The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation’s Storm Water Management Program has created the Hawaiʻi Storm Patrol Young Professionals Program to help prepare the next generation of environmental leaders.
Through education, community engagement, leadership development, and hands-on learning, the program introduces High School students to storm water management and the many careers connected to protecting Hawaiʻi’s waterways. Across 15 lessons, students can grow their technical knowledge and build career skills to create a healthier future for Hawaiʻi, while learning how everyday actions affect the water around us.
Why Storm Water Education Matters
Understanding how our daily choices affect the environment helps us become more aware of our role in protecting it. Education and outreach play an important part in building cleaner, healthier communities.
The Hawaiʻi Storm Water Young Professional Program gives students an early introduction to storm water management projects and environmental career pathways. Through the program, young people learn how planning, engineering, science, and design all contribute to protecting Hawaiʻi’s natural resources.
The program expands on the Storm Water Management Program’s efforts to engage Oʻahu’s students in storm water learning, which include elementary school presentations, book distributions, and science fair and educator learning resources. These combined activities support the Program’s other public education and outreach efforts to increase public awareness of storm water through participation in community events, radio and video Public Service Announcements, and other informational campaigns.
How the Program Works
Students are introduced to the Storm Patrol characters from the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation’s Elementary School storybook, “Hawaiʻi Storm Patrol New Recruits”, who have grown to become professionals in storm water management. Throughout the program, these characters showcase different career pathways in the field.
Introductory lessons guide students through concepts and skill-building activities in storm water management. Students then select a professional role in engineering, architectural design, science, or planning, where they continue to explore in subsequent lessons how these professionals contribute to a storm water management team through hands-on activities and a supplemental place-based project. This approach helps students connect classroom learning to real-world environmental challenges in Hawai’i.
The program will officially launch in September 2026 and will be completely free to access. To learn more about the program and be the first to know when it is available to download, sign up for our eNewsletter.