Ulu A‘e Learning Center (UALC) served 18 high school students through the Pi‘ina Internship Program. Of the 21 students served, 18 completed all program requirements. 18 are Native Hawaiian.

The outcomes achieved are that: 

1) 18 high school students gained leadership and field experience; 

2) these 18 students increased their leadership experience by teaching elementary students a native Hawaiian practice; 

and 3) each of the 18 high school students developed a resume that showcases their leadership and field experience.

Each student received 50 hours or more of services. Three students returned to volunteer after their internship ended.

Kahea Akau returned five times to volunteer, and Thalonray Leon-Guerrero and Rory Pulawa Yadao returned 2 times to volunteer.

Interns like Kaleb Sarmiento exhibited natural leadership and teaching abilities. Kaleb led an impromptu read aloud with students during guest practitioner Noel Shaw’s session. The haumana were captivated by his read aloud and our guest speaker was impressed with Kaleb’s ability to read so confidently and fluently without any prior practice.

This is our 2nd year offering this internship. Like last year, interns expressed that they valued the daily debriefs with their mentor. Daily debriefs occurred at the end of each field work day and provided a space for interns to share highlights, challenges, lessons, and questions.

On the first day of his field experience, Edward Bermudez struggled with taking initiative to complete tasks and build pilina with haumana. He would not have known that he needed to improve in these areas had it not been for the feedback he received from his mentor during the daily debrief. By the last day Edward was engaging in conversations with haumāna more and leading hana hei small group learning sessions on his own.

For Aeden Bucasas, daily debriefs were a safe space for him to share how he struggled with being social yet very much wanted to push himself to open up more. The debrief space allowed him to share how he was trying his best to bond and make connections with haumana everyday. In his final reflections, he wrote that he felt that in the end he improved in “leadership skills, social skills, [being] more myself, finding friends anywhere, and lashing.”

For Nanea Whisenhunt daily debriefs allowed her to be reflective. During debriefs, she shared how she would overthink her conversations with haumāna and that getting to know the schedule and routine made it easier for her to lead haumāna because she knew what was coming throughout the day. In her final day reflection, she wrote, “During this internship, I learned how to approach haumana, talk to them, and just be comfortable with them and to not be shy about telling them to do things.”

The daily debriefs were valuable in reflecting on the challenges of the day and in reinforcing positive work habits and reviewing the schedule for the next day. Stormie Sarmiento took advantage of the daily debriefs to ask questions about haumana and share her concerns about certain student interactions in the van.

Workspace realities were a concern that came up during debriefs. Unlike last year where cell phone use during the workday was the biggest challenge for interns, this year interns struggled with getting a full night’s sleep before their work day. Though, it was obvious that certain interns were exhausted coming to work, many like Nakili Enos-Tamanaha were able to shield it well in front of haumana. Nakili flew in from Japan just hours before her first day of internship. During the first day debrief, she mentioned that she was exhausted. We noticed it in her interactions with us. But when it came to interacting with the haumana, she put her exhaustion aside and was fully attentive to haumana.

Resume building was the last phase of the Pi‘ina Internship Program. After each intern’s field experience a resume building component was scheduled with a mentor. In one resume session, intern Rory Pulawa Yadao arrived unsure of what she could include in her resume. The session with her mentor allowed her to talk through her experiences, her skills and school subjects she enjoys. In the end, she discovered that she has skills like lauhala weaving and lei making that she could include. She also was able to share her aspirations of pursuing an education in Environmental Studies or Engineering.

For Thalonray Leon-Guerrero, it was a matter of updating his resume that he had completed in school. Thalonray was able to add additional skills and include experiences he had not thought about before like his entrepreneurial success in reselling sneakers.

The resume building experience established a clear connection between education and work. Interns left the session having a better idea of what they want to pursue after high school and also the various steps to achieve their aspirations. 

We would be remiss to not include in this report the commitment to stewardship made by our interns. As our interns assisted younger students in completing ʻĀina Pledges, the interns too chose to compose one of their own. Kaleb Sarmiento dedicated his ʻāina pledge to all fishponds across Hawaiʻi. His pledge is as follows: “I pledge to be a steward to every fishpond. I know that every fishpond is a part of my ʻāina. ʻĀina is ocean, wind, and land. We need ʻāina because it helps us live and it also helps us grow stronger. Therefore, I will not be negative to the ʻāina or destroy the ʻāina. Instead I will take care of the ʻāina and be kind to the ʻāina. This is my pledge to be a steward to every fishpond.”

Our goal is that our high school students achieve work-ready experience and skills that lead to their success in the 21st century workforce. It is also our goal too that they pursue their career ambitions as grounded, skilled and civically engaged individuals. We look forward to continuing the work of growing the knowledge, skills and leadership experiences of all youth so they will achieve career success and become contributing members of our lāhui.