Wahi Pana O Hilo: Educational tour of Hilo enjoyed by group from UH Hilo and Hawai‘i Community College

A group of administrators, faculty, staff, students and their guests enjoy a day-long tour of Hilo.

By Susan Enright.

Large group of students gather at park, listening to speaker. Trees overhead.
Taupōuri Tangarō (at left in light blue shirt), Haʻakūmalae Protocols Director at Hawai‘i Community College, talks to the group at Waianuenue also called Rainbow Falls.

Faculty and staff at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo and Hawai‘i Community College were treated to Wahi Pana O Hilo, an interactive educational tour of Hilo, on Sept. 20.

The invitation to the event says, “It is a wonderful opportunity for us to professionally and personally collaborate to strengthen the HCC-UHH pipeline and to address seamless student success.”

The group visited:

  • Piʻopiʻo – Statue of Kamehameha
  • Wakaomāui/Wailuku River (Canoe of Maui/Water of Destruction)
  • Pōhaku Pinao and Naha (Pinao and Naha Stones) – Front of Hilo Library
  • Waiānuenue/Keanaohina (Rainbow Falls/Cave of Hina)
  • Peʻepeʻe (Boiling Pots)
  • Puʻuhalaʻi, Puʻuʻōpeʻapeʻa, Puʻuhonu (Three Craters of Halaʻi Hill)

Held each year especially for new members of the UH Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College communities as part of orientation events, Wahi Pana O Hilo has almost 200 participants and organizers joining in throughout the day. This year the group included administrators, faculty, staff, students and their guests.

The annual day-long tour is sponsored by UH Hilo Office of the Chancellor (Chancellor Don Straney), Student Affairs and Kīpuka Native Hawaiian Student Center (Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Gail Makuakāne-Lundin), and Hawai‘i Community College Office of the Chancellor (Chancellor Noreen Yamane), and Haʻakūmalae Protocols (Director Taupōuri Tangarō).

 

About the writer of this story: Susan Enright is a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.

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