Housed within SOEST, the SOEST Maile Mentoring Bridge fulfills a broad desire to inspire Native Hawaiians, kama‘āina, and individuals of other underrepresented ethnicities into ocean, earth and environmental science professions. Like the many varieties of Maile, this program creates unique mentoring relationships that offer support, encouragement, and the sharing of knowledge. The program weaves individual student goals with their personal and cultural experiences.
Maile mentees are Native Hawaiian undergraduates in the UH system who are either current or prospective SOEST students. Each mentee is paired with a mentor who is an underrepresented SOEST graduate student, post-doctoral research associate or recent graduate. Mentor-mentee pairs meet regularly (~1–2x/month) over paid lunch, and all participants attend group meetings (~1–2x/semester) to share experiences, provide a sense of community, and strategize solutions to any problems that they may be experiencing.
Learn more about the program, and apply to be a mentor or mentee, at www.soest.hawaii.edu/maile/wp/