Ep 27. Teaching ag to Hawaiiʻs youth - WSCB with Jackie Freitas

We are rebroadcasting this episode of the Hawaii-based “What School Could Be” podcast featuring Oahu Hawaii agriculture teacher Jackie Freitas because there is such a strong connection between the content and our work at the SOW project. Josh Reppun, brother to Paul and Charlies Reppun who are long-time Oahu farmers, is a friend of the SOW project and when he completed this interview, thought of us and kindly offered that we could share this podcast with our ag producer audience. We thank Josh for thinking of us and hope you enjoy it.

Associated Links:

• “What School Could Be” podcast series
• Leilehua High School in Wahiawa
• Future Farmers of America
• Kupu Program in Hawaii
• Peterson Egg Farm
• GEER Funds
• “Scaling Up” movie

Find out more about us:

• Seeds Of Wellbeing website
• Seeds of Wellbeing Resource Hub
• All the SOW links

Episode Transcript

Jim (00:00):
The views information or opinions expressed in this
episode are solely those ofindividuals involved and do not
necessarily represent those ofthe University of Hawaii College
of Tropical Agriculture andHuman Resources, our funders or
any of the organizationsaffiliated with this project
Welcome to a Seeds of Wellbeingspecial guests podcast. Seeds of

(00:34):
Wellbeing or SOW podcasts aremade possible by a grant from
the University of Hawaii Collegeof Tropical Agriculture and
Human Resources, also known asCTAHR, and is supported by a
grant from the US Department ofAgriculture, National Institute
of Food and Agriculture and theHawaii Department of
Agriculture.

Jackie (00:51):
Being from Central Oahu, they're starting to do a lot
more agriculture technology,we're getting a value added
center. Ag tech is pretty muchthe new word that everybody's
saying. They don't want you toonly think that agriculture is
traditional farming in the soil.
You can grow thingshydroponically, you can do
vertical towers, there'ssomething called farm bots,

(01:11):
there's drones. There's all thistechnology that encompasses
agriculture that I want mystudents to understand. I want
them to know if they can code,they can run a robot that can go
ahead and farm for you. If youcan check pH and TDS, then you
can do your hydroponics. If youunderstand cooling temperatures,
your greenhouses, you can runthe fans, you can get everything

(01:35):
running, all at your computer.
You don't technically need to bethere. You can have machines
that go ahead add waterfertilizer for you, spray if
you're doing non-organic, butjust giving them those ideas and
those options of what's outthere. What they can do and not
just think that agriculture isthe pineapple fields

Jim (01:59):
You're about to hear the 93rd episode of The Hawaii based
"What School Could Be" podcast.
It features Hawaii agricultureteacher, Jackie Freitas and was
originally produced and releasedby Josh Reppun for the "What
School Could Be" podcast series.
Josh is a friend of the SOWproject and created and produces
this very popular podcast everymonth, and it is perhaps worth

(02:21):
noting that he is also brotherto Charlie and Paul Reppun who
are longtime ag producers onOahu and featured on another of
our SOW podcasts. After Joshinterviewed Jackie he reached
out to us because he saw thestrong connection between the
content and our work with theSOW project and offered that we
could share this podcast withour ag producer audience. We

(02:42):
hope you enjoy it.

WSCB Announcer (02:43):
This podcast is funded by Ted Dintersmith, the
executive producer of theacclaimed film most likely to
succeed and the author of thebest selling book "What School
Could Be."

Josh (03:06):
This is Josh Reppun and you're listening to the "What
School Could Be" podcast. Beforewe start the show please
consider joining the rapidlygrowing What School Could Be
global online community. Simplyinstall the What School Could Be
app on your smart device or goto
community.whatschoolcouldbe.org.
I look forward to seeing youthere.

(03:26):
My guest today is JackieFreitas, an extraordinary
natural resource teacher atLeilehua High School, which she
also graduated from. Leilehua ison the island of Oahu in the
state of Hawaii. One of the mostfamous chefs in the world, Alan
Wong, after observing Jackie'swork, wrote that her students

(03:46):
had "taken to her," which istruly a special compliment.
Jackie grew up and attendedelementary, middle and high
school in her home community ofWahiawa, which is in the Central
Plains of Oahu. For well over100 years this area was the
source of two of Hawaii'sprimary exports, pineapple and

(04:08):
sugarcane. Today, Jackie is partof the greater Hawaii movement
to diversify agriculture andmake the Hawaiian Islands self
sustaining, and a place wheresome of the most cutting edge
work in agriculture happens. Inaddition to graduating from
Leilehua High School, where shenow teaches Jackie has a

(04:28):
bachelor's in elementaryeducation from the University of
Hawaii, West Oahu and a master'sin secondary education, with an
emphasis in science from theUniversity of Phoenix. Jackie's
CTE teaching line includes thefoundation of agriculture, small
animal systems, principles offood production, and natural

(04:49):
resources and wildlifemanagement. Grant Toyooka, one
of Jackie's mentors, a complexarea public school resource
teacher and ag tech. projectmanager said the following about
Jackie, "Jackie Freitas is thenatural resource at Leilehua
High School embodyingagriculture in every facet,

(05:12):
being an alum, her roots rundeep for the students and the
greater Wahiawa community. Herdesire to provide opportunities
for her students and visitingstudents to successfully grow
produce, while enhancing theirleadership skills paves the way
for the agriculture leaders oftomorrow who create a
sustainable future. Herdedication to agriculture's

(05:35):
ability to thrive in centralOahu drives her to literally and
metaphorically cultivate thelandscape so that both the
fields and the students areready to grow. Being a beacon of
leadership, humility andservice, Jackie Freitas brings
agriculture to life and top ofmind for the benefit of students

(05:58):
and families in central Oahu."Thank you Grant for that awesome
accolade. And now, here's myconversation with the
innovative, creative, andimaginative Hawaii Public school
educator, mentor, guide andcoach Jackie Freitas.

(06:25):
Jackie, welcome to the WhatSchool Could Be podcast.

Jackie (06:28):
Thank you for having me.

Josh (06:30):
So Jackie, your growing up story is very, very compelling.
And I bet we could spend an hourjust on the many stories of your
youth and your family. But forthe purposes of today's
conversation, I want to focus onjust a few. So you talked about
your father as being aworkaholic, oftentimes gone all

(06:52):
day every day. And you alsotalked about spending time with
him outdoors, and how thatshaped your early life. So we in
education, talk a lot about kidsfinding their passion, but I
don't think we talked enoughabout where passions might
actually come from. So it soundslike your passion for
agriculture. And the landstarted with time with your

(07:15):
father. So what do you rememberabout that time with him? And
your discovery of a passion forthe fruits of the land?

Jackie (07:23):
Yes. So growing up, my dad was never home. He was
always working. He was a heavyequipment operator. So I never
got to see him. He would workday in day now. If it was
raining outside, I thought he'dbe home but he would go and do a
side job on another side of theisland. That wasn't raining. He
would constantly be working. Soin high school, he had retired

(07:43):
from heavy equipment and startedvolunteering here at Leilehua
High School with the previousagriculture teacher, Mr. Wong. I
had just become a freshman in atLeilehua, and I found this
moment to be a time where Icould spend with him. So I had a
lot more electives I wanted totake, but I decided to take
agriculture just so I couldspend time with him, hang out

(08:04):
with him, talk story with him. Inever thought it would be a
career pathway for me. I justthought of it as a time that I
can be with him. Just spendingthe time with him seeing how he
works with his hands in theground. Yes, we were constantly
yelling at each other because weare very stubborn. But just
seeing him out there workingwith other students it made me

(08:24):
proud to call him my dad and myfather is very, is on the older
side. He had me when he was 50.
So I always thought of him as myhuge role model. So so being
able to do taro with him andthen going in and picking the
taro and then making poi andthen selling the poi that was
our bonding. When we could doThanksgiving imu for the school,

(08:45):
digging the hole together,putting things in the ground,
doing our vegetables andlearning hydroponics together.
It was rewarding for me. So Iwas just, me not thinking
anything about my future, I justthought it was spending time
with my dad.

