Welcome to Na 'Opio o Ka 'Aina (NOOK), the Hawai'i Club at the University of
California, Irvine!
Na 'Opio o Ka 'Aina (NOOK), which translates to "The Youth of the Land," was
started in 1985 by several students from Hawai'i. The original purpose of NOOK
was to help ease the transition of Hawai'i students to the mainland life style,
as well as college life. Since Hawaiian students are so far away from a culture
completely different than the one found in Irvine, it could be sometimes hard to
adjust to life on the mainland. The idea of the club is to be a social support
group so students from Hawai'i would not feel homesick and would have things to
do outside of the classroom.
After the club started to grow, the members started to share the Aloha spirit
and spread the Hawaiian culture to the surrounding UCI community through our
cultural workshops and performances. With each new year, each new member brings
something special to the club. NOOK would not be a club and what it is now
without its members.
NOOK is now a cultural club as well as a social one. The biggest cultural event
for our club is our annual Lu'au. The purpose of Lu'au is to share the Hawaiian
culture with the UCI community. The Hawaiian culture is more than just
pineapples, coconuts, tourists, grass hula skirts and leis. Each year we show
the UCI community something new about Hawai'i and island cultures through our
skit and dances. Our 17th annual lu'au was on Saturday, April 19, 2008.
As a club, we hope to be able to help as many students from Hawai'i feel welcome
and at home on the mainland, as well as be able to share the Aloha spirit to as
many people as we can. If you can't go to Hawai'i, we will try to bring it to
you. Come join us if you want to learn a little about Hawai'i or if you just
want to kick back with a bunch of good friends. Welcome to our 'ohana!
