"My favorite part of the visit was when I got to touch a real asteroid." Shea, Parker Lower School
HILO — UH Hilo's ʻImiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaiʻi received an $8,000 donation from the Tokyu Foundation in support of the Adopt-A-Visit Field Trip Program at ʻImiloa. The gift will fund field trip costs to the Center for Hawaiʻi Island students.
At a time when local schools face challenges securing funding to augment the science and math education taught in their classrooms, the Adopt-A-Visit program makes it possible for these lessons to come alive for Big Island students. The program subsidizes visits by local classes to ʻImiloa, underwriting admission and transportation for the keiki.
"We are grateful for the generous gift from the Tokyu Foundation to support the Adopt-a -Visit program," said ʻImiloa's Executive Director Ka'iu Kimura. "This donation allows our local schools access to ʻImiloa's informal science education programs that help enrich teachers' curriculums and creates an educational learning experience children will remember for the rest of their lives."
The Adopt-a-Visit program was established in 2008 with the ambitious goal of giving every student on Hawaiʻi Island a field trip of discovery at ʻImiloa. A generous grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation subsidized transportation, admission, and lunch for K-12 Hawaiʻi Island students' visits to ʻImiloa. Energized by the generosity of the Moore Foundation and the momentum it generated, the Hawaiʻi Island community, observatories, businesses, and transportation partners joined in with their own financial support. Their contributions were matched on a 2:1 basis by the Moore Foundation. To broaden the impact and extend the experience into community households, each visiting child was given an "ʻImiloa ʻOhana Visit Pass" to take home so they could bring their families for a visit at a later time.
Four years and 35,000 student field trips later, the program continues to serve as a dramatic manifestation of the wisdom "It takes a community to raise a child."
To support the Adopt-a-Visit program at ʻImiloa, call the ʻImiloa Development Office at (808) 969-9732 or email [email protected].
You can also make a gift online to the Education Fund at ʻImiloa in support of the program - visit www.imiloahawaii.org/donate
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The University of Hawaiʻi Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawaiʻi System. The mission of the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation is to unite donors' passions with the University of Hawaiʻi’s aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawaiʻi and our future generations. Our vision is to inspire giving and partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi by fostering UH pride and passion among donors, alumni and the community. We value and strive to emulate service, honor, excellence, accountability, integrity, teamwork, and trust. www.uhfoundation.org.
The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, is a comprehensive university with five degree-granting colleges, six master's programs and four doctoral programs. UH Hilo strives to integrate culture and science, offer hands-on learning opportunities to its students and use the Island of Hawaiʻi as a natural learning laboratory. Enrollment has doubled since 1980 to over 4,000 students coming from all fifty states and more than 40 countries. Please visit www.uhh.hawaii.edu.
ʻImiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaiʻi is a world-class informal science education center located on the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo campus. ʻImiloa is a place of life-long learning where the power of Hawaiʻi's cultural traditions, its legacy of exploration and the wonders of astronomy come together to provide inspiration and hope for generations. The Center's interactive exhibits, 3D full dome planetarium, native landscape, and programs and events engage children, families and the local community in the wonders of science and technology found in Hawaiʻi. It is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays). For more information, visit the website at www.imiloahawaii.org or call (808) 969-9703.
Tokyu Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1983 whose mission is to support charitable, literary, cultural, scientific and educational activities in the State of Hawaiʻi and the U.S.A.
