Honolulu CC invites community to celebrate Indigenous education

ʻAha Kūkalahale 2025

Honolulu Community College  invites the public to register for ʻAha Kūkalahale 2025, a free, two-day Indigenous education symposium taking place August 13–14, 2025 in the ʻili ʻāina (subdivision) of Niuhelewai. The college also invites presenters to submit proposals, and local makers and artisans to join the vendor showcase.

E Welo Mau ke Ea Hawaiʻi (may the life, the breath, the sovereignty of Hawaiʻi rise and endure), will celebrate Indigenous education, ʻike Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian knowledge), and aloha ʻāina (love for the land).

Uplifting Hawaiian knowledge

The event will feature talk story sessions, cultural workshops, panel discussions and a vendor showcase with cultural practitioners, educators, artists and community leaders engaged in language revitalization, healing, traditional arts, farming and ceremony.

“ʻAha Kūkalahale is a space for all of us to gather in pilina (connection), in learning and in ea (life, breath, voice, sovereignty),” said E. Ululani Kahikina, Kūkalahale Title III program manager and planning committee member. “It’s a chance to witness the powerful work being done in education and community—and to be reminded that when we learn and lead from the knowledge rooted in who we are, we all rise.”

• Register to attend
• Submit a proposal to present
• Apply to be a vendor

The symposium marks the culmination of a five-year, $2.25 million Kūkalahale Title III Grant awarded in 2019 to Honolulu and Kapiʻolani Community Colleges. The grant helped Honolulu CC with its goal of being an Indigenous-serving Institution through professional development grounded in Hawaiian language, values and place-based learning.

“ʻAha Kūkalahale 2025 reflects our shared commitment to uplift Hawaiian knowledge systems, center ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) voices in education, and build a future rooted in ancestral strength and community-led innovation,” Kahikina said.

The symposium is hosted by the Kūkalahale Title III Grant at Honolulu CC in partnership with Kanaeokana and Pacific Rim Concepts.

For more information, visit: https://sites.google.com/hawaii.edu/aha-kukalahale