This year, our HoAMa Summer Mentorship Program focused on establishing pilina between our participants and the different environmental zones of uka, kula, and kai across Hawaiʻi mokupuni, with an emphasis on those of Hāmākua. Through collaboration with community partners that share the same vision of aloha ʻāina, our keiki were able to experience new spaces and actively participate in the growing history that these places hold. The continued restoration of storied places allowed us to focus on our ʻāina spaces in Koholālele and Paʻauilo. Repeated visits to our spaces allowed for keiki to compare the different uka, kula, and kai regions of Hawaiʻi to that of Hāmākua.

Whilst exploring the mokupuni, students learned the importance of inoa ʻāina, identified the spaces we visited within each moku, and contributed to their continued living by weeding and planting the future generations of our forests. These huakaʻi help to create understanding of place, anchoring our keiki in the understanding of the places that feed us spiritually, physically, and emotionally. In doing so, they can develop their understanding of kuleana to Hawaiʻi and her people.

Beyond exploring ʻāina spaces, our keiki experienced a lot of firsts. First hikes within native forests, first fruit harvesting, first physical exploration of our intertidal sea creatures, and even first tastes of their own fresh paʻi ʻai. We hope that these experiences ignite the curiosity of our keiki to further explore their own communities with their ʻohana and the greater global community as keiki of Hawaiʻi. We look forward to building further relationships with our keiki, our ʻāina, and our fellow aloha ʻāina across Hawaiʻi mokupuni and will continue connecting the leaders and practitioners of today with those of tomorrow.