A brand new Hawaiian immersion school on Kauai is getting ready to open the doors to its first school year. The K-12 charter school received a 25-year lease for eleven acres from KCC. They will work in partnership with the College and adjacent Punana Leo to broaden the scope of learning for its families.

In the moku of Helelea on the Kauai island you will find a place that harkens back to ancient times, when communities gathered and tended to ahupuaa mauka to makai. Stacy Sproat Beck grew up here. She watched her father and others stop development of Waipa in the 1980s. Waipa's staff of nine hosts educational visits for schools and community organizations on a weekly basis.

Ke Kula Niihau o Kekaha is determined to keep the Niihau dialect alive through its keiki. Soon they will have a new tool to help them do just that. Today this room is a construction zone. Saws, paint cans, and lumber abound. But by year's end it will be "a recording studio and video production studio. We have already made a couple of CDs as well as a video, the original story of Kaluaikoolau."

The Hawaiian language immersion program is growing and we recently visited one of these schools on Kauai targeting a unique community. This is Ke Kula Niihau o Kekaha. A humble little school with a huge mission. "The school's vision is to strengthen and perpetuate the Niihau dialect of Hawaiian language."

This week a group of Hawaiian cultural practitioners will depart on the trip of a lifetime as they visit Papahanaumokuakea. We caught up with them at Kaiwi trail during a training session meant to introduce them to the delicate environment they will experience.