An Evening at Waikalua Loko Iʻa: Gathering for the Next 200
On May 9, more than 200 educators, students, and partners gathered at Waikalua Loko Iʻa to connect around a shared vision for Hawaiʻi's future, through food, film, and community. Through storytelling, learning, and time spent in relationship with place, our gathering explored what it means to steward the people, places, and possibilities that will shape the next 200 years.
Empowering Students to Build the Future They Will Inherit: a story from PAF COO Derek Esibill
If Hawaiʻi’s future environmental challenges will be inherited by today’s students, then students must also be empowered to shape the solutions.
That idea was the foundation of the ʻImi Wai Ola Student Science Conference, an annual gathering where students from across Hawaiʻi come together to present projects, and, more importantly, engage with one another as collaborators, researchers, and emerging leaders. Through various initiatives—including Pacific American Foundation’s Kilo Kai program, APIS, the PAF internship program—students investigate environmental issues directly affecting their communities. By learning by doing, ma ka hana ka ʻike, they build the confidence and relationships needed to be problem-solvers.
Welcome to the Next 200: A Message from PAF CEO Kapono Ciotti
We live in a moment that asks a profound question of each of us: What kind of ancestor will you become?
The Next 200 is a movement rooted in that question and in the ancient wisdom that has always guided us here in Hawaiʻi.
To understand what we mean by the Next 200, we turn to the Hawaiian word moʻokūʻauhau, often translated as “genealogy.” But genealogy, in the Western sense, is a flat word. It connotes diagrams of names arranged in neat rows moving in one direction. Moʻokūʻauhau is something far more alive and multidimensional. It is the story of who we are, carried in the bodies of our kūpuna and passed forward through our actions and, in time, our descendants. Moʻokūʻauhau is legacy as living practice. It is the story of your family carrying inherited knowledge forward into every new generation. The Next 200 is a way of moving through time.
Small Hands Carrying Big Responsibility
The Pacific American Foundation is dedicated to education—cultivating the next generation of caretakers who can serve our wahi pana and beyond. That mission is exactly what The Next 200 is all about: building leaders rooted in ʻike, responsibility, and a deep connection to place.
It is always a special moment when the students share back with us—because these are the moments that show what the next generation is capable of.
After the Rains, We Rise
On the last day of February, pō mahina mōhalu, our community gathered at Waikalua Loko Iʻa to do some hana. This was after the intense rains that brought much silt and debris down the Kawa and Kaneohe Streams.
Heavy rains on Saturday February 21, 2026 filled Kāneʻohe Stream. Although Saturday February 28, 2026 was a beautiful and clear day, the debris of the prior week’s rains was in the Bay and on our shores.
PAF’s Work Featured by National Geographic
In a recent feature by National Geographic, the story of Hawaiʻi’s ocean restoration is told through a powerful blend of ancestral wisdom and modern practice—highlighting the work of Kapono Ciotti and the Pacific American Foundation (PAF). The article shines a light on how traditional Hawaiian marine technology, rooted in deep observation and relationship with ʻāina, is helping restore balance to fragile ocean ecosystems.
Restoring the Ocean from a Single Coral
A Kilo Kai student works with a small coral to create tiny tissue pieces called explants—each capable of becoming a new coral. Some are cryopreserved to protect their genetic future, while others are grown into young colonies for reef restoration. From a single coral, many new corals can emerge, accelerating recovery that would take decades in nature. This work blends Indigenous knowledge with modern science, reflecting a deeper commitment: not just saving reefs, but regenerating them. For The Next 200, it represents a future where our oceans—and the communities connected to them—thrive for generations to come.