Family Runs Deep

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  Wai'anae, Hawai'i
  October 28th, 2013 - Wai'anae, Hawaii
  
  The Marine Science Learning center at Waianae High School is in the business of growing things.
  
  “My role is to develop young men and women, and I use the Marine Science program to help develop socially conscious young men and women,” Marine Science Program Coordinator, Dana Hoppe said.
  
  The Marine Science program teaches its students about aquaculture and the importance of sustainability, along with other important life skills like teamwork and cooperation. “Basically the whole thing about this thing is teamwork, as a family, you know, you learn, you love each other,” senior Daishalynn Santiago said.
  
  Anyone who has been through the program can tell you that they left feeling more like family, however this family has been facing rough waters due to recent budget cuts in the Department of Education. “When I first started, it wasn’t uncommon for us to have a budget of 60 to 80 thousand dollars a year, my budget last year was cut to about 16,500,” Hoppe said.
  
  The Marine Science program was not the only one affected, in the 2012 fiscal year the legislature gave the DOE nearly 16 million dollars less than they did the year before. Despite troubling times, they are trying to bring some life back into the program by fundraising at the Waianae Farmers market. “I am very fortunate in that I have some former students who are very supportive and we’ve been working on ways to try to increase our revenue,” Hoppe said.
  
  An increase in revenue isn’t the only thing on the agenda as far as keeping the program running. As Mrs. Hoppe nears retirement age, she is preparing her daughter Katie to take her place. “It’s somewhere that I’ve spent a lot of time growing up so, being able to teach there is kind of just continuing the cycle and it makes the most sense like why would I teach anywhere else,” Katie Hoppe said.
  
  For the Hoppe’s it’s all about keeping the program and traditions go- ing, and if anyone can do it, they can. After all, it does run in the family.

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Looking Back

Seeing how this type of sustainability runs through the Hoppe family, I learned how important it is for these organizations to exist.

Gary Domingo-Oka, Photographer

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Family does run deep. 



Tressa Hoppe, Reporter

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