Our ʻOhana in the News!

February 26, 2017

Congratulations to Naomi Losch for being named a 2017 ʻŌʻō Award recipient by the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce! She is being honored for her lifetime achievement in education and the perpetuation of the Hawaiian Language.From the NHCC website:"Naomi Losch followed her love of Hawaiian culture and pursued her education in the Hawaiian language at a time when not many people were speaking the Hawaiian language. She became one of Hawaii’s foremost authorities and educators in Hawaiian language, and started the Hawaiian Language programs at Windward Community College and Leeward Community College. Naomi is a former chair of the Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures Department at UH-Mānoa.Naomi Losch retired as an Associate Professor of Hawaiian at UH-Mānoa in 2010. She is credited for her work on the educational forefront contributing to the growing relevance of Native Hawaiian issues — in politics, education, the arts and the environment. Hawaiian culture is now considered a contributing sector for success in business as well. In essence, a new kind of business model emerged, whose very purpose is to preserve, promote and explain Hawaiian culture."