A PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE
BIG PROMISE OF LITTLE THINGS CHANGE COMES FROM EVERYONE
Inspiring Hawaii Island’s Next Generation of Innovators By Investing in STEM Today
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ob posting websites tell the story — drone pilot, robotics engineer, AI developer, autonomous driving engineer, 3D/VR producer. These jobs didn’t exist five years ago, and jobs we’ve not yet imagined will need filling five years from now. That’s STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics — the base our K-12 students need to be prepared for Hawaii’s 21st century workforce. HCF’s STEM Learning Partnership launched in 2015 with cornerstone support from the Thirty Meter Telescope through HCF’s THINK Fund. Nine additional funders soon joined, including Hokulia Community Fund, Kukio Community Fund, Maunakea Observatories, the Richard Smart Fund, and four individuals. These Hawaii Island interests saw and understood the challenge: tomorrow’s careers start today with vision, education, and community support. This year, the Partnership announced $1 million in grants to thirty-five Hawaii Island programs offering local youth internships, career exploration, and field research experience. These investments create
field-learning opportunities to identify microalgae for aquaculture fisheries and bivalve farms; expand robotics programs for elementary and middle school students; and put students at the helm designing temperature control systems to assess runoff impact on Hawaii’s coral reefs. “Hawaii has a rich and diverse innovation economy that includes jobs in astronomy, agriculture, alternative energy, and more,” says HCF’s Lydia Clements. “These grants — made possible by the vision of community leaders — create high-tech, interactive learning opportunities that spark curiosity, inspiring today’s students to lead tomorrow’s industries.” West Hawaii’s Kully Kekaula-Basque never imagined he’d be studying biological and computer science at Columbia University. But that’s exactly where he is, all because he discovered STEM at his high school’s robotics program and then interned with the Akamai Workforce Initiative as part of the 2016 STEM learning partnership grants. Sparking creativity, paving a career path, making a difference today so Kully can make a bigger difference tomorrow — that’s the big promise of little things.
To learn more about this partnership, visit HawaiiCommunityFoundation.org
“Hawaii Island is an incubator for STEM studies and jobs with a billion dollar astronomy sector, extensive agriculture, alternative energy, and more.” - LYDIA CLEMENTS
Did You Know... Over the past three years, the pooled resources of the Hawaii STEM Learning Partnership has put more than $2.2 million into STEM opportunities, training, and infrastructure across Hawaii Island, inspiring countless students and creating opportunity for them to return home and make a difference in their own communities.