Community Engagement Spotlight: Jachelle Araiza
Howdid you build a relationship with your community partner, Mālama Learning Center?
My relationship with Mālama Learning Center first began through an internship with KUPU. I was an environmental education leader working at Nānākuli High and Intermediate School, supporting place-based learning field trips, when Kumu Mikala Pieper recommended that I connect with Mālama Learning Center. I reached out to coordinate a field workday at Nānākuli Beach Park, and that was where I first met their field crew.
Later that same year, I was selected as a Hawaiʻi Youth Conservation Corps Leader. Alongside five other corps members, I spent a week working with Mālama Learning Center across their restoration sites. We worked about 45 hours together that week, and it gave me the opportunity to really get to know the staff and their work. Later, while working with the Waianae Mountains Watershed Partnership, I completed chainsaw training with one of their field crew members. Since our base yards were on the same mountain, we would often cross paths and catch up. Over 2 years, those shared experiences built a relationship that felt genuine long before this project began.
Please describe your community-engaged project. What have you learned through the process of this project so far?
My community-engaged project explores how Mālama Learning Center weaves Hawaiian culture-based education into its conservation work, particularly through teaching the Hawaiian names of places and plants. Through an ethnographic documentary, I am documenting how staff engage with community members and how participants respond to their teaching and stewardship practices.
One of the biggest things I've learned is that it is the people who bring these places to life. Every staff member brings their own background, ʻike (knowledge), and personal experiences to the work. They are restoring relationships between people, place, language, and history. Watching them share the stories behind each of the seven restoration sites has shown me that conservation is just as much about people as it is about the land.
What impact do you hope your community engagement will have?
I hope this project helps people recognize how important it is to pay attention to the names, stories, and histories of the places around them. Revitalizing a language is just as important as revitalizing an ecosystem because the two are deeply connected.
I hope this documentary honors the work being done by Mālama Learning Center while encouraging more people to participate in mālama ʻāina efforts. More than anything, I hope it gives people the confidence to use the Hawaiian names of places and plants in their everyday lives. There should be no shame in speaking the true names of the places we care for. Every time someone chooses to use those names, they are participating in the ongoing work of cultural and language revitalization.
Where do you plan to present the results of your project?
Mālama Learning Center will ultimately decide where the documentary is shared, as I want the project to remain community-centered and reflect their vision. With their permission, I hope to submit it to documentary and environmental film festivals, share it through their website and educational programs, and use it as a resource that can continue supporting their outreach and community engagement.
What advice do you have for other students who are interested in community engagement?
Community engagement starts with your own intent. Before anything else, ask yourself: Why am I doing this? What am I hoping to get out of it?
Many Indigenous teachers have taught me the importance of understanding my own positionality before entering a community. Are you looking for recognition, or would you still be doing this work if no one ever saw it? That question matters.
Once you understand your own intentions, the next step is showing your community partners that you are aligned with their goals—not just in word, but in deed. Genuine community engagement should feel natural. It shouldn't feel like you're trying to prove yourself or build your résumé. It should feel like you're contributing to work that already exists, helping create spaces that are welcoming, accessible, and grounded in relationships. When you approach community with humility, people recognize that, and trust begins to grow.