Josh (09:03):
Wow. That's so awesome.
Jackie, you know, and it'sreally funny how when I do these
interviews with educators,inevitably I find these
alignments between our lives.
It's so amazingly you know, Imean, I went to high school, I
really did not like it. I didn'twant to be there. And mostly I
just wanted to get home in theafternoon to the other side of
the island to Kaneohe where Iwas, you know, where I grew up.

(09:24):
And, and a lot of that time, mydad had already gotten home. And
we lived on a pretty big pieceof property and my dad was a
rock wall builder and we used tobuild rock walls together. And
that was the same thing, right?
It was time with my dad. Andyes, we used to yell at each
other as well, because we wereboth really you know, super
stubborn. But I think out ofthat what's so compelling is
that out of that comes this kindof love of what you're doing and

(09:45):
of the work that you're doingwith your hands. But it's so
important to think about it asdoing it with somebody that and
somebody that you care about.
That's very cool. So your lifestory so far is tied closely to
your home community of Wahiawa.
So what was it like growing upin the small rural community in
Central Oahu.

Jackie (10:08):
It's amazing Wahiawa is still amazing. We're very tight
knit. Wahiawa is an oldercommunity, you still have your
Mamas and Papas all living upthe heights and just being able
to ride your bike to school,knowing everybody here and then
now having my students here andI'm like, "I went to school with
your mom." I went to you know,it's we're very tight knit.
We're very supportive forathletics. We're very supportive

(10:31):
for any type of community event,Wahiawa shows up. And that's
what I love about it. When wehave farmers markets, any type
of activity, a lot of Wahiawacommunity members come out to
support, even when I just wasoutside of the school to sell
vegetables, everybody will stopto purchase because it's coming
from Wahiawa it's coming fromthat network.

Josh (10:53):
I've had conversations with other guests about the idea
that it takes a village to raisea child and it sounds like
Wahiawa was the village thatraised you. Is that a fair
statement?

Jackie (11:03):
Yes, I was born and raised never really left
Wahiawa. I still currently livein Wahiawa. I live up the road
from the school. I'm trying tofind a house even closer to the
school. So I can barely justwalk across the street now, be
at work.

Josh (11:16):
Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. And so in addition to
your high school participationwith the National Honor Society,
and your love of volleyball, yougot involved in an organization
called The Future Farmers ofAmerica, which frankly, I'd
never heard of. So how did thathappen? And what are your
memories of those first events,those classes or activities

(11:39):
associated with the FFA? Whatwas that like?

Jackie (11:42):
In high school FFA had to do with agriculture. So it
was an after school program. SoI would come here after school
before volleyball practice, atleast stay an hour before
practice. And we would docompetition, whether it's
agriculture demonstration, creedrecitation, parliamentary
procedure, we would sticktogether as that class and we'd
practice different things tocompete against other schools

(12:05):
districtly as well as States.
Once you pass States and you getfirst place, then you would go
to Nationals, which is usuallyin October, and you would
compete nationally in differentcontests in the agriculture
field. I loved those contests, Igot really into them because my
dad was a future FFA member. Andhe really pushed that on me
because and it really helped mewith public speaking, it helped

(12:27):
me really open up my eyes toagriculture being more than just
soil. You know, agriculture istechnology. Agriculture has a
lot of leadership, careerdevelopment events that you can
prosper as a student that reallybuilds your self esteem, build
your resume, and makes you morenoticeable towards hiring
companies because you haveexperienced different things

(12:50):
that this organization hasprovided.

Josh (12:54):
What's an example of a competition in agriculture? Like
what are you competing for? Whatis that all about?

Jackie (13:02):
So one of the competitions would be creed
recitation. You had to memorizefive paragraphs, which is a
creed, what you believe it as anagriculture student. I believe
in the FFA, what theorganization stands for. And
it's all memorized, you're askedone question from any of the
five paragraphs, and you have tobe able to answer that question

(13:23):
to these judges. But you have tosay it with meaning, you have to
say it with enthusiasm, yourquestions, your answers have to
come up fluently. So it's allreally prepare you for prepared
public speaking, any type ofspeaking event, how you present
herself. You'd have to be inofficial dress, which is a
corduroy jacket, a black pencilskirt to your knee, black panty

(13:43):
hose, black heels. And when yousee those blue corduroy jackets
all over, it's amazing. Andthese kids, very proud to wear
those blue corduroy jackets.

Josh (13:55):
And this was an opportunity for you to meet
other Future Farmers of America.

Jackie (14:00):
Yes, so I was State President, State secretary. I
never read for nationals. Thatwas a very, very honorable thing
to go ahead and do but I did getto become State President and
State Secretary for two years.

Josh (14:13):
Wow. That's so amazing. I feel proud all of a sudden.
Because again, you know, I grewup I grew up on the windward
side, and it was just a verymuch kind of a life on the land.
And all of my preparation,Jackie for today really brought
up a lot of memories for me oftime that I spent with my own
family, my brothers who arefarmers on the windward side,

(14:34):
and all of that. So it was very,very cool memories that were
coming up. So kind of along thesame lines. In the summer of
2007. Some 15 years ago, youserved as a team leader at Kupu,
which is a remarkable, awardwinning nonprofit program based
in Hawaii, whose name means tosprout or to grow, and whose
mission is to preserve the landand empower youth. So what was

(14:55):
your relationship to the highschool students who served in
this program and what did you doeach day? And what can you tell
our listeners about the value ofprograms like Kupu, which I'm
sure are all over the world,very different. each one I'm
sure, to the lives of the kidsthat they serve?

Jackie (15:13):
Kupu is an amazing organization. It really is. It
really gives the students anoutside perspective on our
environment all over theislands, not only on Oahu. They
focus on all the islands. I wasa group leader. So I had I
believe, 10 students. I was incollege and every day I would
have a pickup spot and we'd allload up into our 15 passenger

(15:36):
van. And I would drive them todifferent locations every day to
either do eradication ofinvasives. We would be planting
natives, we would be camping upthe mountains looking for native
plants, restoring native plants,working in the waters, taking
out any invasive aspects. We didCPR training, we were able to go
to Kaho‘olawe. It was an amazingexperience being able to work

(16:00):
with these students. And it wasan all day, not just a couple
hour a day thing. It was fromeight in the morning to four in
the afternoon, five days a week.
If you went camping, sometimesyou went seven days a week. It
was very intense, but veryfulfilling, very rewarding
experience. I recommend it toall my high school students now
every time when I get the Kupuflyers. I'm "Please go ahead and

(16:21):
try for this." And a lot of mystudents have applied and have
gotten positions. So it was justa really good experience during
the summer for them to go aheadand do. They were able to get a
stipend, or they got collegecredits, if they continue to do
like the paperwork part of theKupu program, which I also do so
I could reward and get somecollege credits for it.

Josh (16:44):
And what are some of the specific skills and habits and
dispositions that that kind ofexperience helps build in kids
that will ultimately belifelong, you know, that they'll
carry with them in their, intheir suitcase, if you will, as
they go through the the arc orthe journey of their lives.

Jackie (17:03):
That experience really gets you to do teamwork. There
are days when it is so hot, youdo not want to walk up a
mountain to be cutting downstrawberry guava. But your team
pushes you and your you become afamily you work hard together
and you're like, "Okay, this isthe job we need to get that we
put our minds to it, we canaccomplish this goal today."

(17:24):
Every day, we set goals for eachother, okay, this is our goal,
this is what we have to do,maybe we're not able to do the
full 100%. But our goal today isat least to get 75% of this area
completed. And just being ableto set goals for yourself. Being
able to work as a team, motivateeach other. Some days, it was
just okay guys, if we finishthis, we're gonna go to

(17:46):
McDonald's and get ice cream.
Because for the amount of workthat we had to do at that
mountain, we had to climb to getall that we're gonna go get a
ice cream cone after this. And Itake them down to McDonald's
after and it was just a way forus to sit down reflect about the
day knowing Oh, we may have togo back there tomorrow. So how
are we going to improve? So it'salways about reflecting and
being able to talk to oneanother, prepare ourselves

(18:09):
mentally as well as physically,because it is a lot of physical
labor that your body just needsto get used to.

