Ka Huli Ao and the Island Girl Fund are pleased to announce our 2023 Summer Fellows in Native Hawaiian Law. Two fellowship recipients will spend ten weeks during the summer honing their advocacy skills and knowledge of Native Hawaiian law to make an immediate and significant positive impact on the Native Hawaiian community.

Rising second year law student Oriana B. McCallum will work with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (NHLC) while rising third year law student Elena Chang will assist Ka Huli Ao’s Native Hawaiian Rights Clinic project based this summer in Maui Komohana. Please find biographies of both fellowship recipients below:

Oriana is a community advocate dedicated to preserving Hawai’i’s unique natural resources, endangered species, and indigenous traditional and customary practices. She holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science with a Certificate in Legal Studies from Brigham Young University-Hawaiʻi. She was recently inspired to continue her education at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s William S. Richardson School of Law and has recently completed her first year of study. Oriana’s goal is to become a legal asset for initiatives across her community — something she believes will support in allowing underrepresented Polynesian communities throughout the Pacific to flourish. This work is important to Oriana, who is of Samoan ancestry. She resides in Kahuku with her three sons Tearona, Christian, and Avea. She enjoys running on the beach with her dogs, working on the farm with her mom, laughing, and eating everything.

Elena is a rising 3L at the William S. Richardson School of Law. She has a background in mapping and spatial datasets, and she is passionate about visualization that narrates place-based knowledge, voices, and issues. Elena believes in advancing justice for native communities and is so grateful for the opportunity to support the Maui Komohana community in navigating water issues throughout this summer.