I want to recognize the people who made it possible for Keaukaha Elementary School kids to go on excursions last year.

We started our Adopt-a-Class program in the Spring of 2007, when I learned that Keaukaha Elementary School didn’t have the money to take its students on field trips. My friend Duane Kanuha and I had the idea to ask people in the community to sponsor the kids on field trips to the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center and wherever else the teachers wanted to take them.

These folks got on board solely because it needed to be done. There were no ulterior motives, and nobody did it for recognition or anything. It was just something that needed to be done, and they felt like doing it. Thank you to this group of people who got our Adopt-a-Class program off the ground:

Kindergarten – John and Linda Tolmie; Virginia Goldstein

First grade – Hawaii Island Economic Development Board; Sonia Juvik; Brad Kurokawa

Second grade – Anonymous; Leslie Lang & Macario; Dan Nakasone; Kama‘aina Backroads; Kee Han & Vivienne Seaver Ha; and the Managers at Alan Wongs

Third grade – Anonymous (2); Lance Duyao in memory of his mom Audrey

Fourth grade – Sydney & Aileen Fuke; Yamanaka Enterprises

Fifth grade – Tracy & Kimo Pa; AstroDay Institute

Sixth grade – Richard & June Ha; Duane Kanuha; Alan Wong; Alan Ikawa

All during the last school year we got thank you notes with great, colorful drawings telling and showing us where the classes went on their excursions.

Now it’s the second year, and many of our same donors have given again.

And something else exciting has happened, too. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation heard about our program, and pretty soon they decided to provide funding so that 50 percent of the students on the Big Island could visit ‘Imiloa with their school over the next two years. When the bus companies heard about it, they negotiated such low rates that the funding was enough for all Big Island students – public, private and charter – to visit the cultural and astronomy center.

And the Moore Foundation is now considering doing a similar program in the San Francisco Bay area, as well.

Now, almost unbelievably, it’s possible we might be able to take it even a step further. The Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) project, which might be built atop Mauna Kea, comes with a serious commitment to giving back to the island. We at the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board have made it clear that this telescope is welcome here only under strict guidelines, and if our people benefit. One benefit? The TMT is committed to funding educational opportunities – but has said it would leave the actual administration and direction of the educational funding up to the community.

The TMT could take our simple program and run with it. Take it to a much higher level.

This is an opportunity to get away from our reliance on tourism, and to educate our children and their children in subjects that will help them lead sustainable lives here. This is one of the reasons I support the Thirty-Meter Telescope. It could really make a substantial difference in lives of our Big Island children for generations to come.