Josh (18:16):
Wow, that's so awesome. So you referenced this a second
ago, but I actually want tofollow up with a specific
question. So as part of yourwork for Kupu, you did land
reclamation work and plantedtrees on the island of
Kaho‘olawe, in Hawaii, which isa small island that for decades
was used by the US Navy fortarget practice, but became the

(18:37):
center of the HawaiianRenaissance, which saw the
reemergence of the Hawaiianculture. So I wonder if you can
share with our listeners themeaning of that experience, like
how did that moment back in 2007shape you and possibly
influenced the development ofwhat would eventually become
teacher Jackie?

Jackie (19:09):
Bad experience was very rewarding. We were able to catch
a boat to get to the island,then we have to swim into the
island, the boat was not able todock. So you're pretty much
going on to an island that isbearable. You're just looking at
a flat surface. There's not alot of trees, it's just dirt.
And you still see remnants of,they haven't where we camped, of

(19:32):
the shells and the missiles andeverything all there. But then
you're able to go out togetherin pods and you're driving up to
these areas where they'restarting to get greenery and
you're starting to see itflourish. And just one section
of the island slowly but surely,because they weren't able to go
up for a little while they wereonly able to take up so many
kids at a time. And when you'regoing up with students you only

(19:55):
can do so much because thestudents need to be able to
understand what they're doing.
You can't just be okay we'replanting we're planting we're
planting. They need tounderstand what their planting,
how to plant it, how we're goingto take care of it, because
these native trees are not easyto come by, especially in the
type of soil that Kaho‘olawehas. So being able to understand
that aspect and starting smallokay, we're going to plant these

(20:17):
areas, we're gonna water, we'rereally going to take our time
with this area, and slowly work.
Really made me organize it,okay, as a teacher that I want
to become because I was in theeducation field, I need to
really slow down with mystudents, let them know, okay,
we're going to slowly this ishow we're going to take care of
this plant. We are going tonurture it, there's different
things we can do to help it, butreally taking the time to slow

(20:40):
down, talk about it, have thestudents understand what they're
doing, not just do it. And thenwhen you ask them, What do we
do? And they're like, "I don'tknow, you told us to do this."
No, you want them to be able toreflect and be able to
understand "I did this, becauseit helps this and it's gonna
make this bigger." so they seethe big picture.

Josh (20:58):
And we also want our listeners to know that while you
were doing that, Kaho‘olawestill has live ordinance
underneath the surface of theland of the soil, and that all
of the work that you have to dois done in that heightened
security, where you have to bereally careful about where you
are, and what has already beenreclaimed already, and so on.
So, you know, there's that, Iwas there in 1999, with a group

(21:19):
of land conservationists. And itwas a remarkable experience for
me, but there was thatheightened element of like, you
really got to be kilo, youreally got to be paying
attention to what's going onaround you. Right? Yes. Yeah,
amazing experience. So Jackie,as I did my research for today's
conversation, I learned a greatdeal about agriculture in Hawaii

(21:41):
that I did not know. And thecomplex ag issues, the 50th
state faces. So my enquiry gotme thinking about all sorts of
questions related to youngpeople in agriculture and about
the Future Farmers of Hawaii,and the problems they will need
to solve in the future of agthat they will shape. So given

(22:02):
your perch, directing Leilehua'sCTE Ag and Natural Resources
pathway, here are a series ofquestions that I think our
listeners would want me to ask.
Okay. So, first one is what arethe jobs of the future in
agriculture and natural resourcemanagement that you're talking
to your kids about?

Jackie (22:22):
Bring from central Oahu, they're starting to do a lot
more agricultural technology,and we're getting a value added
center. Ag tech is pretty muchthe new word that everybody's
saying. They don't want you toonly think that agriculture is
traditional farming in the soil.
You can grow thingshydroponically, you can do
vertical towers, there'ssomething called farm bots,
there's drones. There's all thistechnology that encompasses

(22:46):
agriculture, that I want mystudents to understand, I want
them to know if they can code,they can run a robot that can go
ahead and farm for you. If youcan check pH and TDS, then you
can do hydroponics. If youunderstand cooling temperatures,
your greenhouses, you can runthe fans, you can get everything
running all at your computer.

(23:08):
You don't technically need to bethere, you can have machines
that go ahead and water,fertilize for you, spray if
you're doing non-organic, butjust giving them those ideas and
those options of what's outthere what they can do and not
just think that agriculture is apineapple fields. That's what
being so close to Dole, I have afeeling that's what a lot of my

(23:29):
students mentality is like, Idon't want to be a pineapple
picker, you know, but that'swhere we all started. And that's
where we're growing from.

Josh (23:36):
So along the way, while you're doing this like, and
again, you've kind of alluded tothis before when you're talking
about Kupu. But what specificskills, are you coaching up with
your students as you expose themto all of these different ag
tech variations that reallyrepresent opportunities for them

(23:56):
in the future.

Jackie (23:57):
My real thing that I like to have my students do is I
want you to be personable. Youneed to be hardworking, and you
need to be able to communicate.
That is the main thing. In anyjob that you do, doesn't have to
be agriculture, but I just wantyou to know, if you're able to
communicate with somebody,you're a team player, and you're
able to have work ethic, I keepstressing, work ethic. It

(24:20):
doesn't matter, you can learnthings on the way, but if you do
not have a good work ethic, youare not desirable for any job
that comes your way. You have tobe able to understand that these
jobs need to get done, and youneed to have the mindset to be,
okay, "I can get this done. I'mgoing to do it to my fullest
potential and not half-okole it.
I'm going to work hard to do it.
I'm going to start it I'm goingto clean up and I'm going to

(24:43):
leave my work area cleaner thanwhen I started this." That is
what I keep stressing to mystudents. I don't care what you
folks do as long as you asyou're successful, what you want
to do. I just want to give youthe soft skills and the skills
that will make you viable personin our community.

Josh (25:00):
Yeah. Wow, that's so cool.
And so in what ways do you hopeyour students will shape the
future of Ag in the state ofHawaii? Like, how much of this
shaping do you leave to them towork out later and how much of
it are you actually addressingnow?

Jackie (25:18):
With my students, I'm very open. I keep up with how ag
is constantly changing and Itried to bring in as much of the
things that they could use onthe outside into my classroom.
So we're bringing in farm bots,where we have hydroponics, we do
traditional, we're doingorganic, we're doing Korean
Natural Farming, we have atunnel house that they can
operate with machines. And weare having a solar powered

(25:40):
greenhouse, I'm giving them allthese options. These are what
you can do in the agriculturefield. This is how technology is
changing. It's constantlychanging. I'm giving you guys
the opportunity to explore andsee if this is something that
you want to pursue. I'm justgiving them touches of it, you
know, so they see that it's outthere, and they can, is this
really a job? Yes. And then Iwould direct them. If you want

(26:02):
to do this, you can go to thisagency, and this is what they
focus on. You can go to thisschool to get this degree, this
is what they focus on. I justlike to give them the
experiences that they can growupon.

Josh (26:14):
Wow. But you, it sounds to me like no matter what, you're
with them along the journey,right?

Jackie (26:21):
Yes, I'm, a lot of them call me "mama Jackie." I am. I
treat them as if they were myown student, and if they're my
own personal children, I am veryconnected to the students. And I
think that's why our program hasgrown. When I first started, we
only had 60 students in myprogram. Now we're up to almost
200.

Josh (26:39):
Wow, that's just, and all of a sudden I'm having, Jackie,
these flashbacks to again, whenI left high school, I had no
clue what I wanted to do andI've never had anything like
this when I was in high school,it was just chemistry, biology,
history, you know, whatever.
Just marching from one class toanother without any sense of
relevance. But I came very closeto deciding to go into kind of

(27:01):
landscaping, right? Becausethere was a, there was an
academy on Kauai that I wassuper interested in. And I'm
just thinking back to that, youknow, if I'd had somebody like
you, the pathway of my lifemight be different, you know,
just have those moments. Sookay, so one more question
before we go to break. And thisis again, related to the work
that you're doing with yourstudents. And I think this is a

(27:22):
perfect segue to something thatyou mentioned a second ago. So
this seems crazy to ask maybe.
But let's say I give you Jackiea blank check, meaning a full
ride to spend the next year, asabbatical year, traveling the
world possibly with somestudents to learn more about
agriculture, ag tech, and thegreat issues people face on the

(27:46):
various continents related tofood sustainability. So, where
would you go? And what would yoube looking for? What would you
want to explore and know more?

