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 Â鶹´«Ã½ 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 UH 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.”