The Wahi Kūpuna Internship Program

Training ‘Ōiwi and Kama‘āina in the Field of

Cultural Heritage Stewardship

The Wahi Kūpuna Internship Program was launched in 2010 with support and funding from Kamehameha Schools. The primary goal of this internship program is to educate and mentor Native Hawaiians and kama‘āina in the cultural, technical, and academic aspects of Biocultural Resource Management; in order for our haumana to a obtain higher education degrees, gain professional skill sets, grow their cultural foundation, and elevate their roles and responsibilities to our lands, ancestral places, and communities.

Since 2010 the Wahi Kūpuna Internship Program has mentored over 90 college students through our unique holistic framework that focuses on the weaving together of 5 inter-connected objectives: Cultural, Community, Technical, Academic, & Professional Development.

Previous Cohorts

The Wahi Kūpuna Internship Program takes a progressive teaching approach that recognizes the constraints of conventional indoor learning environments, and instead creates an authentic experience for haumāna in and outside the classroom, on the land, and within communities.

We encourage our learners to focus on research topics in their own backyards, allowing them the opportunity to develop into leaders and solve problems that directly affect their ʻāina and communities. Our place-based model invests intensely in each student and is highly transferable, having been implemented in 14 different communities on 4 different islands.