Note: In the difficult months following the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires that devastated Lahaina, education was disrupted significantly. But amid the struggles, students and educators persevered — and the learning and classwork resumed.
At Lahainaluna High School this past school year, teacher Jarrett Chapin tasked his English/Language Arts sophomores to research topics related to local problems and to write speeches, project proposals and op-eds about their issues. Today, we present abridged versions of three of those pieces. All reflect the diligence, learning and critical thinking being done by Lahaina’s youth even as they, and their community, strive for recovery amid ongoing challenges.
It’s April of 2024 in Lahaina. A week’s worth of rain preserves the land and changes the dry landscape completely. As the rain disappears for a time, so does the beautiful, green landscape.
Days go by and Lahaina gets dryer. But this is all just Lahaina’s regular routine — along with having one large fire almost every year due to a lack of water. All the locals that make Lahaina have gotten used to it.
All they lose is their sense of safety, and maybe a house and a few loved ones. This routine of off-and-on land preservation has been going on for years. There is no water to be found.
Cultivating the land is impossible with the meager 13 inches of rain Lahaina gets a year. It’s only a matter of time until fires become more common and burn down Lahaina’s new town. Lahaina used to.