The Peacemakers Club

A fight has broken out on upper campus. There is chaos, as some students are attracted to the big event and others shuffle along the corridor as if it were just another day.

“We had six policemen here yesterday,” Matayoshi says. “There were disruptions all day. It’s starting up again.”

Anxious, authoritative voices - supposedly that of other teachers or adult supervisors - boom through the crowd. They mean business.

Students rush past us and out the gates toward the fight outside.

Suddenly, the gates close and Matayoshi turns the lock. He sternly instructs students inside the gate to proceed to their fourth-period class.

Those outside the gates are not permitted back in the classroom. They are locked out.

That is how decorum is maintained. Some students proceed obediently to the next class. Several others have already found safe haven in a room known as the Peacemakers Club.

The reconfigured classroom space is the brainchild of Matayoshi. It is filled with video games, recreational equipment and a living room setting where kids can relax during recess and find peace.

It’s a different world inside. The bullies might call this the losers’ den. But members of the Peacemakers Club consider it a hall of honor for those who walk away from senseless conflict and violence. They have been told by people like Matayoshi that irresponsible behavior is a blight on the Nanakuli community, and if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

“The club will not stop the fighting. There will always be fights on any campus. My hope is that it will curb the fighting and make students aware that their actions affect the way the rest of the island views and treats their community.”

Disruptions of this sort make Nanakuli one of the most challenging teaching and learning environments on Oahu. It makes teaching a day-by-day, moment-to-moment scenario. One moment you’re breaking up ignorance, the next moment you’re breaking up fights.

But Matayoshi knew exactly what he was getting into when he asked for the Nanakuli assignment from the Teach for America program. TFA is a national teacher corps of recent college graduates who commit to two years to teach and effect change in under-resourced urban and rural public schools.

The 24-year-old Punahou and Claremont McKenna College graduate says, “I wanted to be sent to the worst school possible. I wanted a local school with the lowest test scores, poorest parent participation and the most challenging classroom situation.”

“I wish people could see the potential my students have,” he says. “When I mention that I work in Nanakuli, the looks I get are ones of sympathy, even dread. It is a stigma that I know my students will have to live with the rest of their lives, and that makes me sad and angry.

“I have never felt a stronger sense of community than I have at Nanakuli. My students are genuinely curious about science. Of course, there are difficult days and challenges, but the potential for success is there.”

He concludes, quoting Gandhi: “We must be the change we wish to see.”