18 GCA students Hawaii-bound for research

Grace Christian Academy is sending 18 of its students for a 14-day trip to Hawaii and California, where they will research on the conflict between science and culture.

The students will leave Sunday morning, accompanied by four teachers led by GCA board chair Rev. Raymond S. Kinsella.

Kinsella said the students will have the opportunity to interact with some of today’s leading scientists and learn about how the advancements of science affect people and their culture, specifically in Hawaii.

The delegation will be visiting the IMILOA Astronomy Center and talk with the director of the Hawaii Institute of Astronomy.

They will also interview cultural leaders who oppose any plans to build more observatories on the sacred mountain of Mauna Kea, which has a deep religious and cultural significance for native Hawaiians. Some of these groups are the Anaina Hou (political), Sierra Club (environmental), and Royal Order of Kamehameha I (cultural).

Kinsella said there is a plan to build the world’s largest and most advanced telescope in the area—called the TMT or Thirty Meter Telescope—because it is considered one of the best locations on the planet for such a project.

But the natives of Hawaii have been opposing this and succeeded several times to stop the plan.

Kinsella said the students would study the historical and political underpinnings of “the clash of science and culture.”

The students include Johnny T. Aldan Jr., Phivina Atalig, Bethanie Ann Batallones, Russell Elson O. Buenaventura, Nathan Robert L. Chargualaf, John Conti, Abilaksha Denise Das, Mikiotti Evangelista, Kimberly Hofschneider, Da Hea Hong, Ernest Jay B. Javier, Dae Won Jeon, Nicollette Lopez, Andrew Orsini IV, Keala Peters, Keith Jaosn F. Sablan, James Sakamoto, and Tiffany U. Tokoyama.

The accompanying teachers are Kinsella, Elaine Kinsella, Leah Dalusung and Frederick Fatialofa.

The students will tour the summit of the Subaru and Keck astronomical observatories, considered as two of the premiere land-based telescopes in the world.

They will also tour the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, attend a special lecture at the Keck Base Headquarters in Weimea where the scientists do their work, and they will experience a traditional Hawaiian lu’au in Kona before flying to Oahu to meet with Dr. Rof Peter Kudritzki, director of the Hawaii Institute of Astronomy and a professor at the University of Hawaii.

From Hawaii, they will meet Fr. Gray Sanunders, project director of the TMT Research center at the California Technical University.

They are also planning to visit the Spitzer Space Center, Wilson Observatory, where the legendary astronomer Edwin Hubble made his ground-breaking discoveries on the 100” Hooker telescope in the early 20th century.