Our Team
Summer P. Maunakea, PhD
Dr. Summer Maunakea (Kanaka ʻŌiwi) is a passionate educator who centers ʻāina as teacher—emphasizing the importance of healing and aloha in educational spaces. Dr. Maunakea has experience in breaking down the walls of the classroom to support intergenerational ʻāina-based learning through family and community engagement. She is passionate about the presence of māla in schools to grow pilina necessary for educational transformation. Dr. Maunakea currently serves as an assistant professor of Native Hawaiian and Indigenous Education and Leadership at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Education. She instructs undergraduate through doctoral-level courses in place-based education, curriculum leadership, and Indigenous research methodologies. Outside of academia, Dr. Maunakea works alongside community-based non-profit organizations Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation, Pilina Kaiāulu, and MAʻO Organic Farms supporting in various capacities to support curriculum and program design, culturally responsive assessment and evaluation, and teacher professional development. Summer serves on the non-profit boards of Ka Huli O Hāloa and ʻIKE Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Her research is focused on the role of ʻāina-based pedagogies in the healing and growth of kanaka-ʻāina relationships. She loves growing māmaki and Hawaiian varietals of ʻuala to give away to kumu! Contact smauna@hawaii.edu to connect on ʻāina-based learning, pono place-based education, teacher PD, program evaluation, Indigenous research methodologies, and school gardens!
Sharde Freitas, JD, MPH
Sharde is a Native Hawaiian mother, daughter, ʻāina justice warrior, hula practitioner, and community organizer. Together with her husband, they raise their five children ma ka ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. Sharde was born and raised on the west side of Oʻahu, but recently moved to Hawaiʻi Island. Her interest in health and justice stems from a young age when she would spend time with her grandparents, and knowing that there must be a better way. Sharde’s formal educational training is in public health and law. She continues to advocate for a multi-dimensional, transdisciplinary approach to improving Native Hawaiian health, that inherently honors the reciprocal relationship between humans and ʻāina, and provides holistic healing for the family, broader community, and plans for generations to come. Sharde collaborates with Hoʻōla ʻĀina Pilipili as part of the Mauli Ola Initiative. Contact shardem@hawaii.edu to connect on any of the above topics!
Kimberly Yamauchi, MPA
Kimberly Yamauchi is a faculty member in the Medical Education Division of the Department of Native Hawaiian Health (DNHH) at the University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM). Kim is the Program Assistant and premedical student recruiter for the ʻImi Hoʻōla Post-Baccalaureate Program (ʻImi) and the Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence (NHCOE) Student Research Program Coordinator and Academic Advisor. She serves as the Māla Alakaʻi for the DNHH Māla Lāʻau Lapaʻau which is located on the JABSOM campus and used as a natural classroom utilized by medical students, faculty, and community members. Kim received her Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) and a Graduate Certificate in Conflict Resolution from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Kim brings experience working within the area of recruitment and retention of underserved and indigenous students in Hawaiʻi and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands. She was born in Palau and raised in California and Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Her interests include expanding the representation of underrepresented and underserved students in health careers in Hawaiʻi and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific. Contact Kim at kimy@hawaii.edu for more information about ʻImi or NHCOE. Websites: ʻImi Hoʻōla & NHCOE.
Melody Halzel, MPH
Melody Halzel is a PhD student in Public Health with a focus on Community-Based and Translational Research at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. She currently works as a Graduate Assistant for the Mauli Ola Initiative, at the Ho’ola 'Āina Pilipili accessible community garden, located at UH Mānoa, College of Education. Melody has a graduate certificate in Disability and Diversity Studies from the Center on Disability Studies (CDS) and is currently a participant of the Health Equity and Disability Inclusion Leadership training program. She has a B.S. in public health from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and an MPH from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Native Hawaiian and Indigenous Health Specialization. Prior to her MPH, Melody served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in a rural community in Ethiopia. Her current research interests include health, wellbeing, and garden interventions that are accessible for older adults and people with disabilities, including people with dementia and their caregivers. Contact Melody at mhalzel@hawaii.edu to connect on any of the above topics!
Alex Narrajos
Alex Narrajos was born and raised in Chicago and received a BA in Urban Studies from the University of Illinois - Chicago in 2017. She relocated to Hawaiʻi and has worked for a variety of amazing organizations including the Hawaiʻi Alliance for Community Based Economic Development, Keiki and Plow, Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation, and Chef Hui. Most recently, Alex has begun pursuing her MA in Urban and Regional Planning through the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa where she hopes to specify her work on food systems and resilient communities. In her free time you can find Alex covered in dirt at a community workday, hiking in the Koʻolau mountains, biking around town, or at the beach with her friends. Reach out to Alex at narrajos@hawaii.edu if youʻre interested in urban planning, ʻāina-based education, community gardening, volunteer workdays, and/or the best happy hours on Oʻahu!
Comments, Questions, want to learn more? Email Melody Halzel: mhalzel@hawaii.edu
