| PBA’s Dragon Parents ‘Ohana Welcomes the School Community to the 25-26 School Year!
Dear readers of the What's New,
I’ll be the first to admit our annual Welcome Back Meetings had gotten a little stale. Recycle the same slide deck year over year, slot in a few new faces, review your talking points with the admin … and try to generate the same excitement as yesteryear reviewing learning outcomes and program questions for an audience mostly including newbie families. “Veteran families stay away from the Welcome Back Meeting because they know the content already,” I explained to the parent leaders of the Dragon Parents ‘Ohana, PBA’s equivalent of the PTO.
| “We wanted something different,” said DPO parent leader Natalia Ramallo. “We wanted the opportunity to forge relationships with other families.” And so the planning effort for a different sort of Welcome Back Meeting was born. On Thursday, July 31 at around 5 p.m., parent leaders arrived, greeted PBA teachers | | and admin, filled in their name tags, set up the chow line for the potluck meal we’d organized, and eagerly anticipated who would arrive. We spent the next few hours enjoying food together, talking story with everyone, and introducing parents to the first of what will be several advisory competitions – for this edition, Admissions Director Blanche Yarnell had organized a few rounds of “Minute-to-Win It!” competitions. Sophomore Luke Nissle’s mom won the chopstick competition for Otake Sensei’s advisory. Junior Maile Melanson won the quick penny stack for Dr. Ben’s advisory. New life sciences teacher Kumu Manning Taite won the pushup competition for his own advisory with something like 95 pushups in a minute! And the Jenga face-off ended in a massive, thrilling tie … because we were running out of time and I still needed to do the slide presentation. | | 
| All in all, we didn’t leave the slide presentation all the way in the past, but we definitely succeeded generating excitement for the school year. “[My son] Jonah went from ‘meh’ to ‘yeah!’ about the school year” said Jill Edelman. “This event definitely set a great tone to kick things off.” Even better, we sent all attendees home with yummy leftovers. While PBA faces some | challenges this school year – we have a lower enrollment, and have our work cut out for us to recruit new families and build up the student body – the excitement and aloha for the PBA Sangha is with us in full force. I will affirm that the 25-26 school year is an important one for the school. The Betsuin temple community and the larger community of 32 Jodo Shinshu temples in Hawaii face their own membership challenges, and PBA has been asked to assist with volunteer labor, publicity support, and youthful enthusiasm. | Meanwhile, the school is embedded in a larger cultural moment that tests the values and mission of the school. Of values, PBA emphasizes the creation of a positive interdependence, work that our late adviser Auntie Puanani Burgess referred to as “building the beloved community.” We emphasize the Six Paramitas – selfless giving, moral conduct, perseverance, energetic effort, contemplation, the cultivation | | of wisdom. We employ a set of restorative practices enabling deep relationships between teachers and students, emphasizing cooperation and effective teaming in place of competition, effective listening as well as effective communication, gratitude and appreciation for the present moment and the contributions of the innumerable hands making possible our time together at the school. Because of this, and because of the enthusiastic tone with which we greeted the new school year, I feel optimistic that PBA will meet the challenges of the moment. I hope you will take note, in this issue of the What’s New, of the stories about the summer holidays of a few of our teachers, the short interview with new teacher Kumu Taite, and the announcement about this year’s slate of honorees for the Lighting Our Way Banquet. In the coming weeks and months, I hope you pay careful attention to the stories we tell about our community building efforts at the school, our observance of this year’s International Peace Day, and the good work of students, teachers, and alumni advancing the mission of the school. We have important work to do and a community-at-large that needs PBA more than ever. Mahalo to all of you for your continuing support.
Warmly,
Josh Hernandez Morse
Head of School
| PBA Welcomes STEM Teacher Manning Taite | Pacific Buddhist Academy is excited to welcome Manning Taite, known to students as Kumu Taite, to our faculty as a STEM teacher. His classes this year will include Algebra, Chemistry, Biology, Environmental Science, and Gardening. Kumu Taite holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Horticulture and Design, Plant Biotechnology, and Landscape Architecture from the University of California, Davis. He also completed graduate work in Molecular Biology and Bioengineering at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. |
With an impressive background in science education and research, Kumu Taite brings a wealth of experience that will strengthen and advance PBA’s science program. His previous roles include work at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology; serving as the Environmental Literacy Coordinator for the NOAA Pacific Services Center, where he developed the Environmental Literacy Program for the Pacific Region; and contributing to the development of the first
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| non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer vaccine at Biosource Technologies. As Executive Director of NALU Studies, Kumu Taite focuses on educating at-risk youth in | | | environmental science and Hawaiian culture through partnerships with federal, state, and local science agencies. “I’m looking forward to getting students out of the classroom, engaging in service work in the community, and learning from the greatest classroom of all, our island’s rich natural environment,” said Kumu Taite. | Humanities Teacher Reflects on War, Memory, and Representation at LBJ Library Seminar | From June 23 to June 27, 2025, PBA humanities teacher Verena Mellein joined a group of educators gathered at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum in Austin, Texas, for a weeklong seminar examining the history of the United States through the lens of war and conflict. The program, designed to deepen historical understanding and inspire meaningful classroom instruction, featured a distinguished lineup of scholars, authors, and public historians who explored how war has shaped, and been shaped by, American identity. | One highlight was a trip to the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, where educators explored immersive exhibits detailing the U.S. experience in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Another was a private screening of Warfare, a documentary that examines the evolving nature of conflict and its human cost through archival footage, interviews, and reflective narration. "One of the presentations focused on memorials and how these tend to be very male dominated," said Ms. Verena. “There is only one memorial to women on the National Mall in DC even though hundreds of thousands of women served in wars throughout US history. I hadn't really thought much about the significance of memorials but | | throughout my week in Austin, it stayed with me.” Ms. Verena plans to bring this critical reflection into her classroom. "I want to examine which memorials are missing with my students. Which people or events hold significance but are not memorialized, and how could we pay tribute to them in a meaningful way? I think that will be a great opportunity to research and recognize people/events that don't get much recognition while also providing lessons on | | 
| sketching and modeling a memorial sculpture.” The seminar not only expanded participants’ knowledge of U.S. military history but also encouraged them to explore broader questions about historical memory, justice, and inclusion, leaving educators with important reflections to bring back to their students in the fall. | Join Us This Saturday Under the Moonlight! | Support Hyaku Sen Ki Kai as they perform at Pacific American Foundation’s Kanikapila O Mahina Moonlight Concert! The students will take the stage at 6 p.m., and guests under 18 get in free. For more information, visit: | | OFFICE HOURS
7:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
OFFICE CLOSED: AUGUST 15, 2025 | | |
