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!

Lance Kaimana Namihira is a doctoral student in the College of Education at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, specializing in Curriculum and Instruction. Born and raised in ʻAiea and currently residing in Makiki, Kaimana is a product of Hawaiʻi’s public schools and the University of Hawaiʻi system. Now in the final year of his Ph.D. program, his research focuses on ʻāina-based education, student resilience, and the development of culturally relevant and inclusive curricula.

As an educator, advocate, and researcher, Kaimana weaves together Indigenous knowledge systems, community engagement, and critical pedagogy—grounded in the belief that aʻole pau ka ʻike (learning never ends)—to utilize the resources of our past and present as we navigate toward a more just and thriving educational future for all.

Puakea Busby is a Native Hawaiian educator from Waiʻanae with family ties to Puerto Rico, Turtle Island, and Europe. She is a longtime educator, a former public school teacher, and a current PhD student in the Educational Foundations department at UH Mānoa. Her research areas of focus include aloha ‘āina-based education, minority teacher retention, and the history of education in Hawaiʻi. Puakea believes that aloha ʻāina education is a vital part of community building and restoring people’s relationships with one another, land, and culture. She serves as a Graduate Assistant for the Mauli Ola Initiative at the Hoʻōla ʻĀina Pilipili accessible community garden and school where she is able to facilitate mutli-generational ‘āina-based learning.