“Ako ʻĒ Ka Hale A Paʻa”: Mentoring for Kānaka Futures through Hilinehu Educational Leadership Advancement

Abstract

In this article, we explore our experiences as Kānaka faculty mentors in Hilinehu Educational Leadership Advancement (HELA), a federally-funded grant through the Native Hawaiian Education Program (NHEP) supporting Kānaka graduate students in the field of education. Through the exploration of our experiences, we consider how mentoring can matter for Kānaka graduate students and furthermore how graduate education can matter for our lāhui Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian nation). Although graduate education historically has not been a priority for the Native Hawaiian Education Act (NHEA), we argue that it is vitally important to preparing Kānaka for educational leadership and nation-building. Finally, we offer reflections on our experiences as mentors through HELA and close with experience-based recommendations for policymakers and administrators, faculty mentors, and Kānaka graduate students.

Keywords

• Native Hawaiian
• Kānaka ʻŌiwi
• graduate education
• graduate students
• mentoring