By: Angel Croix and Bella Carmona
From Colorado to the Big Island, Hawaii is a big change. It took lots of time for Aunty Kelly to adjust to a whole entirely different way of living. Aunty Kelly works at Waimea Country School as a kindergarten teacher. She is a mother and a parent to exchange students internationally. She ended up having mixed feelings about the community in Waimea. Waimea is a very small town where everyone knows each other. The community and population used to be smaller 20 years ago than it is now. In 1992, the population was about 7,000 citizens. Now it's just over 10,500. The people of Waimea are very helpful. There are a lot of things to volunteer in and help out in the community.
We talked about Waimea and how it changed with Aunty Kelly. Aunty Kelly, her husband, and her son first moved from Colorado to Waikoloa for 13 years. Then in 1992, she moved to Waimea and has lived there for 30 years. After she moved to Waimea, she became a kindergarten teacher at Waimea Country School. She is now very familiar with the weather and community in Waimea. We asked her to describe how the weather in Waimea has changed over time. She told us she was shocked by the change. When she first moved here, the winters were misty, drizzly, cool, and there was lots of overcast. Over the years , it became much hotter and dryer. She mentions that “There's a very big shift in the weather.”
We ended up asking if she noticed any bad changes in Waimea or the community. Her response was that she has “noticed a trend in humanity in general, that when people find a beautiful or wonderful place, they say, ‘this is fantastic and I love it, nobody else should come here.’” She says that there is no question that a lot of people have moved to Waimea, and it is a natural inclination. It is not that great when people move here and want to keep places to themselves, but Aunty Kelly thinks that everywhere in Waimea is beautiful and we should all share these wonderful places.
Aunty Kelly has contributed to the Waimea community in a lot of ways. She's done a lot of community volunteer work. Another way Aunty Kelly is contributing to the community is by hosting exchange students. This can be great for a lot of kids because Waimea can benefit them in many ways. When she was younger her family hosted an exchange student.She is still in touch with the exchange student her parents hosted from Germany and we both thought that was really cool. As she got older, she realized how much she loved that experience and wanted to give the same for other kids and show them around Waimea.
Aunty Kelly’s husband is a really big introvert and it took her a lot of convincing to host a foreign exchange student. So far she has hosted several kids in her house and has introduced several others to the community of Waimea.While living in Waimea, Kelly says that her current student, who is used to cold weather, absolutely loves the hot beaches. Aunty Kelly can’t blame her because she also loves the hot beaches too. They bond together every week by going to a different beach.
Aunty Kelly enjoys living and working in Waimea and has no second thoughts about moving here. To her, Waimea is a special place to connect with different people and communities.