Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 6, 1 June 2012 — 9 students earn Native Hawaiian Law Certificate [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

9 students earn Native Hawaiian Law Certificate

Contributed by Ka Huli Ao Centerfor Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law \ine University of Hawai'i law students graduated with the Native Hawaiian Law Certificate in May. The Native Hawaiian Law Certificate requires the completion of certain courses that range from Native Hawaiian rights to administrative law and also requires elinieal work and a writing component. The students

are: Elwen Freitas, Tyler Gomes, Mike Howell, Kauilehuamelemele Ka'uhane, Kaleo Nacapoy, Robyn Pfahl, Adam Roversi, Nikki Thomas and Mari Tsukayama. Certificate graduates have a wide range of experiences before attending law school and eome from throughout Hawai'i. Freitas, from Wai'anae, worked as a Hawaiian-language immersion teacher at Pū'ōhala Elementary School in Kāne'ohe before starting law school. After his first year studying law, Freitas interned

at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Kāne'ohe's Kaleo Nacapoy entered law school after receiving his bachelor's degrees in Hawaiian language and psychology. In 2011, Nacapoy was an Elizabeth Sharp Fish and Wildlife Law Summer Fellow working at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Honolulu branch for Ecological Services. After her second year of law school, Ka'uhane from Waimea, Hawai'i Island, interned in Washington, D.C., at the Department of

Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division-Indian Resources Section. In law school, Ka'uhane focused on environmental justice issues, and is pursuing a master's degree in urban and regional planning. Gomes served as this year's Student Bar Association president and recently won the best oralist award in the National Native American Law Student Association's Moot Court Competition. Howell, Ka'uhane, Nacapoy,

Roversi and Pfahl also earned the Environmental Law Certificate. ■

ABOUTKA HULIAO Estabīished with federal funding in 2005 at the William S. Richardson School ofLaw, KaHuliAo Centerfor Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law is an academic center that promotes education, scholarship, community outreach and collaboration on issues oflaw, culture and justice for Native Hawaiiam and other Pacific and Indigenous peoples.

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Gomes

Tsukayama

Freitas

Nacapoy

Roversi

Ka'uhane

Howell

Thomas

Pfahl