Nāhululeihiwakuipapa’s Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program

The Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program, hosted by the Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance’s Nāhululeihiwakuipapa [Next Generation] Subcommittee, is intended to provide an opportunity for students and emerging professionals from Hawai‘i to meet and network with Hawaiʻi’s established professionals in the conservation research and natural resource management community. The program provides a means and structure to engage both audiences in meaningful dialogue on interests, experiences, and opportunities at the Hawai‘i Conservation Conference (Conference). In addition, the program provides the opportunity for emerging professionals to hone their networking skills and to make at a minimum two new academic or professional contacts. For established professionals, it is an opportunity to mentor the next generation of conservationists, managers and educators and to share their own journey in this field. Emerging professionals will benefit from one-on-one interaction with respected professionals in their areas of interest. This mentorship program aims to make 30 matches of established professionals and emerging professionals. The mentees will be selected from the Conference Student Scholarship Program and the mentors will select their interest during the registration process and circulated recruitment form.

Mentors

Sign Up to be a 2025 Mentor!

Deadline to sign up is June 20th, 2025

Program Expectations

 

Program Expectations

  • Once we have matched you with your Mentee, we ask that you connect with them via email, phone, Skype, Facetime, Zoom, Google Hangouts, etc. In addition, please share the following with your Mentee, so they can get to know you a little better.
    • Resume/CV
    • Short biography and selfie of you in your favorite place or doing your favorite thing (can be personal or professional)
    • Give some brief information about your career history and conservation expertise/interests.
    • Start planning which Conference presentations the two of you will attend together.

 

  • Attend the Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program Meet & Greet Luncheon with your Mentee on the 1st day of Conference 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM in Room 311 at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center. LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED. This will be the first official time to meet and interact with your Mentee in person. Expectations and Mentor/Mentee roles will be discussed. Mentors and Mentees will be broken out into tables of 2/3 Mentor/Mentee pairs. Please note that we have structured the tables in this fashion to ease any anxiety that may have occurred if a Mentor/Mentee pair were to be at a table one on one. While you meet with your Mentee and fellow Mentors and Mentees, we would like you to:
    • Introduce yourself and share your history about how you got to where you are
    • Discuss your Mentee’s employment goals, what they hope to get out of the conference and any agencies or organizations they’d like to learn more about. Example questions: what sessions are you thinking of attending? What are some of your career goals? What kind of things interest you?
    • Select at least two (2) presentations that you will attend with your Mentee.
    • Provide any guidance or recommendations on other talks your Mentee might benefit from.

 

  • Attend the selected presentations with your Mentee and after the presentations, make some time to have a short discussion on any merits or concerns. The purpose of this exercise is for Mentors to guide their Mentee in how to receive information from an empirical scientific standpoint and long term observation in order to evaluate a presentation to understand the different perspectives and how it compares to their own perspective. Mentor/Mentee pairs will need to complete the simple online “Verification Form – Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program” indicating what two session you attended together and submit a joint statement about what the two of you discussed after the session.

 

  • Identify and introduce your Mentee to at least two other colleagues/professional contacts during Conference. This will help expand the Mentees network and provide additional resources. Mentor/Mentee pairs will need to complete the simple online “Verification Form – Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program” indicating the two professional contacts that the Mentee was introduced to.

 

  • [OPTIONAL] Attend the Conference’s annual Nāhululeihiwakuipapa Emerging Professionals Workshop/Networking Session with your Mentee. Workshop/Networking topic(s), time, and location of this Conference workshop will be provided closer to Conference. This annual workshop/networking session aims to provide students and emerging professionals the opportunity to develop technical, networking and leadership skills critical for career, community, and personal success. This session WILL NOT count towards the two sessions Mentor/Mentee pairs are expected to attend together.

 

  • To commemorate this great opportunity, Mentor and Mentee pairs are expected to take a photo/selfie of themselves connecting during Conference (get creative!). Post it to social media using the annual Conference hashtag utilizing the current year (Ex: #HIConCon2025) and tagging the Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance. Mentor/Mentee pairs will need to upload their photo to the simple online “Verification Form – Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program” to confirm this expectation has been completed.
    • Facebook: @HawaiiConservation
    • Instagram: @hawaiiconservation
    • Twitter: @HCAFriends
    • TikTok: @hawaiiconservation

 

  • [STRONG ENCOURAGED] With your Mentee attend the Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program Follow Up Luncheon on the last of Conference 12:00 – 1:00 PM in Room 311. Lunch will not be provided, however please feel free to grab lunch and bring it to the room. This is an opportunity for Mentor/Mentee pairs to complete the simple online verification form to confirm that you have completed all program expectations. If Mentor/Mentee pairs submit their form, they can receive their Conference Swag Bag containing multiple gifts from the Nāhululeihiwakuipapa Subcommittee! Please note that Conference Swag Bags WILL NOT be mailed out. Those that receive a Conference Swag Bag will be entered to win a grand prize of Free Registration for next year’s Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference! This is a second opportunity to have dedicated time to meet up and connect with your Mentee. This luncheon is less structured than the 1st luncheon, as this is a time and space to follow up on your previous conversations and discuss your experience at Conference so far.

