Adopt-A-Highway recognizes Maui students’ community service

The Maui Preparatory Academy Rotary Interact Club has received the No Ka ʻOi Highway Hui Award from the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation, Highways Maui District, for the club’s student-led contributions to the Adopt-A-Highway public service program on Maui.

Affiliated with the Lahaina Rotary Club, Maui Prep’s Rotary Interact Club fosters leadership and responsible citizenship among its young members. As part of its commitment to Adopt-A-Highway, club members have helped care for a section of Honoapiʻilani Highway between Mileposts 26 and 28 for more than a decade. The Interact Club’s highway cleanup events typically involve about 20 volunteers who remove 20 bags of trash each time.

In addition to removing trash from along the highway, the Maui Prep Interact Club plans and participates in various other community service projects such as beach cleanups, food and clothing drives, elderly daycare programs, and meal planning and distribution at homeless shelters.

“If there’s a need that people see in the community that they want to reach out to us for our help or about connecting on a project, we are super open to doing that because we are a club that’s for the community,” said Samantha Teschler, co-president of the Maui Prep Rotary Interact Club. “Our goal is to help where we can.”

The Maui Prep Interact Club appoints a student member to serve as its Adopt-A-Highway program leader, a role that is passed on through successive classes and provides students with an opportunity to develop their leadership skills. Currently, Arianne Chacon holds this position.

“Through their volunteerism for the Adopt-A-Highway Program and other outstanding community service efforts, the Maui Prep Rotary Interact Club embodies the Rotary’s commitment to service,” said Ty Fukuroku, program manager of Environmental Management, Highways Maui District. “We appreciate the Interact Club members and applaud their contributions on Maui.”

Adopt-A-Highway is a public service program that works with volunteers to remove trash from along Hawaiʻi’s state highways and help prevent litter and other pollutants from blowing or flowing into the ocean and other waterways. Volunteer groups commit to adopting a 2-mile segment of a state highway for at least two years, pick up litter on their section of the highway at least four times per year, and undergo safety training before each cleanup event.

The newest Adopt-A-Highway groups in Maui County include the Central Maui Boxing Club, Hāna Business Council, Hāna Canoe Club, Hawaiʻi Vacation Condos, King’s Excavation and Dirt Works, KNW Pool Cleaning, Loesberg Architecture, Maui Air Rescue and Fire Fighting, and Rotary Club of Maui.

Organizations in Maui County interested in signing up for Adopt-A-Highway can search for available highway segments at Highways Maui District’s stormwater website at www.stormwatermaui.com. Applications, cleanup forms, a safety training video, and program information are also available on the website.

Adopt-A-Highway groups receive support from Highways Maui District in the form of cleanup supplies, safety training and the group’s name printed on a highway sign.