Thanks to a generous grant by the US Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Program, the fee to join H-PEP is waived. H-PEP is only looking for applicants who are committed to fully participating, completing the 10 weeks in its entirety, and submitting all required data on time.

Unfortunately, Cohort 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 participants can only enroll in the cohort once. However, if you are interested in coaching, we’d love to hear from you! 

Participants in H-PEP’s former cohorts 1-5 are welcome to participate in current cohorts.

Up to 60 applicants will be accepted. We are looking for 30 educators and 30 parents.

Educators are teachers, aides, counselors, related service providers, administrators, and anyone else at schools who help educate Hawaii’s haumana. We are looking for Pre-K to Grade 12 educators who have a school to implement their SPARK Aloha Call to Action Plan in. Educators from community organizations are welcome to apply but priority goes to school-based Educators. We are especially interested in supporting Native Hawaiian Educators and those who work with Native Hawaiian students.

We define parents as adults who directly take care of keiki in their home. Are you helping to raise a keiki and consider yourself in a parental role? We welcome you to participate! We are looking for parents of keiki Pre-K to Grade 12 who have a school to implement their SPARK Aloha Call to Action Plan in. We are especially interested in supporting Native Hawaiian parents and those with Native Hawaiian children.

No. We invite groups of participants from a single school to join us. It can be helpful to join with a co-worker or parent (or a group) so you can support each other through the process. However, all participants must be an educator or parent connected to a HIDOE Windward District School on Oahu since this cohort is in partnership with HIDOE Project Aware.

To be accepted with the highest priority, you must be able to attend ALL THREE retreats. You must be fully present throughout these retreats– no other scheduled activities during this time. This is your time to commit to your well-being and learning.

We understand this is a big time commitment, but these retreats are important to your journey throughout the cohort. The Opening Retreat is REQUIRED. There will be many interactive activities with your team and partner(s) and it is unfair and disruptive if you are not fully present. If you end up not attending the Opening Retreat in full, you will be unable to continue with the cohort.

H-PEP is a big fan of Google! All learning information will be in Google Docs and all learning videos will be on YouTube. All Cohort data forms will be submitted using Google Forms, information will be written in Google Docs, and weekly videos posted on YouTube.

Additionally, H-PEP will use Slack (https://slack.com/), a closed social media community, to communicate with the cohort. This is our way of keeping in touch throughout the cohort. You can access Slack via a desktop, desktop app, or mobile app. All important information will be dispersed via our Slack community. Participants must log on regularly- to check for information, post responses, and respond to others’ posts.

We will engage in Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) together. These are research based activities designed to increase your personal well-being. 

Week 1: Physical- Breath, Sleep, Movement

Week 2: Strength building- Values in Action Character Strengths

Week 3: Gratitude- 3 Good Things 

Week 4: Empathy- Active Constructive Responding 

Week 5: Gratitude- kindness booster, Prosocial spending 

Week 6: Savoring; Sharpening perspective- Hakalau big picture thinking 

Week 7: Meaning Oriented- Find meaning in daily life; Reflecting on thoughts and emotions

Week 8: Gratitude- Active Expression. Gratitude visits, letters

Week 9: Savoring- Check in with yourself; Do more of what feels good

Week 10: Meaning- Reflections on the past 10 weeks

During the 10-week cohort, the goal is for you to get re-ignited! After, the goal is for you to share your rekindled spark with your school!

If you had $500 to create a positive movement of well-being and flourishing (or literacy support) for your school’s staff, parents, or students, what would you do? We want to hear your creative ideas and would love to support you in bringing these dreams to life!

SPARK Aloha Plans must be supported by your school administration and should be done sometime between May and December 2025, when we will meet in our in-person retreat and share all the awesomeness that we’ve sparked in our schools.

SPARK Aloha plans may be a one time or ongoing event. Past cohort plans have included:

• School wide beach clean up to encourage community building and malama aina
• Movement equipment and classes for staff health and well-being
• Hiring a professional chef to teach educators how to create a healthy meal to support physical well-being
• Buying bookshelves and books to build a classroom library to support literacy
• Hosting a fun activity and bookmaking using our unique SHELLS (Storytelling for the Home Enrichment of Language and Literacy Skills) model for parents and keiki to support positive engagement and literacy

Please make sure  you read this document and agree. Participants who are accepted to Cohort 12 will sign the Participant Agreement at the Opening Retreat.

We’d love to hear from you!

Well-being Coordinator Jaime Abrazado

Email: jaimema@hawaii.edu

Phone- Please leave a voicemail: (808) 956-3369