Jackie (27:56):
Japan, I could say that is on my... Japan is constantly
doing remarkable things with agtech. They're known for the best
strawberries, the best mangoes,all in their greenhouses, and
just being able to go there, goto the farms, seeing how they do

(28:17):
it. That is a dream that I wouldlove to take students to go and
see. Just being there and beingable to explore, seeing how
these, these old farmers areable to do these things. And
they're still kind of doing itthe old fashioned way. But with
a little bit of technology. Justknowing all their manaʻo that
they gave. Just being there tocommunicate talk story to see

(28:39):
how what they're doing up there,I can bring home into here. But
that's what I would love to do.
But Japan is my number one spot,I would want to go to.

Josh (28:48):
So, I may, this might sound kind of I mean, a negative
note before we go to break, butare you also exposing your
students to some of theagricultural practices that we
see perhaps in the United Stateson the continent or in Europe,
possibly even in South America,that you know. Big ag that
ultimately results in somedestruction of the land or a lot

(29:11):
of destruction of the land. Likeis that also part of what you're
opening them up to is what thoseissues are?

Jackie (29:18):
Conventional farming, I'm thinking is what you're
talking about? So here we arenot allowed to spray any type of
pesticide that is not organic. Iam in the process of being 100%
organically certified, which isa three year process. So
previously, yes, we were doingconventional, meaning I was
putting in like conventionalfertilizers, triple 20, but now

(29:40):
I'm I'm pulling away and we'redoing a lot more sea kelp and
all that. But I do give thestudents the option. I do tell
them but we do not practicethose things here. That's why we
do more Korean Natural Farming.
Other practices, they know aboutit, I talk about it, they
compare and contrast and theymake the ultimate decision. But
here at Leilehua I'm in theprocess of converting to 100%
organic.

Josh (30:02):
And so, so definitely, they know about what these other
practices are, you know, aroundthe world, but you are taking
them in a direction that is verydefinitely about Planet Earth
and sustainability.

Jackie (30:15):
Yes. And when GMOs was a very hot topic, that was
something that I did address,and I did not give them any of
my opinions, I told him, this isthis, and this is ours. You
folks make the decision. I'vegiven you folks the studies that
have been sought, but it's yourdecision overall, what you agree
on. And I even took them on afield trip to Monsanto many

(30:36):
times, just so they are, okay,this is it. And they were able
to voice their opinions there aswell and ask the hard questions.

Josh (30:42):
That's awesome. Jackie, I taught an economics course at
one point in high school, and Idropped my students directly
into the GMO debate, becauseit's a big money debate. There's
big economics around that. Andthat was really one of the most
fascinating deep dives intoagriculture in Hawaii, that came
very unexpectedly for thembecause they thought they were
taking an economics course youknow, but that's what happens

(31:03):
when youʻre a teacher, you leadpeople down a different path,
and then they get intoexploration and inquiries. So
that's awesome. So hey everyone,stay with us. We'll be back with
more questions for JackieFrietas.

Steve Shapiro (31:16):
Hi, fellow educators. I'm Steve Shapiro.
And like you, I'm excited aboutthe possibilities of what school
could be. Please check out mypodcast experience matters,
where I talk to guests rangingfrom big national thinkers like
Daniel Pink and Tony Wagner, tworecent high school graduates
about the most profound learningexperiences of their youth. Then

(31:37):
we dig into the implications forhow we can reshape schools to
produce powerful breakthroughlearning for all of our
students. Education can takemany forms, but whatever form it
takes experience matters.

Getting Smart (31:53):
Hey, there are you interested in hearing weekly
conversations with authors,leaders and practitioners at the
forefront of learning andeducation innovation? Then
you'll love the getting smartpodcast. This podcast amplifies
the incredible work being doneby some of the most innovative
minds in education. Learn newleadership styles, new
technologies, new frameworks andmindsets and get the fuel you

(32:14):
need to stay motivated andcurious. Together, we can
empower all learners to thrive.
It's available atgettingsmart.com or wherever you
listen to podcasts.

Toy Hirshman (32:24):
Hi, Friends, this is Toy Hirshman from entre Ed,
it is my great honor to upliftthis excellent podcast what
school could be. As always, weare super excited to support
innovation in education, we'vebeen lucky enough to feature
some of the incredible whatschool could be educators on our
podcast. If you are looking tobe inspired by entrepreneurs and

(32:46):
entrepreneurial educators andother great minds from across
the world, check out the entreEd talk podcast. And please like
and subscribe and leave areview. Thanks for tuning in.

Josh (33:00):
Everyone, we are back with Jackie Frietas, who facilitates
and directs a CTE Agriculture,Food and Natural Resources
pathway at Leilehua High Schoolon the Island of Oahu in Hawaii.
So Jackie, you shared with me asuper thoughtful piece of
writing, in which you explainedyour philosophy of education
which sits at the heart of yourteaching practice. And in your

(33:23):
explanation, you talked aboutdifferent learning styles. But
then you linked thesedifferentiations to two concepts
which are group work and teachermodeling. So the world famous
chef Alan Wong, visited yourprogram, which made me wonder if
explaining your take on learningstyles, teacher modeling and
group work is like explainingone of his complex Michelin star

(33:47):
menus, right? So, but let's giveit a shot. So how do these three
philosophies of teachingtranslate into a practice whose
themes are agriculture andnatural resource management? How
did they come together?

Jackie (34:02):
With natural resources, you are given a plethora of
different students, differentlearning styles, different way
of learning. You have your lowSpEd students who really need
the help, and you have your highI call them high maca maca
students, as well as yourmiddle. So you have a plethora
of students in your classroom.
You have to be able, as ateacher, to reach all those

(34:24):
students throughout this wholespectrum that you have sitting
in your classroom. I have foundit that if I am able to have
them work together in groupswhere I have a high, a low, a
medium, maybe a couple mediumstogether, I have noticed that my
highest really cling on to thoselows and they work together very
very well. As long as I am doinga modeling approach where I'm in

(34:46):
front showing them exactly "Thisis what I kind of expect you to
do, I need you guys to kind ofreplicate or if you guys want to
modify but this is your outcomeat the end." They are able to
understand and grasp the tasksat hand. Being a teacher, you
have to be very flexible. Somestudents are a lot faster than
others, you have to take thatinto consideration in anything

(35:06):
you do, anything that you teach.
But in agriculture, I havenoticed that if I'm able to work
them in groups, I'm able to givethem checklists and say, Hey,
group one, you folks are takingcare of this. I'll show you
guys. Alright, you got, I'mgood. I'm leaving you guys, I'm
gonna go to my next group. Grouptwo you guys are doing this. We
have a three and a half acrefarm. If I had everybody just

(35:30):
focusing on one thing, nothingwould get done on our farm, or
just minimal aspects would getdone. I have hydroponics
aquaponics, traditional farming,Korean Natural Farming, animals,
floraculture, all over. I needto be able to group these kids
together, build a relationshipwith these groups so they are
very well bonded, very able towork with each other. If I

(35:52):
noticed there's a bad seed inthe group, I kind of have to sit
there and kind of talk to themand be, "Okay, this is your
group, we need to be able towork together whatever
differences you have, we need tosquash that now. Because you
guys are this group. You need towork together to complete this
task." And I've noticed thatthey're able to go out and do
what they need to do. Come backin, we sit down we reflect how

(36:12):
was our day? Or what would youguys grade yourself? Give me
your grades, and they're lookingat me like, you're not gonna
give us a great No, you guyswork together? Well, one to 10.
What would you give yourself?
Oh, Miss, I think I gave myselfa 10 because we work together
and they are able to explain itto me. All right, cool. I give
you a 10. Some of them are like,Oh, I give myself an eight. No,
I'm giving you ten. They're likewhy? I seen you do this, this

(36:34):
and I didn't ask you to do thatand you got it accomplished. I'm
giving you the 10. They're like,oh! So they noticed that I'm,
I'm not there with them but I'mobserving all around the farm
constantly walking aroundchecking on my groups. And I'm
observing each one. And I'm ableto kind of assess them and watch
them. And that's what they love.
They're like, Wow, you really Isaid yes, I pay attention. I

(36:56):
know what you guys can do, likeyou guys are capable of doing.
And you guys can do it.

