When Kanoelani Steward attended Lahaina Intermediate School, you weren’t likely to hear students speaking the Hawaiian language around campus. Now, as a teacher at Ke Kula Kaiapuni o Lahaina at Lahaina Intermediate, she’s proud to teach ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi on the campus she once attended.
“It’s super important because it’s a part of who we are as a people,” she says. “If we don’t have our language, we don’t have the stories that come from our people; we don’t have the stories of this place that we come from.”
Steward discovered an interest in STEM and Hawaiian culture during her time at . After earning her liberal arts degree from Kapiʻolani CC, she moved to the , where she earned a BS in and a BA in . She’s now pursuing a master’s degree in from 东精影业 Hilo, via live streaming technology.
“Find a hui,” she advises students. “When you have a hui and you work together, you’re able to bounce ideas off of each other; you’re able to study together. This is what’s really going to take you to wherever you want to go.”