How Honouliuli Lives On in the Next Generation

Prior to Honouliuli's establisment as a National Park, students have been engaged in its preservation, making classroom projects in relation to it and participating in archaeoloigcal digs. Many of these students are part of the University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu and are college age, or from local high schools.

The National Park Service continues to work with schools, students, youths, and partners to continue welcoming the next generation to learn of the importance of Honouliuli.

Planned for this year and included in the 10th anniversary celebrations for Honouliuli National Historic Site are many activities and outreach programs to give the opportunity to learn about our park. If you are interested in having the park service as a partner for future opportunities, please email us.

Students Helped Honouliuli Become a National Monument

Without student involvement, Honouliuli may have never become a National Park. Local students in Hawai'i worked together with partner organizations, to launch the grassroots movement to establish Honouliuli as a National Monument. Students gathered signatures of their peers and members of the community, bringing awareness of the site to hundreds of people, to be included in the letter requesting Honouliuli's preservation. Students played a powerful and significant role in Honouliuli's establishment and continue to make an impact today.

Honouliuli in Student Projects and Classes

Many students have decided to base projects around the camp and have created videos about Honouliuli, conducted interviews with surviving family members, based their theses on Honouliuli, and have been involved in the archaeological digs that take place on-site. The multi-generational impact of the camp continues today and the future of it will rest in the hands of the students who learn about it now.

Below are a few projects that are available for public viewing that students have done for Honouliuli.

If you have done a school project or have classwork related to Honouliuli and would like it to be added for future student reference, please email us.

Hawai‘i History Day, January 2025
February Events: Hawai'i History Day - Honouliuli National Historic Site

Hawai‘i History Day State Fair 2024 Junior Group Documentary Winner
Executive Order 9066: A Turning Point for Japanese Americans and Civil Rights

Hawai‘i History Day Project 2019: National Qualifying Documentary Project
Triumph Over Tragedy: Classical Music in the Japanese War Relocation Authority Camps

Youth Video Project: Waianae High School's Searider Productions
Honouliuli

Mid-Pacific Exploratory (MPX) 2013 Internment Unit
Performing Poems of Survivors of Honouliuli

Mid-Pacific Institute: Student's Thoughts After Visiting Honouliuli
Honouliuli Field Trip

Mid-Pacific Institute + CyArk: 3D Laser Scan Animation
Honouliuli Internment Camp - Fire Station

Mid-Pacific Institute + CyArk: LiDAR - Terrestrial
Honouliuli Internment Camp

University of Hawai‘i Manoa: Ph.D. Student Presentation on Honouliuli
The Question of Loyalty & Patriotism: The Internment of Japanese American Priestesses at Honouliuli

University of Hawai‘i News (Student-Led)
Internment camp's hidden history uncovered by West O‘ahu students

On-Site Work at Honouliuli

Dozens of students who have an interest in archaeology have been taking field courses that give them real-world experience doing archaeological digs at Honouliuli. These experiences are special because they can't be taught in classrooms and enhance the student's understanding and perceptions of what it means to do archaeological work. With their help, there have been many historical sites that have been uncovered that would otherwise have been lost to time the past 70+ years. Students come away from the dig sites with a renewed understanding of the history of Honouliuli as well; many of whom had no idea the internment camp existed in the first place. It remains an invaluable lesson to them and provides them with important work skills that they can carry into the rest of their lives.