Josh (37:01):
Wow, Jackie. So and along the way, while this is all
happening, it feels to me likeone of the other things that
they're picking up is that lifeis a series of layers,
interlocking things that are allhappening at the same time. Life
is never one focus on one thing,and then you move on to another
thing. It's always a millionthings that are happening. And
in constructing it that wayyou're actually skilling them up

(37:24):
to be able to deal with the manyparts of life that happen day to
day, right?

Jackie (37:30):
Yes, I tell them when you guys go to work, your boss
will not stand over yourshoulder to tell you exactly
what needs to get done. They mayshow you once and then you're
kind of on your own to make sureyou understand how to do it. If
you don't understand you askyour questions. That is exactly
how I run this program. This iswhat needs to get done. We're
going to repot antheriums. Here,this is what needs to get done.

(37:50):
You guys figure out your chainof events. Who's potting, who's
doing this, who's doing this,and this is the completed
product and it needs to be inthis greenhouse, watered by the
end of the day. "All right, Missgot it." And they go ahead and
do it. I checked their tables.
Perfect, guys, great job, yousit down reflect onto the next
class.

Josh (38:07):
Right? Wow. Wow, this is amazing. Okay, so quick question
before we get into anothersection with it, which has to do
with a GEER grant that you arepart of, but before we go there,
you've you've written about howfinding learning in community is
what makes meaning and providesrelevance to young people. So
I'm curious, what is thecircumference of community for

(38:31):
you like your campus, outsideyour campus, the state, the
nation, the world? And how hasthis changed as a result of
COVID and Zoom and MicrosoftTeams and all of that? Like did
the world get bigger? Didcommunity as part of learning
get bigger? Where do you drawthose lines?

Jackie (38:52):
Wahiawa a very small community is very tight knit
community and pre COVID We weredoing everything we could for
the Wahiawa community. Mystudents would go to the
farmers, would go to the marketdown to Tamura's and Foodland,
check out their vegetableprices, come back to me and say
"All right, Miss, this price isgoing for this per pound."
"Alright, we'll make sure we'regoing lower than that price." So

(39:14):
we make sure our Mamas and Papasare able to afford fresh
produce. We do that constantly.
We still do that. We send ourproduce up to Peterson Egg Farm
who is right up the street fromus. They sell my produce and
they don't take any cut. Thereason why they're like "Jackie
your produce brings people fromWaikiki to come and buy
produce." "Iʻm, they reallythey're coming from Waikiki that
they buy eggs and there buyingproduce, can you" so I would

(39:36):
bring produce there twice aweek. My Special Ed department,
they will be in the front of theschool selling produce to the
people on the side of the road,and I would give them 10% of
whatever they're selling outthere to go to their program.
Wahiawa really, really takescare of the Leilehua High School
aspect. When it comes to COVID.

(39:56):
There was a lot of stuff that Ihad to change. I had no students
here on campus so I had threeand a half acres to maintain
myself, which there was no way Icould do it. So I stopped
planting for a year. I just didcover crops in all the fields
just so something was in theground giving nutrients. But I
there was no way I couldpersonally do this whole thing

(40:17):
myself. So I focused on a smallsection of just flowers. And my
dad who is still here with me,he's my, my PPT. He was like,
why are you doing flowers? And Isay, you know why? I really
don't know, this is something Iwant to learn about. He goes, we
can eat flowers, I hope but theymake me happy. He just looked at

(40:39):
me. And I was teaching and wewere out resuming video calling
with my students and they willbe researching different flowers
that we'd be bringing out myfloriculture unit. And they were
really into it even though theywere at home. They were learning
different flowers that I wouldbring in the tubers that they
were researching. And they'relike, "Did you really go get
dahlia tubers?" Iʻm like, "Well,you guys researched it looked
like a full flower, I orderedthem, and now they're here. So

(40:59):
teach me how, how am I supposedto plant these?" and they're
like, oh, so they were prettymuch teaching me they're like
"Okay, Miss it says that we haveto plant them one foot apart do
alright" so I'm doing that well,they're, and they're just amazed
about it. And then when I wouldstart picking the flowers, they
would bloom and I would startmaking bouquets. I would have
wheelbarrows of dahlias, andthey don't grow well in Hawaii

(41:20):
because of how hot we are. Butthey're doing awesome in
Wahiawa. So I would have allthese dahlias, making
arrangements and I would takethem to Peterson Egg Farm and I
would have a stand and I wouldsell the flowers. And my
students were like "Miss I don'tknow if people are going to buy
them because it's hard. Likepeople don't have money." I
said, "Oh, we'll try." So Iwould sell a bouquet of flowers
for $15. And it would have about10 dahlias, huge dinner plate

(41:44):
dahlias. Bundle ʻem all up, puta sticker on it that says made
it, grown in Wahiawa. And Iwould sell out in an hour. I
would have maybe 40 or 50bouquets and I would sell out,
and the next day at class, Iwould tell them and they were
"Are you serious?" I'm like,"Yeah, how do people have money
to afford?" I said, "Becausepeople are not able to go out
and meet people. I've noticedthat flowers make them happy."

(42:07):
I'm like, "Same thing with megrowing it. So it made me happy
growing ʻem." So just havingflowers at that they're able to
bring in their home, made peoplehappy. So we continue to do that
now. We have all kinds oftropicals growing all right now
all over the farm.

Josh (42:22):
Wow, that's just that's such an awesome story, Jackie.
So it's actually a perfect segueinto this next section here,
which has to do with somethingcalled the GEER grant. So let me
set this up a little bit. So weall know that as a result of
COVID 19, and the pandemic, thefederal government granted
literally billions of dollars tothe 50 states for pandemic

(42:45):
relief. And millions of thosebillions were earmarked for
education. And here in HawaiiGovernor David Ige engineered a
fund, he called the Governor'sEmergency Education Relief fund
or GEER. And you were part of aneffort to apply for GEER funds.
So this was a little more than ayear ago. So I thought it would
be cool for our listeners, someof whom might be applying for

(43:08):
innovation grants in otherstates or other parts of the
world to hear how you responded,you and the others who were part
of this, responded to the threequestions asked in the
application. And as I read yourapplication, I kept thinking,
geez, this is an amazingpandemic pivot. So here are the
three application questions andsome follow ups. Okay, so the

(43:30):
first question that you wereasked was, What specific problem
related to the impact of COVID19 Are you trying to solve?

Jackie (43:39):
So I believe for that answer, I wanted to be able to
supply food at a reasonablecost, if not given, give
students food in our Wahiawacommunity, which was the Buy One
Get One program. So for thatone, I was able to plant
vegetables, and for every boxthat was purchased, and I

(44:00):
believe the boxes were $25 andit had about a good eight to 10
different types of produce thatwas grown here at Leilehua. I
would give a box of produce awayto a student in need. And that
box of produce would come fromeither from Leilehua students,
ʻIliahi students, Kaʻalastudents, Wahiawa El., all the
Wahiawa complex students. Itried to reach all the different

(44:24):
schools as best as we could. Wewere able to do quite a few
boxes. So I would sell 80 boxesand I would give away 80 boxes
to students, and the way that Iwould find out what students
would actually need the boxes isI will contact the counselors
and be like, I sold 100 boxesthis week. I'm gonna have 100
boxes to give away. Can youplease make sure 100 parents or

(44:45):
students are able to pick upthese boxes on this specific
day? And a lot of the teacherswere like, "You're what?!" I'm
like "Iʻm giving away produce."And in these boxes, I would give
the produce, I would give arecipe card and I would give a
list of everything that's in thebox, and on the back would be
different easy recipes that thestudents had either created or

(45:05):
found that they could use inthese boxes. And the students
felt so rewarded being able toharvest these vegetables, pack
it all up and see these familiestake these boxes.

Josh (45:19):
And so along the way, you were kind of shifting and
pivoting in the direction of agtech, right? Because one of the
problems of the pandemic wasthat labor was locked down and
you weren't able to produce withthe labor that you had, so you
had to come up with a solution,right? What was what was
happening there? And how, howwere the funds once they started

(45:41):
to come in, the grant that yougot, how were the funds being
used?

