MCB HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii -- Hawaii's military has been working closely with the Hawaii Department of Education to improve schools in Hawaii, and the Adopt-a-School program is just one way the Marine Corps is helping children in Windward Oahu get the education they deserve.
The Joint Venture Education Forum, which was established in 1999, a cooperative effort between the Department of Defense and Hawaii's DOE has the goal of improving education in Hawaii. The funding provided for JVEF - through the U.S. Pacific Command - helps schools focus on educating students by freeing up assets for things like textbooks and special education programs.
A recent survey conducted by JVEF showed that most of the issues Hawaii's military families have with the education system are related to funding shortfalls. However, initiatives like the Adopt-a-School program allow service members to assist schools with self-help projects that can normally drain funds allocated for books and teachers in Hawaii's schools.
Marine Corps Base Hawaii leads the Adopt-a-School programs on the windward side of Oahu, and the base is helping improve the relationship between military families and the schools their children attend.
Painting, cleaning, landscaping, and building walls and drainage canals are all projects Adopt-a-School volunteers complete to help improve the educational environment in windward Oahu.
The Marine Corps' portion of the JVEF funding from the U.S. Pacific Command was $20,000 this past year. The units participating in the Adopt-a-School programs took that money and made bigger improvements at their partnered schools than the schools could have made with the same amount of funding.
The key benefit for the schools is the volunteer hours Marines and Sailors work at their partner schools. Money that would be spent paying a contractor to install a sign, put up a fence, or build a retaining wall can better be spent on education essentials, rather than facility maintenance.
Nineteen schools benefit from Adopt-a-School partnerships with MCB Hawaii's Navy and Marine Corps units.
Among the dozens of projects completed this year, units from MCB Hawaii installed 100 bulletin boards and two air conditioners at Kailua Elementary School, built an art room at Lanikai Elementary School, built a fence at Mokapu Elementary, and installed ceiling fans at Kahalu'u Elementary.
The number of volunteers varies, depending on the type of project performed, but each of the units that have partnerships with the windward schools completed at least four significant projects during the past year, in addition to regular volunteer activities with their school.
This quickly adds up to thousands of hours in volunteer work being provided to the schools by MCB Hawaii personnel. The funding for materials was provided through the $20,000 allocated to MCB Hawaii for the school programs.
In addition to facility and grounds improvements the volunteers make, the students of the partnered schools benefit even more from direct interaction with the Marines and Sailors of MCB Hawaii. Sports days, field meets, reading programs and tutoring are all sponsored by volunteers from the base. The Marines and Sailors get almost as much out of it as the children do.
Some service members say they volunteer because they have children in school, and they want to help make the schools a better place to learn. Others say they assist because they want to make the world a better place by helping kids grow up with an education.
Whatever the reason, these volunteers are multiplying the benefits of the funding provided by PACOM. They're also helping make windward Oahu a better place to go to school.