In August of 2018, Keep it Flowing was invited to Olomana School to conduct a 2 day workshop with the youth within the facility. Our Creative Director developed an art program that resonated with them by using various styles of lettering that captured the interest of the youth. The goal was to get everyone attending the workshop to engage in drawing and coloring positive affirmations to create a “collage of powerful messages” to later mount on 3 separate canvases.
The workshop began with our Creative Director sharing his art background, artwork and followed by a brief tutorial explaining the techniques and process of how to approach the project. Keep It Flowing provided instructional worksheets which detailed all instructions and were presented to the youth to serve as a guideline for the 3 hour workshop.
The youth gravitated towards our workshop and created amazing pieces of art and positive messages. The staff also participated which created a an amazing synergy. The workshop ended with sharing a music video made by Hawai’i Hip Hop artist that really connected with the youth speaking on the values of community.
Keep It Flowing will be following up with the youth by hosting another workshop at Olomana School. We believe strongly in educating and uplifting the youth through their interests and plan to develop more workshop similar to this model in the future.
The artwork created by Olomana youth, faculty and our Creative Director was made into a tshirt design for students to wear, take ownership and pride in their collaboration during the 2 day workshop.
“The youth resonated well with the workshop and the overall presentation. The youth who are not normally interested in art did well after Mr. Ken helped them individually. The youth, especially those who are interested in “writing” were highly engaged during the entire period. All of the students completed their work and they were extremely proud of their final product”.
-Natalie Sur, Olomana School Educator
Ken’s story was incredibly fascinating and he did a fantastic job relating to our at-risk youth. His vision involving the community and assisting the youth within our community was so refreshing not only for our students but even for the staff lucky enough to be involved with his workshop.
-Brady Bisgaard, Olomana School Educator
“I observed a youth who struggled with the assignment because he lacked confidence in doing the project, but with continued support from Ken he was able to proceed with the assignment. I watched this student continue with greater confidence as Ken provided small but effective help. I observed two other youth who at first refused to do the project. Ken was able have enough insight into the students to not push them. Instead he used what they had and they ended up using the techniques that he was teaching, so in the end, every student had used at one of the techniques taught in their project. These students were happy with their project. Their projects were or excellent quality.”
–Rhoda Lee, Olomana School Behavioral Health Specialist
It was a pleasure having Ken at the school. The kids resonated well with the content and topic, moreover, they connected with him. It was energizing to see them engage with stylistic writing. I say this because I know it’s something the majority of them enjoy. I enjoyed observing the activity. It helped in building two soft skills (i.e., individual and team work) that are critical in finding success. It was cool to watch their process of creating their own designs then come together to create a collage. I was also happy to see you meet with each student individually to tailor to their needs. That’s so important because often negative self-talk can lead them to giving up. Thank you so much for all you did. Hope to have you back soon.
–Ron Defoe, Olomana School Teacher
Olomana School offers three main educational programs:
- Incarcerated youth are served at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility (HYCF) in Kailua
- The Olomana Youth Center serves at-risk students from Windward Oahu’s secondary schools and also HYCF students who are in transit.
- The Detention Home in Kapolei — a judiciary program for students needing detainment. It includes a small runaway shelter in Honolulu.
Enrichment activities include intramural volleyball, basketball, ping pong matches and art and dance workshops. Olomana continues to participate in the State Scholastic Art Competition, and has sponsored the islandwide Safe & Drug Free/Olomana High School Bench Press and Body Building Contest.
