with the best idea for our school. And they share there idea for 200 kids.
February 18th, 2010 at 2:56 am
This a good idea because younger keiki from Honowai Robotek are trying to make a difference on Honowai Street. The principal and vice-principal of Honowai Elementary met with the Department of Transportation to resolve the issue of the speeding cars in front of the school, but the Department of Transportation didn't do anything. The Honowai Robotek met with Councilman Nestor Garcia, Representative Henry Aquino, Senator Clarence Nishihara, the Waipahu Community Neighborhood Board, and forty families from Honowai Elementary School, and now they are making a difference=D
February 18th, 2010 at 5:10 am
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I think this is a great idea because a few kids from Honowai Elementary got hurt from people who speeds in Honowai street. This should be required at Honowai , so that kids from honowai wont get hurt from people that speed.
GOOD JOB ROBOTICS U GUYS ROCK =P!!!!!!!!!!
February 18th, 2010 at 5:11 am
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I think this is a great idea because a few kids from Honowai Elementary got hurt from people who speeds in Honowai street. This should be required at Honowai , so that kids from honowai wont get hurt from people that speed.
GOOD JOB ROBOTICS,U GUYS ROCK =)!!!!!!!!!!
February 18th, 2010 at 5:11 am
Keep up the good work you guys ! Although it's not getting safe out on the street.All nine of you guys can do it because many people can get really hurt.
February 18th, 2010 at 5:11 am
I think it is good they are trying to make a difference in our Waipahu community.
I am proud of them for trying to keep the students safe by bringing up the issue of speeding cars on Honowai street. Keep up the good work Honowai Robotek team! 🙂
February 18th, 2010 at 5:11 am
This is an awesome idea because Honowai students are going to be safe from speeding cars.
Those students are really going to make a difference in the future for Honowai.
I hope in the future that the solutions will come true.
We appreciate what you guys are doing for us, Honowai.
February 18th, 2010 at 5:11 am
I think this is good thing. One reason why is that many people get hurt and I want them to make a good difference so many kids can be safe.There is a lot of innocent people that cross the road and sometimes get hit by a car. It also helps the people who drive in the car slow down for the other people to cross.
February 18th, 2010 at 5:11 am
🙂 😀 Its a good idea because Honowai needs to be safer because there are some students that are walking to school/home. Its also a good idea to keep Honowai safer because over the last five years students got hurt. Honowai is a safe place of kids to learn because they keep the road safe for kids. Keep up with the awesome work robotek 🙂 😀
February 18th, 2010 at 5:12 am
Honowai ROCKS!
.....The Robotek team is great! Keep it up robotek, Help keep our school safe. 🙂
February 18th, 2010 at 5:12 am
I think these Honowai students set an example for all the elementary schools in Oahu because all of the students made a presentation. The presentation was about what goes on Honowai street and how to make it safe. All the elementary schools should follow the same advice Honowai used.
February 18th, 2010 at 5:12 am
Good job Honowai robotek team because we don't want another kid to get injured in a car accident.
February 18th, 2010 at 5:12 am
Hey Honowai, the robotek are doing a good job. we really need these kids to help people to be safe in honowai st. A lot of people could get hurt without the robotek. Kids could get hurt because most of the kids walk to school. So, thanks for your help.
February 18th, 2010 at 5:13 am
Waipahu robotek is awesome for some little kids. Smart too so I think people would actually listen to what you guys have to say. I also think that finding a way to stop all the speeding on Honowaii Street is good because I remember that someone got hurt last year, I think. Hope it works :]
February 18th, 2010 at 5:13 am
Keep up the good work! I really hope that you could put a stop to the speeding.
Also I congratulate you for your struggles in trying to keep us safe.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Hey whats up people. It's cool for you guys to step up to the plate and trying your best.Hope that people will agree with the way you guys will stop the cars from speeding on Honowai, and hope that we'll teach speeders a lesson.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:43 am
Hey whats up people. It's cool for you guys to step up to the plate and trying your best.Hope that people will agree with the way you guys will stop the cars from speeding on Honowai Street, and hope that we'll teach speeders a lesson.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:42 am
I think this is a good idea because from the last five year children got hurt.
Now one of the three children could be very young.
Now our school made a good idea.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
Holy Cripes! Thanks for all the feedback gang! 🙂