Life is an educational voyage, not a destination

Hawaii students of every age — preschool to university — will benefit from the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s Worldwide Voyage, which will share Hawaii’s culture with the world as the voyaging canoe Hokule‘a and its sister vessel Hikianalia visit 85 ports in 26 countries over the next few years — and reports back interesting findings from each visit.

The voyage, which departs Hawaii in May 2014 and will span 49,000 nautical miles, reached another milestone this week, with the leaders of public and private educational institutions here signing on to support curriculum aligned with the voyage, with a focus on teaching children the importance of sustaining healthy communities and the natural world. Follow the educational voyage at hokulea.org.

New SHPD director offers cause for hope

With the State Historic Preservation Division’s history of chronic problems, it’s welcome news to read the resume of the new guy in charge. Alan Downer, who starts as SHPD’s new administrator on Dec. 2, for 27 years directed the Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department in Arizona — which, the U.S. Department of Interior website says, he grew from a staff of one to one of the largest public historic preservation agencies in the U.S., with a staff of 47 and an annual budget of $3.5 million. Let’s hope Downer can use his leadership skills to fix more than a decade of mismanagement problems at SHPD, which is putting at risk more than $1 million in annual federal grants. Welcome, Mr. Downer.