Hawaii comes to Roosevelt Elementary School
The gentle sounds of the Pacific could be heard floating through halls of Roosevelt Elementary School this week as members of the Hawaiian Club staged their annual performance.
Participating students, who included nearly the entire fifth grade, intertwined music and dance with a skit about Hawaiian history in the show, titled “Making a Different by Spreading the Aloha Spirit.”
The event was born out of students’ natural fascination with the heritage of 11-year Roosevelt Elementary School teacher Tiffany Kaloustian, who was raised in Honolulu.
“The messages embedded in the program are lessons I have written in the script to teach us all about the importance of acceptance and one’s culture, and that our differences make us all unique and special, which should be honored and celebrated,” Kaloustian said.
The teacher flew in orchids from Hawaii that the students fashioned into leis worn during the performance.
“To see 100 fifth-graders on stage makes me so proud that I can share this part of who I am with them, and the fact that they want to dedicate their own time to be a part of this club,” Kaloustian said.
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--Megan O’Neil
Twitter: @megankoneil