Jackie (46:00):
So one of it was to make my greenhouse solar. So my
hydroponic greenhouse, which I'mable to produce a lot more,
easier cleaner, I could, I couldrun my hydroponic greenhouse,
which is 100 foot house bymyself, because all I'm doing is
checking so many tanks andmaking sure that the pumps are
ready. With the GEER grant I am,I was able to purchase solar
panels, a whole new cloth andare able to get new systems.

(46:23):
That I am able to produce morefood out of just that 100 foot
greenhouse compared to the restof the acreage that I have. So
with that GEER grant, I am ableto have solar panels that just
in case the electricity goesout, because in Wahiawa, when it
rains, it rains hard, andsometimes the electricity goes
out for a while. So I have thesolar panels to back that up to
run all my pumps to produce allthese lettuces, cucumbers,

(46:45):
cilantro, parsley, all theseother produce that I don't have
to technically do in the ground.
Much more faster. It producesfaster than it does traditional,
and it's a much more cleanerprocess than the traditional
farming.

Josh (46:58):
Wow. And how are you communicating with your partners
at the different schools and thedifferent agencies? Like how did
you get them on the same page tounderstand the vision and the
mission that you had as yourteam was moving forward with
this?

Jackie (47:15):
My first contact was shaped so the Principles and the
Principles were just ecstatic.
They were like "You're doingwhat?!" I can imagine I want to,
I want to make sure that thestudents who are low income,
having a hard time, at leasthave something, you know. And
they were without a doubtwilling. I didn't even have to
ask twice. I didn't have to goin for any meetings. I didn't
have to meet anybody. They'relike, "Tell me the date. Jackie,

(47:36):
tell me how many, we will makesure that they're there for
their pickup." And all I did wasset up my truck, put my banner
up, I had the list. And all theyhad to do was sign up for the
boxes that they received theirbox and they were given their
box. And it was the schools waspretty much did everything all I
had to say is I'm harvestingeverything today this day, come
up for pickup that afternoon,and they went. When I had to

(47:59):
sell the boxes. When peopleunderstood what the purpose was,
they would buy two to threeboxes, they didn't care what was
in the box, they were like, letme buy two or three. And then
you know what, donate thoseboxes. I don't need the
vegetables, donate those boxesto the students in need. So add,
however if you got 100, my threeboxes additional, go head, and
add that for them. I was like"You guys are amazing!"

Josh (48:23):
That's giving me goosebumps, here in Hawaii, we
call it chicken skin. I'm surepeople on the mainland who are
listening to this are feelingthe same thing. And so Okay, so
to two more questions, thenbefore we go to our second
break. So your GEER proposal,your solution to the problem,
which involved ag tech, and theway that you pulled the
community together and you werelooking to kind of the long term

(48:46):
future of the relationshipbetween agriculture and food
production in your community wasarrived at by looking at all the
possible negative and positiveramifications, which means that
I call it something you know,there's there's a word for it.
It's called solutionary. Whenyou look at both the positive
and negative, so for example,Jackie, something like automated

(49:08):
lettuce growing in a hydroponicenvironment, for example,
eliminates jobs that peoplemight depend on. So what were
you thinking about when you werecontemplating these possible
unintended or intendedconsequences, and as you moved
through the GEER grant, andwe're getting this whole thing

Jackie (49:26):
When it came to that type of thing, you're always
moving?
going to need somebody to runit, you may not need as many but
as long as you have theknowledge of how to run it,
you're a reliable source. Sowhen we did the hydroponics or
even the farm bots, I did getfarm bots as well, being
students still need to be ableto cope. It does not run by

(49:48):
itself. You still need to havethe knowledge on how to code
what to put in to make thesemachines work. You still have to
be able to have these drones flyup to water, fertilize, spray,
whatever, but you need tounderstand how they work. So
giving my students the knowledgeon how to everything runs. And
understanding that there arethese are jobs that are needed,

(50:10):
people are needed for thesejobs. A lot of people don't
think that technology andagriculture go together. But if
you can understand thattechnology is coding, anything
to do with that, technology ischecking pH checking, TDS,
checking pumps, understandinghow pumps work, understanding
what the range is for lettuce togrow. Machines can't do that.

(50:34):
You need to be able to put thecorrect answers into the machine
so they understand it. You'restill really needed, and a lot
of people don't understand that.
So if I can teach you thataspect, you are going to be one
of the people that they're goingto want. You're going to be
needed in this community.

Josh (50:49):
Yeah, that's great, Jackie. I mean, we It seems like
in the conversation andeducation around robotics, and
job loss, and all of that it'stoo simple. People are taking
too simple of an approach. It'ssort of like, oh, robots are
coming work, we're all going tolose our jobs. It's just so much
more complicated than that. Andit's, it's possible to be so
much more optimistic, if youthink about it, the way that

(51:11):
you're thinking about it, whichis looking at all these elements
of these new jobs that you canlearn and be skilled at, and
you'll have your place, you'llhave your opportunity to make
your contribution. So that'sreally helpful. Jackie. So one
more question before we go tobreak. What is your advice to
educators out there who might behesitating about applying for an
innovation grant? Like thehistory teacher, the music

(51:33):
teacher, the biology teacher.
What would you say to them?

Jackie (51:37):
All you can hear is no.
No never hurt anybody. You know,you try. It's take a chance. If
you get it, awesome. But if youdon't, you tried. That's the
best you can do and you'retrying for your students. If you
believe in something you put thetime in, it's to really dig down
into the application, and putyour heart and soul in the

(51:59):
application, I guarantee youyouʻll do well. But if you
half-okole it, or just Ah! I'llput a few sentences there, and
Ah! maybe you'll get it. That'sthe same thing with your
students, you know, you ask yourstudents really okay, I want a
whole paragraph and you only getthree sentences. Now you really
have to put your heart and soul,really take the time to sit

(52:19):
there, prioritize what you want.
Visualize what you want, and seeif there's something that can
benefit my students. I'm goingto sit here and I'm going to
really take the time, becauseapplication process, it was
tedious. It was a lot. So it'sto sit there and really put your
thoughts and feelings into thisapplication. It never hurts to
try. All you can hear is no andthat doesn't hurt anybody.

Josh (52:42):
That's great Jackie. It goes right back to what you were
talking about earlier, which isabout modeling. And when you
model that, then your studentswill rise to that level. It just
happens that way. Right. That'sawesome. So everyone, stay with
us. We'll be back with morequestions for Jackie in a
moment.

Guy Kawasaki (53:00):
This is Guy Kawasaki. If you want to learn
how to be a remarkable person,please check out my podcast
"Remarkable People." I interviewpeople like Roy Yamaguchi,
Margaret Atwood, Jane Goodall,Stephen Wolfram, Steven Pinker,
Arianna Huffington and SteveWozniak. The point of the
podcast is to help you become alittle bit more remarkable. To

(53:20):
learn more, go toremarkablepeople.com. Thank you.

Aaron Schorn (53:29):
Aloha, my name is Aaron Schorn, a previous guest
on this very podcast. I am alsonow head of growth and community
at Hawaii's own UnRulr. UnRulris a collaborative mobile and
web platform that acceleratesinnovation, grows culture and
community, and celebrateslearning. Learners post
multimedia, tag their learning,and through comments are able to

(53:50):
work together asynchronously.
Each post is a moment oflearning that forms the
foundation of a joyous learningjourney. We can be found at
unrulr.com. Mahalo.

Josh (54:09):
Everyone, we are back with Jackie Freitas, a natural
resources teacher at LeilehuaHigh School on the Island of
Oahu. So Jackie You wererecently featured in 2022 film
titled "Scaling Up" which theHawaii International Film
Festival awarded as an officialselection which is awesome. And

(54:30):
I'm gonna read the film'sdescription from Making Waves
Films website. So "Amid that theCOVID 19 pandemic local farmers,
entrepreneurs, elected officialsand other stakeholders share
their vision for growingHawaii's agricultural sector
with the aim of increasing thestate's food supply and

(54:52):
diversifying the economy.