 

  • As always, we encourage Mentors to plan for future interactions with their Mentees to hopefully continue the Mentorship process for both participants long past Conference.

 

  • Complete and submit the Post Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program Survey. This will be sent to you the week after Conference has ended. This is your opportunity to share constructive feedback to help improve our program for the future years to come.

Mentees

Complete Mentee Application for 2025 via Student/Emerging Professional Scholarship Application!

Deadline to submit application to be considered as a Mentee for the Mentorship Program is June 13th, 2025

Program Expectations

  • Once we have matched you with your Mentor, we ask that you connect with them by email, phone, Skype, Facetime, Zoom, Google Hangouts, etc. In addition, please share the following information with your Mentor, so that they can get to know you a little better:
    • Resume/CV
    • Short biography and selfie of you in your favorite place or doing your favorite thing (can be personal or professional)
    • Give some brief information about your career interests, what you hope to gain from this program/conference and your future aspirations in the field of conservation.
    • Start planning which Conference presentations the two of you will attend together.

 

  • Attend the Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program Meet & Greet Luncheon with your Mentor on the first day of Conference in Room 311 at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center. LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED. This will be the first official time to meet and interact with your Mentor in person. Expectations and Mentor/Mentee roles will be discussed. Mentors and Mentees will be broken out into tables of 2/3 Mentor/Mentee pairs. Please note that we have structured the tables in this fashion to ease any anxiety that may have occurred if a Mentor/Mentee pair were to be at a table one on one. While you meet with your Mentor, we would like you to:
    • Introduce yourself, share your interests, your employment goals, and what you hope to get out of the conference.
    • Discuss your Mentor’s history and how they got to where they are now, along with any words of wisdom they can pass on. Example questions: Can you describe a typical day/week of work? What skills or talents are most essential in your occupation? What is the employment outlook in your field? What satisfaction do you get from your work? What are the major frustrations of your work?
    • Identify for your Mentor at least one agency or organization you would like to learn about.
    • Select at least two (2) presentations that you will attend with your Mentor.

 

  • Attend the selected presentations with your Mentor and after the presentations, make some time to have a short discussion on any merits or concerns. The purpose of this exercise is for Mentees to reflect on how they receive information from an empirical scientific standpoint and long term observation in order to evaluate a presentation to understand the different perspectives and how it compares to their own perspective. Mentor/Mentee pairs will need to complete the simple online “Verification Form – Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program” indicating what two session you attended together and submit a joint statement about what the two of you discussed after the session.

 

  • Attend the Conference’s annual Nāhululeihiwakuipapa Emerging Professionals Workshop/Networking Session. Workshop/Network Session topic(s), time, and location of this workshop will be provided closer to Conference. This annual workshop/networking session aims to provide students and emerging professionals the opportunity to develop technical, networking and leadership skills critical for career, community, and personal success.

 

  • To commemorate this great opportunity, Mentor and Mentee pairs are expected to take a photo/selfie of themselves connecting during Conference (get creative!). Post it to social media using the annual Conference hashtag utilizing the current year (ex: #HIConCON2025 and tagging the Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance. Mentor/Mentee pairs will need to upload their photo to this simple online “Verification Form – Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program” to confirm this expectation has been completed.
    • Facebook: @HawaiiConservation
    • Instagram: @hawaiiconservation
    • Twitter: @HCAFriends
    • TikTok: @hawaiiconservation

 

  • [STRONGLY ENCOURAGED] With your Mentor attend the Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program Follow Up Luncheon on the last day of Conference 12:00 – 1:00 PM in Room 311. Lunch will not be provided, however please feel free to grab lunch and bring it to the room. This is an opportunity for Mentor/Mentee pairs to complete the simple online verification form to confirm that you have completed all program expectations. If Mentor/Mentee pairs submit their form, they can receive their Conference Swag Bag containing multiple gifts from the Nāhululeihiwakuipapa Subcommittee! Please note that Conference Swag Bags WILL NOT be mailed out. Those that receive a Conference Swag Bag will be entered to win a grand prize of Free Registration for next year’s Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference! This is a second opportunity to have dedicated time to meet up and connect with your Mentor/Mentee. This luncheon is less structured than the 1st luncheon, as this is a time and space to follow up on your previous conversations and discuss your experience at Conference so far.

 

  • As always, we encourage Mentors and Mentees to plan for future interactions to hopefully continue the Mentorship process for both participants long past Conference.
  • All program participants are expected to complete and submit the Post Pūlama Kuamoʻo Mentorship Program Survey. This will be sent to you the week after Conference has ended. This is your opportunity to share constructive feedback to help improve our program for the future years to come.
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