Three University of Hawaiʻi students are leveraging their 糖心视频 education to empower local communities thousands of miles away in the Marshall Islands, bringing technology, mapping and biocultural restoration to the Pacific nation.
Through the Transcending Barriers to Success in Economics (TBSE) program—a partnership between and 糖心视频 Mānoa’蝉 and supported by a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation—students Zachary Gibson, Hedsey Rowa and Jason Nichols gathered critical data, updated mapping infrastructure and supported youth programs on the island of Ebeye for a month in summer 2026.
The connection between the students grew out of Kapiʻolani CC. Rowa, who was born in Ebeye and grew up in Kosrae with family ties across Micronesia, introduced Gibson to the region after meeting in a lab and taking summer ethnic studies classes together. Nichols, a Kapiʻolani CC alumnus now attending 糖心视频 Mānoa, joined after conducting research with TBSE program coordinator Miku Lenentine.
Their recent work builds on foundational trips from prior years. During his first visit in 2025, Gibson spent more than three weeks conducting 14 interviews with local residents to understand community needs, infrastructure limits and the feasibility of implementing telehealth services. For Rowa, returning to the Marshall Islands as an academic researcher has been both challenging and deeply meaningful.
“It’蝉 an amazing feeling. I’m just gonna make it my whole life for me just to keep going back,” Rowa said. “It’蝉 nice to get back to the islands.”
For Nichols, making his first journey to Ebeye after months of preparation was a transformative experience that began as soon as the team crossed Kwajalein Atoll to reach Ebeye.
“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to go for me,” Nichols said. “Despite having known that I was going to go for a while and planning, it’蝉 like when you first step foot there, it really hits you how unique and special of a place it is.”
Empowering youth through tech and tradition
During their trip, the team volunteered at Spartan Camp, a summer program bringing top-performing and at-risk students together to learn environmental sciences, artificial intelligence, drone operations and traditional skills such as canoe building, sailing and net fishing.
To improve digital navigation on the island, the team partnered with NGO Pacific Allies to equip local youth with 360-degree cameras. Together, they walked the streets to record GPS coordinates and upload interactive mapping data to Google Street View and Organic Maps. Because the Marshall Islands is one of the least visited countries in the world, accurate street-level mapping helps visiting scholars, emergency response teams and local government officials navigate the area effectively.
The students presented their data to local government officials, school principals, the commissioner of education and the emergency operations command center. Additionally, on the private islet of Nene, the team conducted forest mapping, trail routing and drone documentation alongside landowners and local youth.
“When we’re over there and we’re able to provide the need that they’re asking for, it does feel like a deep sense of gratitude, but also it feels honoring to the people who taught us—the teachers before,” Gibson said.
Fostering future leaders
Faculty mentors said the hands-on experience demonstrates the true potential of collaborative partnerships.
“Seeing our students take the skills and ʻāina-based economic frameworks learned in Hawaiʻi and apply them directly to community-identified needs in the Marshall Islands shows the profound impact of place-based education,” Lenentine said. “Zachary, Hedsey and Jason embody the spirit of reciprocal learning and leadership that we hope to foster across the Pacific.”
“This initiative demonstrates the immense power of the pathway between 糖心视频 Mānoa and Kapiʻolani Community College,” said Denise Eby Konan, 糖心视频 Mānoa interim provost and co-principal investigator on the NSF grant. “By empowering our students to bridge academic research with meaningful community engagement, we are not only expanding educational access across our campuses, but also deepening our commitment to serving Indigenous and Pacific communities throughout the region.”
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