Abstract
In the summer of 2017, Peace Guardians carried out a summer school program for twenty inner city kids ranging from 8-13 years old in Watts Los Angeles. The program was part of the annual Watts Bears summer school. The Watts Bears are group of student football and track athletes coached by the Los Angeles Police Department. Working in conjunction with the Watts officers and coaches, Peace Guardians and guest teachers spent four hours a day with the students facilitating mindfulness exercises and the Haka as wellness tools to incorporate into their lives in and out of the classroom and football field. The use of the Ancient Maori practice in modern day contexts serves as a fusion of cultural storytelling and with modern interpretations. The Watts Bears students mapped out their own Haka to be performed before Games.
DOI
10.5642/steam.20170301.28
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Fisher, Zachariah
(2017)
"Peace Guardians, Watts Bears and The Maori Haka,"
The STEAM Journal:
Vol. 3:
Iss.
1, Article 28.
DOI: 10.5642/steam.20170301.28
Available at:
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss1/28
Author/Artist Bio
Zachariah Fisher is the founder of Peace Guardians. Zachariah’s passion for youth empowerment started as a baby. Having lost his father at 10 months old, he always felt called to carry his father’s legacy and mentor youth. His teaching style is known for deeper connection to oneself through mindfulness and ancient wisdom practices. Starting his teaching career while studying at UCLA, Zachariah was the youngest PE coach in LAUSD from 2003-2007. He founded Camp with Coach Zach which serviced over 1,500 kids in Los Angeles and offered activities including a wide variety of Sports, Martial Arts, Yoga and Drumming. He is a certified kids yoga teacher and is also trained in Trauma Informed Yoga and Atma Yoga with Saul David Raye. He has dedicated his life to cultivating the master within all youth and is fully committed to continuing that mission through Peace Guardians.