Aloha Ohana, We want to extend one final thank you to everyone who made this spring semester possible, including families, friends, HQ staff, and the amazing folks we crossed paths with throughout our time in Maui. The past eight weeks were so full— full of community, culture, sunshine, learning, friendships, whales, ice cream, hikes, farming, weeding, music, poems, dancing, journaling, silence, meditation, stretching, sharing, stars, and much more. As we… Read More

We closed our program last night with dinner, laughs, tears, hugs, reflection, memories, a slideshow, mochi, and most importantly love + aloha. Feeling full of gratitude for everyone who helped make this experience possible. We asked everyone to send in their favorite photo from the last 2 months and here’s what we got!… Read More

Written By Lauren & Amanda On our last day in Hana, we got lunch at the Thai food trucks and met Lipoa at the ‘ili she is working to protect. Lipoa was so generous in sharing her stories with us, and we feel so lucky to have the opportunity to visit such a special place. The next day we stopped at food trucks for lunch and transferred to Waihe’e Refuge,… Read More

Written By Louise & Eli Our last week at Kipuka Olowalu and our few days in Hana were filled with so many tiny moments of pure joy, laughter, adventure, love, and deeper appreciation, not only for each other, but for the amazing contacts we’ve had the opportunity to work with. Having spent two weeks at Kipuka, we were able to gain a better understanding of Hawaiian culture and practices while… Read More

Written By Anabelle & Genevieve Aloha! Over these past two weeks we have had the opportunity to work and connect with many new people and landscapes. At the end of our time at Evan and Danielle’s farm, we got to spend a day with George Kahumoku Jr. or, Unko George, who is a Grammy Award winning musician and sustainable farmer. After waking up for a 6:00 am departure to his… Read More

Written By Jane and Tara As we transferred to our next stay at a local regenerative farm in Makawao this past week, so much changed; our landscape, the weather, and our day-to-day activities. But one thing has remained constant throughout our ability to have a Taylor Swift sing along no matter the location. Pono means to live righteously and in harmony with one another and the earth. Here, Evan, the… Read More

Aloha friends and family of the ‘Ohana Spring 2021 semester!  It’s Peter and Natalie here from the beautiful Olowalu campsite on the west coast of Maui. We are full of gratitude and appreciation for the past week getting to know our incredible group of students. Orientation has been jammed pack full of adventure, learning, and connection. Students spent the day in Lahaina on their scavenger hunt in two teams. They… Read More

Peter and Natalie here, writing from the beautiful town of Kihei, situated on the southwest shores of Maui. This past week, we have had the opportunity to reconnect with each other and plan parts of our semester– (we actually have been friends for five years and led trips in Colorado together last summer). It’s been an awesome week– eating delicious local fruits, vegetables, and poke, visiting black and white sand… Read More