ʻScaling Up (54:52):
Hawaii's Food Futureʻ captures a crucial
juncture in Hawaiiʻs future inthe movement for a paradigm
shift to sustainableagriculture." So I have two
questions based on the shortfilm. So I know this sounds
goofy, Jackie, but educators arenot often featured in films.
They labor invisibly, doing thebeautiful noble work of

(55:17):
teaching. And so what did itfeel like to see yourself on
film, and hear yourself speakingto what eventually would be a
film festival audience?

Jackie (55:29):
It was very rewarding. I am, I am as humble as they can
be. I give all the credit to thestudents. I do not take any
credit because I can just havethe ideas but my students are
the ones that make everythinghappen. I can be like, "Hey,
guys, I want to redo thisfield." And if I'm the only one
working, it doesn't benefit. Sowhen it came to that I was I was

(55:50):
very humble. I was I'm not theone to take the credit for
anything. I give all the creditto the students. And I tried to
portray them, Iʻm like "Nope,it's not me. You guys want to
talk, you could talk to thekids," but they keep "No, we
need you." and Iʻm like "Oh,okay." That's not my spotlight.
This this, this right here ispretty much my home. But my my

(56:12):
students are the ones who makeit home. They're the ones that
run this program. I just come upwith ideas and like, "What do
you guys think?" And they'relike, "Okay, sure." So same
thing. I was very humbled andvery honored to be able to do
that. But I give all the creditto my students.

Josh (56:28):
I think you and I are like my first career was as a chef,
but I was not that frontlinechef. I couldn't be that person.
You know, with the tall hat andthe flame coming out of the pan.
I was the behind the curtainprep guy. I stayed out of sight
as much as possible. And that'sstill very true for me today. I
know it sounds weird to say thatgiven I'm a podcast host, but I

(56:49):
really, I really feel like youknow, I'm, I'm kind of setting
the table so that educators andeducation leaders have an
opportunity to do the cooking,if you know what I mean. Right?
Yeah. So that's, that's reallyawesome. So for a moment, and I
know Jackie, this is a bigquestion. But I, I just had to
take the opportunity to ask you.
So I'm going to appoint you asDirector of the Department of

(57:11):
Agriculture in Hawaii. So whatis your vision for growing the
state of Hawaii's agriculturalsector while creating a
sustainable and local foodsupply?

Jackie (57:26):
So yes, we do have conventional farming here in
Hawaii, which benefits a lot ofus but I want to be able to, if
I was in Department of Ag, Ireally want to educate our
farmers on organic farming. Ireally want to be able to give
them the tools and resourcesthat they need to grow things

(57:48):
organicly. It does not only helpthe Earth, but it also helps
people understand more. So rightnow we do not have a lot of
people, a lot of organicallycertified farms. There's so much
paperwork that comes behind itthat these farmers are not able
to keep up with because farmersthey just want to farm. You
know, that's what that's whatthey do. That's what they enjoy

(58:10):
doing. But if you have to sitthere, and roadmap every little
detail, "I sprayed this, I didthis, I fertilize this
everyday." That's where you getfarmers deterred. They are "I
don't want to do this process."If there was a way, which I'm in
the process of hopefully doing,is organic certifying my
students, where they're able togo out to farm and do the

(58:34):
paperwork, and help thesefarmers out. That is my vision.
I would love my students. Theylearned it here. They were able
to do it here at our farm. Theyunderstand the paperwork
process. They understand theprotocols, because our farmers
are not the youngest people inthe world. Some of them don't
understand how to do this. So ifI'm able to give them these farm

(58:54):
technicians, organic farmtechnicians, who are certified,
go out to the farm and see,okay, this is what we're going
to do that we're going to fillout we're going to do this, you
explain and they do all thepaperwork for these farmers. To
get them in a routine, maybemake it a little easier. Every
time you fertilize. All you dois write it right here. This is
a form you're going to do andjust just write it right there

(59:15):
as if you're documenting.
Anytime you harvest. It justmake the paperwork and the just
a toolkit easy for the farmers.
So they're able to just farm youknow, they don't really have to
think of everything, becausethis farm technicians are going
out to help them. That thatwould be the greatest day. Then
you're bringing down a lot lesschemicals and fertilizers and a

(59:37):
lot more natural. But that wouldbe a great thing.

Josh (59:41):
That's just an extraordinary vision, Jackie.
I'm just thinking how amazing itis when you think about the idea
that you invest in humancapital, your students, and you
give them the resources and theskills and the knowledge and
then you send them out to investin the human capital that's out
there doing the farming. And inthat process, you're actually.

(01:00:03):
going back to what we talkedabout earlier, your young people
are shaping the future of ag inHawaii, right?

Jackie (01:00:10):
Yep, exactly.

Josh (01:00:12):
Wow. Wow. Okay, so I'm gonna cheat a little bit here.
I'm gonna add one more questionto the "Scaling Up" film section
right here. So "Scaling Up"features stories about folks
growing cacao and makingchocolate in Hawaii, are growing
sugarcane to make boutique rum.
So to what extent do yourstudents learn about these type

(01:00:33):
of ag businesses and products?

Jackie (01:00:40):
Yeah, so that pretty much is value added products.
Yep. So taking something,whether it's wombok and making
it into kimchi, and being ableto manufacture and and release
that out to the public. Valueadded products are something
that we're currently reallystarting to look into because
right down the road, we're goingto have a value added center,
that is going to be run by Ithink Leeward Community College.

(01:01:02):
So farmers would be able to taketheir product, whether it's
mamaki, take it to thisfacility, to then process to
become a mamaki tea, which wouldalleviate a lot of the prices
for our farmers to do the wholeprocess because they have
everything in one facility. Soluckily, we have that here in
our community. So when we startto get a lot more products,

(01:01:23):
because pretty much everythingwe sell, we sell raw, everything
is going out as fresh produce.
We did have watermelons that Icould not sell because I was
infested with work. So what Idid is we have a supplier here
who makes vinegar right down theroad. And he I called him, I
said, "Can you do anything withwatermelons?" And he's like,
Yeah, I can make vinegar withit. So my students harvest it,

(01:01:45):
and they're like, "What are wedoing with all these? Are we
giving them to the pigs?" I'mlike, "No, we're gonna make
vinegar out of it." And theyjust kind of gave me the
weirdest look. And here's thisman, he comes and takes all my
old watermelons. And couplemonths later, he comes back with
vinegar for my students to try.
And that was all the watermelonsthat they use. So I said, See,
that was a product that we couldnot sell, but was able to make

(01:02:08):
something else. It's a valueadded product. And they were
able to see that. So just, Istill have so turning gears in
their heads to see what elsethey can do with other
vegetables. I'm like lemons, anykind of thing that we can make a
different product out of.

Josh (01:02:25):
And after this, it's going to be them kind of exploring,
like what other products are outthere. Right? That that we can
actually turn into value add.
Wow, that's just, that'sterrific. Okay, so a couple more
things before we finish uptoday. So all across the
country, Jackie, and maybe eventhe world, folks are reimagining
education and are looking intopathway programs. So Hawaii's

(01:02:46):
pathways began at Waipahu highschool many years ago and it's
now actually grown to I think,25 or 26 high schools in the
state. So from your perchdirecting one of these pathways,
what's their value as a pathway?
Like what do you think about theargument against them, which is

(01:03:07):
that they are channeling kidstoo quickly into jobs or careers
and away from a broaderunderstanding of the world of
cultures of societies? What doyou think about that?

Jackie (01:03:16):
I think Waipahu is academies, where we are our

Josh (01:03:32):
Which means that you're in an interesting position, Jackie,
pathway, so Academy is prettymuch you choose this pathway,
you're gonna follow it your highschool career. Yeah, There's not
really a time where you canchange. Whereas our school is
doing a pathway where you takethe core, which is the beginning
introduction course, as well asan upper level course. Whether

(01:03:52):
it's if you were to do my newnatural resources core first,
which is an introduction, andthen you have the option to take
animal systems, naturalresources and wildlife or you
will be able to take naturalfood production. So with that,
the students are able to see allthey're able to ask me questions
like "What is animal systems?" Isaid, "Oh, I kind of go more vet

(01:04:14):
tech, if that's something youwant to do." "Oh okay, what
about wildlife?" I said"Wildlife and natural resources
is more of your conservation.
That is our native and endemicand invasive species." No
hunting certificate, I get themhunting certified in that
course, they do a little bit ofwelding. That's my natural
resources and wildlife course.

