As a social studies teacher at Farrington High School, Michelle Aquino also oversees its Filipino History and Culture course through student-led Filipino Curriculum Project.
This year, 10 of her students will join fellow schoolmates and local high schools in presenting their final projects for the course to the community at Sakada Day Celebration, honoring Filipino plantation workers who immigrated to Hawai’i in the early 1900s. Rain or shine, it will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13, at Hawai‘i Plantation Village in Waipahu.
Attendees can enjoy free admission to exhibits, as well as explore student booths, live performances and food trucks.
“I’m excited about this event because it’s another opportunity for the kids to share the knowledge of their Filipino culture and heritage. Students do not always get a chance to connect with their Sakada past, so this is a way for them to get in touch with their family stories,” Aquino told Aloha State Daily.
New to the event this year is a fashion show, which she pitched based on her own family’s past. Aquino said she was inspired by the interests of her aunt Benilda Agustin, who was born in one of the plantations, and grandmother Leoncia Agustin, who migrated in the early 1920s, to help showcase Sakada plantation fashion – like popular palaka and rice bag print – into modern times.
“Sakadas were very much into sustainable fashion, so encouraging the students to use upcycled materials, manage their resources and even repurpose cloth in different ways.”
The fashion show will start around noon.
Another benefit for the students, she said, is the “real-world interaction with people from the outside.”
“It gives them a boost of confidence and connections with the community,” Aquino continued. “I would like to see more community come out this year to support the youth. Even if you’re not part of the Filipino community, just coming to see what the students have to share because it’s about connection to plantation groups of that time period. "So, there’s something for everyone, something for everyone to learn about and there’s people that everyone can connect with."
The thing she finds most interesting about teaching Sakada history is how people came to work at the plantation hoping for a better life. "I look back at my family – we had ancestors that made the effort to brave a new place to provide for their families. They were adventurers and they showed resilience," she said.
The Sakada Celebration event is hosted by The Philippine Celebrations Coordinating Committee of Hawai‘i, in collaboration with the Filipino Curriculum Project and the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa's Center for Philippine Studies. In addition to Farrington, other participating schools include Waipahu, Dreamhouse ‘Ewa Beach Charter, Maryknoll, Campbell, Wai‘anae, Leilehua, Kulanihakoʻi and Lanai high schools.
For more information, visit bit.ly/sakadaday.
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Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.
