Field trips are planned throughout the year for students to participate in hands-on learning experiences where they can gain more knowledge about everyday situations related to the course they are taking part in.

The AP Physics class took a trip to the Punahou Carnival again this year to study how the laws of physics are applied to carnival rides. Physics teacher Andrew Vitek, said, “I chose the Punahou Carnival because it’s a great opportunity for students to apply what they are learning in class to real world scenarios. Students don’t learn well if they are unable to connect what they are learning in class to what they experience in life.”

Senior Kayla Ippongi said, “I didn’t actually go on any rides, but just by observing the rides, it gave [me] the opportunity to apply a lot of the concepts I’ve learned in class to the rides, like centripital force in the Fireball or conservation of energy in Pharaoh’s Fury.”  After making observations for their study, the students were able to enjoy the rides and booths at the carnival before returning to school.

During one of his extended period classes, Math teacher Terence Li took his Advanced Algebra with Financial Applications class of fifteen to his family’s meat company, Richard’s Meat Market.  Li said, “I think that it’s important for students to visit a business like my dad’s [where] the employees work really hard with their hands and it’s not easy to make a dollar.” At the meat market, which caters mostly to commercial buyers and handles about $2 million worth of inventory, students got to observe the receiving and shipping process, and the administrative processes that come along with them.

On the same day as Li’s trip, Marine Biology students went to Hanauma Bay, and AP Biology students went to a GMO farm in Kunia. In Kunia, sudents toured the farm on buses while tour guides explained agricultural practices to the students. Senior Jana Sasaki said, “I enjoyed being able to learn more about an issue as controversial as GMOs and the technological processes that underlie GMO development. It was also very eye opening to see so many of my misconceptions about GMOs debunked during our discussion session.”