Kindergartner Consider Nonit, 5, of Hilo gave and received big hugs from his parents Monday at Keaau Elementary School.
Consider got a new pair of glasses — his first ever.
He joined more than 80 students from Keaau and Mountain View elementary schools celebrating getting new glasses — with many, like Consider, getting the first pair they’ve ever had.
Consider’s father, Mylove Kinareng, emphasizing their Micronesian roots, said the glasses are important because they will help Consider see “so he can do better in school.”
“He can already tell the difference,” Kinareng said Monday morning.
Annie Valentin, executive director of Project Vision — which partners with the Hawaii Lions Foundation, HMSA Foundation, Vision to Learn, Hawaii Keiki Nurses, schools and the state Department of Health to offer vision screenings and later distribution of glasses — said research shows students with the free glasses get better grades afterward in reading and mathematics.
Chad Farias, Ka‘u-Keaau-Pahoa Complex Area superintendent, said the top priority for schools is to make sure students are safe and healthy.
Once that’s done, he told students and families in the Keaau Elementary cafeteria, “we can really start to focus on the rigor in the classrooms.”
“You have a hard time learning if you have a hard time seeing,” said Greg Ayau, speaking for the Lions foundation.
Students were screened in November. Those in need of glasses were then given eye exams to get prescriptions, and the glasses were delivered at Monday’s gathering.
“The parents were just thrilled that we were actually having a ceremony,” said Vice Principal Iwalani Harris. That helped students recognize that glasses are good, stylish and very common.
“I’m hoping that it changes their minds, that it’s cool to wear glasses,” Harris said.
It’s the first foray onto Hawaii Island for Project Vision, which has given glasses to about 1,200 students in the state since August 2015. The nonprofit notes that 95 percent of incoming first-graders who need glasses do not have them.
Tiara Jackson, 7, was one of them — but not anymore.
Tiara got a pair she picked out herself and is looking forward to being able to see the classroom board better and maybe even her laptop more clearly.
With her new glasses, Tiara said, “stuff comes more forward, like it comes closer to me.”
Think your child might need glasses? Email to request a screening at your school: admin@projectvisionhawaii.org or call 282-2265.
Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
