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<br />ONO: So that’s your option, there are no alternative experiences for the students, for example, a <br />normal agriculture program? You’re just going to be introducing an alternative agriculture <br />program? Am I to understand that correctly? <br /> <br />THATCHER: Well, that would be a part of it. And so having a facility right there on campus <br />makes it much easier for the students to have access to the program. <br /> <br />ONO: The other question that I have is the long term, why the dormitory? <br /> <br />THATCHER: The dormitory idea comes about because we have been, had the pleasure of <br />hosting a number of different groups from other countries and from other states, and from Oahu. <br />So we have had for the last, this will be the eighth year, we’ve had groups of visiting students <br />from Korea. They like to come to Hawai‘i, and they like to come to our school because they get <br />a, the kids get a chance to practice their English, to be exposed to American culture. We’ve had <br />visiting teachers from Indonesia. One of our letters of support is from President Obama’s sister, <br />Maya, and she has actually worked with us on projects through the East-West Center that were <br />State Department funded projects; and she wrote a letter in support for this. Because when the <br />visiting teachers were here from Indonesia, it was very difficult to find places for them to stay <br />where they would be able to visit the school as much as they wanted to. So we’ve also had <br />visitors, a group of kids from Peru last year, who want to come back again this year; and these <br />are kids that are descendents of the Incas. And they are also very interested in sharing with us <br />their sustainable agricultural practices. So, you know, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with what’s <br />going on in Korea. There’s a lot of great sustainable agriculture in Korea, and in a lot of other <br />places, forestry also. And so many of these visitors have said we really like to come to visit you <br />but we can’t afford places to stay. We just returned, I brought a group of kids to St. Paul, <br />Minnesota where we were visiting a school, the high school of recording arts which is another <br />poverty level school like ours, 90 percent African American. These kids are coming to school <br />because they’re doing something they feel is meaningful. They’re learning how to do recording <br />studio production, video production. And to raise enough money to come here and to be able to <br />staying in hotels is beyond their means also. <br /> <br />ONO: I’ve got a question. Why a horse barn? I don’t understand that. <br /> <br />THATCER: Well, -. <br /> <br />KERN: Commissioner Ono, could you repeat that. <br /> <br />ONO: Oh, I’m sorry. Why the horse barn? I don’t quite understand that in relation to your <br />program. <br /> <br />THATCHER: Well, you know, that’s part of the concept of the sustainable agriculture, is horse <br />manure is some of the best fertilizer that you can get for using in Hawaiian soils. And so that <br />would be part of it. I think that our elementary and our intermediate school science programs <br />also have a component where the teachers will teach the kids about reproduction, which <br />eventually leads to human reproduction, through the use of animals so that they can see, like any <br /> 15 <br /> EXHIBIT A <br /> <br /> <br />