(01:04:39):
And then my food production ispretty much farming. They will
do hydroponics and they will dotraditional farming, Korea
Natural Farming, producing food.
So they have the option of wherethey want to navigate towards.
And they just have to do thosetwo years but a lot of my
students will stick with me forfour years because it'll be
"Okay, I want to take youranimals systems class. Oh, let
me explore a little bit of this.

(01:05:03):
Oh, you can offer that? Let medo that one too." So they
actually have their avenues ofwhere they want to explore.
Sometimes I only had them fortwo years. And then, "You know
what, this isn't for me, I'mgonna go to automotive, I want
to try it." "Go ahead." Youknow, they have that option. But
at least with our pathways, theyjust have to give us two years,
where we're asking for. Theydon't even have to give us the

(01:05:23):
two years, but we're hoping thatas long as they stick with the
core, and they kind of get aglimpse of it, it may open up
their eyes to, oh, you'reoffering that maybe that's kind
of something I want to navigatetowards. This is something I
want to do. So we're giving themthe options. Whereas Academies,
I believe were just stuck in itin that core for the whole four
years, and if you don't like it,it's a little difficult to get

(01:05:44):
out of. Yeah. But with ourpathways, we just, you know,
we're like, these are theavenues you can take. But you
because you're really trying to,to do whatever you can as an
can go another path as well.
educator to keep them, right?

Jackie (01:06:00):
Exactly. So pathways are a little bit harder, because
they can gravitate toward otherthings. But it also gives the
students opportunities to domore than one. Right. So I had
some that has stuck with me forfour years, and has also done
culinary because they tooksummer school, or they did after
school classes to free upelectives. So it's all up to the
students.

Josh (01:06:21):
Right, right. Wow, that's just so interesting. So
interesting. So Jackie, we'vecome down to the end here. I
have one more question for you.
This has been an awesomeconversation. Thank you so much
for everything that you'veshared. Sometimes I like to
close these conversations byhaving my guests shout out to a
person, a giant upon whoseshoulders they stand, if you
will. And you shared with me awonderful and moving story about

(01:06:44):
someone you called your secondfather, Mr. Russell Wong, who
shoes you said seemed to almostimpossible to fill. So who is
Mr. Wong, and I wonder if youcan share with our listeners,
what he means to you, and how heimpacted the arc of your life
and the lives of his students.

Jackie (01:07:05):
Aah, okay, this is an emotional one. Yes, Mr. Wong,
was my high school agricultureteacher, he allowed me to take
the classes after school,because he knew I wanted to be
with my dad. And he pretty muchopened up the avenues for me to
do whatever I wanted to do hereat the farm. I have he, he was

(01:07:28):
he was such a, he's such a greatrole model. And so many
students, know Mr. Wong as themeanest, hardest student,
teacher they could have. Hewould go and if he didn't like
something done, he would throwthings at you. That was the old
way of teaching. You know, he'dbe like, "What do you mean, you
cannot do that here" and heʻdthrow things at you, but he did

(01:07:49):
it with love, and that's whatsome of these kids need. They
cannot, they don't understandwhen you get like, "Oh, it's
okay." Give ʻem a pat on the...
You gotta give up the hard loveand that's how I am with my
students, I just don't throwthings at them. But I give ʻem
the hard love and Mr. Wong heis, he really impacted my, my
agriculture career. He's the onewho pretty much want to be, I

(01:08:13):
wanted to become an educatorbecause of him. See how much
he's impacted so many studentsin agriculture. You would think
a teacher would impact yourHistory or English but being
agriculture and leaving such ahuge impact on me? And see,
seeing my fellow classmates justexcelled because we're all so

(01:08:33):
excited to come after school tosee Mr. Wong and hear his
thoughts and "Oh, we're gonna doan imu today. We're gonna do
this. We're gonna go fix pipe,we're gonna go weld." you know,
giving us all these options.
It's, you don't get that inEnglish or math class. You know,
you don't know what you comeinto. Every day is something

(01:08:54):
different. And he gave us thoseopportunities. He gave you the
opportunities to travel withFFA. He took us on field trips
to outer islands to go to saltponds, taro patches. He just
opened up our avenues and heinspired me to become the
educator I am today and I call,I still go see him. I actually

(01:09:15):
saw him yesterday. I talk storywith him, Iʻm like "Alright Mr.
Wong, what do you think?" Heʻslike "Jackie, I, don't even ask
me. You do what you want to do.
Itʻs your farm." Iʻm like "Noyou have so much manao, and
skills that I still learning."Like I am constantly learning.
He was just one of the bestteachers I could have asked for.

(01:09:35):
He's helped me through so much.
And he kinda put me and myhusband together, you know, so
it kind of worked out perfectly.
But yeah, he pretty much showedme what this farm can be. And
he's like, "Jackie is your far,now you grow it. It's what you
want to do." But I am very, hejust told me he's proud of me.

(01:09:55):
No matter how much I love my dadhe has ever told me he was proud
of me. So hearing it you getfrom Mr. Wong sealed the deal.

Josh (01:10:06):
So I tell you what Jackie, what we'll do is we'll dedicate
this episode to Mr. RussellWong, who sounds like one of
those true giants upon which notonly you, but many of his
students probably stand to thisday. That's that's very, very
cool story. And I thank you forsharing it. So Jackie Freitas,
this has been an awesomeconversation. Thank you for

(01:10:26):
being on the "What School CouldBe" podcast. I wish you and your
family and your extendedcommunity of students and
everybody in Wahiawa a very safeand healthy rest of 2022. And I
hope the rest of this schoolyear the 2022-2023 school year
goes beautifully. And thank youfor being on the cutting edge on

(01:10:49):
the front end of helping Hawaiibecome food sustainable and just
a much better community intotal. So thank you, Jackie.

Jackie (01:10:59):
Thank you so much for having me.

Josh (01:11:05):
My editor, creative consultant and sound engineer is
the talented Evan Kurohara. Ourtheme music and musical
interludes come from the vastcatalogue of music created by my
friend of 40 years, theremarkable pianist Michael
Sloane. Producer of 12 albumswith over 100 songs. Michael
Sloane is featured in AppleMusic, Spotify, and all major

(01:11:26):
music platforms. You can alsofind his work at his YouTube
channel. Michael has listenersin over 100 countries and over
2000 cities to date. Supportthese episodes with remarkable
innovative and imaginativeeducators and education leaders
by giving us your own rating andwriting us review at your
favorite podcast store. Thisseries is underwritten by

(01:11:49):
education change agent TedDintersmith, executive producer
of the acclaimed documentaryfilm "Most Likely To Succeed"
and author of the best sellingbook "What School Could Be."
please join the What SchoolCould Be global online community
by going tocommunity.whatschoolcouldbe.org
or by downloading the WhatSchool Could Be app from your

(01:12:10):
favorite app store. The "WhatSchool Could Be" podcast is
brought to you by Josh Reppunproductions. Send your feedback
to [e-mail].
Follow the show on Twitter@WSCBpodcast. Friends, these are
uncertain and challenging times.
The headlines, especially aroundeducation can be relentlessly

(01:12:33):
negative. Please bring kindnesscompassion, innovation,
creativity and imagination intothe world. We need a surplus of
all of these right now. Untilthe next episode, a hui ho, and
take care.

Jim (01:13:05):
We would like to thank Josh and the "What School Could Be"
podcast for reaching out to usand allowing us to share this
episode about the important workbeing done in our schools to
educate the next generation ofag producers in Hawaii. We hope
you've enjoyed this guestpodcast and you can follow the
"What School Could Be" seriesusing the link in the show
notes. Mahalo.

(01:13:30):
The intention of this podcastseries is to create a safe space
for respectful and inclusivedialogue with people from across
a broad and diverse spectruminvolved in growing and making
accessible the food we sharetogether. A diversity of voices
perspectives and experiences canserve to deepen mutual
understanding, to spark creativeproblem solving and provide

(01:13:52):
insight into the complexities ofour agricultural system. If you
our listeners have experienceswith Hawaii agricultural
ecosystems from small holderfarms to large even including
multinational agriculturalindustrial companies, or
anywhere in between, and youwould like to share your story,
please contact us. We welcomeyour voices and perspectives