Nick Francisco teaches keiki and adults how to grow, harvest, prepare their own poi
Posted: April 15, 2025
The Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association honored Puna educator Nick Kālāmakani Francisco with its 2025 Friend of Youth Award Saturday at HSTA’s 52nd annual State Convention.
The union’s Friend of Youth Award recognizes an outstanding individual who is not an HSTA member whose work has had a lasting impact on Hawai‘i’s young people.
As an ʻāina-based educator, Francisco dedicates his time and service to empowering and uplifting youth through meaningful, community-based initiatives.
“For over a decade, he has been a steadfast guardian of Hawaiʻi’s food and farming traditions, ensuring that the knowledge of generations past continues to thrive in the hands of future stewards,” said Maui High math teacher Jodi Kunimitsu, chair of HSTA’s Human and Civil Rights Committee, which selected Francisco for this year’s award.
“Through his unwavering commitment to kuʻi kalo (poi pounding) and ʻike (culture) kupuna-guided sustainable agriculture, he has cultivated a movement that reconnects communities to the land, their heritage, and the practices that have sustained Hawaiʻi for centuries,” Kunimitsu added.
Francisco said, “It’s called papa kālaiʻāina, because we’re teaching the ʻohana (family members) and the keiki (kids) to grow kalo (taro). I teach them how to grow in Puna’s rocky environment, grow food literally in rocks, and there’s a mahiʻai (farming) component. Then, we also teach the kids how to carve by hand. At the end of the school year, they’ll harvest the kalo they planted and pound it on the boards and stones they carved by hand.”
Francisco can often be found at community gatherings, offering hands-on poi-pounding lessons. His work extends beyond mere instruction—it is a call to action, inspiring youth to embrace the values of mālama ʻāina (care for the land) and cultural responsibility.
Earlier this month, HSTA recorded one of his visits to Kua O Ka Lā Public Charter School in Hilo on Hawaiʻi Island, where he’s been working with students to help them create poi pounding stones and boards since the fall.
Channa Uyetake, a sixth-grade teacher at Kua O Ka Lā, nominated Francisco for the Friend of Youth award.
Uyetake called him an “awesome kumu and a great addition for our keiki to learn ʻike Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian culture).”
At the beginning of this school year, Uyetake and Francisco took her class on a huakaʻi (field trip) to Laupāhoehoe Point.
“They were able to pick a stone of their choice to carve. And they were really big, almost boulder size, and they have been working on them since the beginning of the year,” Uyetake said.
“They’ve been carving by hand to make it into pōhaku (rocks) that they will use to kuʻi kalo (pound poi). They also will be learning how to make the board that you put the kalo on to kuʻi and make poi,” Uyetake added.
“And through this journey of carving the stone, the pōhaku, the students learn a lot about perseverance. They learn a lot about being focused on their work and being attentive and never giving up,” Francisco said.
“It’s important for our students to be aware of the ike and the knowledge of our kupuna (elders), because, you know, for many years in Hawaiʻi, Hawaiian culture was really repressed. And my tūtū was hapa haole (half caucasian), Hawaiian haole, and she was beaten for speaking Hawaiian in school, like so many, just the context of the times politically. It always struck me as something that I wanted to make all of our students feel proud of who they are,” Francisco added.
Francisco’s farm, Mahina Oha, is located at his home in Puna, a property he purchased after the 2018 lava eruption destroyed his family’s previous house. He grows more than 70 varieties of taro on his family farm.
As part of his community work, Francisco says he helps “to share the kupuna kalo, the heirloom varieties, and we have them labeled. And when people need a specific heirloom kupuna kalo variety, I can share them. We have all different types and sizes and colors and shapes.”
He is also the organizational lead coordinator/kumu for Mālama Hāloa Hui Kuʻi Kalo o Puna. The hui was created in 2010 to continue the legacy and educational traditions of kuʻi kalo and mahiʻai (farmer/planter) practices. The group provides free lessons at various community and cultural events, mounting between 12 to 16 free events throughout the year where they either teach or make poi for the community.
Collaborating with Makuʻu Farmer’s Market, he leads ʻohana-focused workshops on traditional Hawaiian farm systems and backyard planting practices, ensuring that families have the tools to grow and sustain their own food.
He describes himself as a link in the chain, having gained knowledge from Hawaiian elders and farmers.
“I feel like there are so many other people out there doing such good work, too, you know. So I guess humbled, you know, kind of that feeling of, why me?” he said when asked about his reaction to winning the HSTA Friend of Youth Award. He said many community advocates deserve the credit for his work as well.
Uyetake, the teacher who nominated him for the award, said, “It’s all about tradition with him, and he loves it so much, and it shines through. And the keiki (students/kids) love it. The keiki love him. He’s just such a chill, relaxed guy and so humble. Doesn’t even think he deserves this award, but he does. He does so much work with schools, keiki, and the community as a whole.”