| Registration, Breakfast + Resources | Emcees: Kayla Manu + Laila Soakai-Zovich | Registration opens at 10:00am and closes at 10:45am. During this time, participants will collect their conference materials, choose their workshops for the day, and have the opportunity to connect with admissions staff and other resources available to current and prospective PI students. Please note that workshop spaces are limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. | Anna Head Alumnae Hall |
| Keynote | Dr. David Ga’oupu Matthew Palaita | "VĀSĀ: How Our Waters Remember" | Anna Head Alumnae Hall |
| [Breakout Round 1] Workshop 1: Decolonize (Y)our Mind | Kerri Ann “Ifit” Na’puti Borja | Indoors. “Colonialism is a political conditioning which has reinforced limitations rather than liberation and our real potential.” -Melvin Won Pat-Borja. Many of our home(is)lands in Oceania have been colonized in various ways, which like waves in our ocean have had an effect on our Oceania peoples in the diaspora. This workshop will look at the history of colonization and how our peoples both back in the islands and in the diaspora have begun to help liberate and decolonize our minds through community organizing, media, art, and education. Carried by those who have come before us to build a better future, participants will envision and create a better liberated future through storytelling and art. | Location information will be shared during check-in |
| [Breakout Round 1] Workshop 2: Flowing Through Our Future | Cecila Otuhiva + Noelle Patawaran | Indoors. Flowing Into Our Future intends to increase Pacific Islander representation and retention in higher education and professional spaces by redefining ideals that are rooted in colonialism. In this workshop, we aim to help students understand how personal narratives can be used to develop resumes and further their careers by reframing professionalism through a Pasifika lens. | Location information will be shared during check-in |
| [Breakout Round 1] Workshop 3: Intergenerational Healing: Shifting the Tides | Jason Finau | Indoors. The waters we carry (our family histories, migration stories, and ancestral traumas) shape how we move through the world. This workshop explores how trauma travels across generations, and more importantly, how healing can too. Together, we’ll identify ways to shift family patterns, honor what we’ve inherited, and choose new paths that nurture ourselves and our communities. Participants will leave with culturally grounded tools to begin turning the tide toward collective wellness. | Location information will be shared during check-in |
| [Breakout Round 1] Workshop 4: Rooted Like the ‘Ulu, Moving Like the Tide: How Our Waters Remember and How We Rise | Chris Pangelina | Indoors. Though we come from many islands, our waters are connected. The ocean carries memory — of migration, resistance, ceremony, survival, and love. As Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) students navigating higher education, we carry those waters within us. This workshop explores how ancestral memory shapes leadership, how our communities are organizing today, and how we can cast intentional ripples toward collective liberation. | Location information will be shared during check-in |
| [Breakout Round 1] Workshop 5: Wholefully Healing: Pacific Islanders Reclaiming Identity and Culture | Laila Soakai-Zovich | Indoors. “Wholefully Healing: Pacific Islanders Reclaiming Identity and Culture” explores how Pacific Islanders navigate mental health, cultural identity, and diaspora experiences in the United States. Through song, dance, prayer, storytelling, and Talanoa, participants will reflect on cultural strengths, process the impact of stigma and historical trauma, and discover ways to carry their identity forward. This interactive workshop creates space to reclaim culture, connect with community, and develop practical strategies for healing and wellbeing. | Location information will be shared during check-in |
| Lunch | Catered by Crave Halal Subs | | Anna Head Alumnae Hall |
| [Breakout Round 2] Workshop 6: Meanings of Our Motifs: Making Something New with Our Ancient Communication Method | Melia Webster | Outdoors. Often seen in our tattooing and textile-making cultures, we will discuss Oceanic design motifs - in their infinite variation and cultural application across our ocean. Through investigating the significance of these designs and creating our own motif prints, we will embody our ownership over this ancient visual communication style. Participants will be empowered to deepen their understanding of their own family/island’s cultural motifs and of the motifs originating from other island practices, gaining the confidence to utilize and protect these powerful symbols. | Location information will be shared during check-in |
| [Breakout Round 2] Workshop 7: Move Like You Late to the Function | Maya Toluk Ito and Tupou Latukefu-Drake | Indoors. Inspired by “How Our Waters Remember,” this workshop is about realizing your body is lowkey built like the ocean, strong, powerful, and always in motion, just like Teresia Teaiwa said when she reminded us that the ocean lives in our sweat and tears. We’ll be moving, laughing, and doing beginner-friendly activities that feel less like a workout and more like you just showed up to the function and jumped right in. Along the way, we’ll talk about how food, sleep, and staying active all connect, especially when your aunties are telling you to “eat more” but also “take care of yourself” at the same time. By the end, you’ll leave feeling energized, less stressed, and like you just pulled up to the function right when the good part started, with your whole community there too. | Location information will be shared during check-in |
| [Breakout Round 2] Workshop 8: Setting the Terms: Building Queer and Trans Pacific Islander (QTPI) Advocacy Language to Advance Health Equity | Kalisi Biaukula and Kekoa Lopez-Paguyo | Setting the Terms: Building Queer and Trans Pacific Islander (QTPI) Advocacy Language to Advance Health Equity is a workshop divided in two parts. First, we will be tracing the history of contemporary queer advocacy language coined by advocates centering QTPI lived experiences that were borne out of necessity for greater visibility and inclusion within broader LGBTQ+, NHPI, and/or Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community spaces. Second, we will “faikakala” (be curious/nosy, gossip) about QTPI community health and advocacy initiatives happening locally across California and nationally (within the QTPI Village) while engaging with one another and Fijian masi printing (paper mulberry barkcloth). Learn cultural craft and terminology that our QTPI advocates leverage to advocate for equity today. | Location information will be shared during check-in |
| [Breakout Round 2] Workshop 9: Touching Grass While Fighting The Good Fight | Tamia Newman + Pacific Islanders at Berkeley | This interactive workshop invites students to explore self‑advocacy, storytelling, and community change in higher education. Through representative narratives and Pacific Islander‑centered insights, participants will practice concrete skills like how to network authentically, identify and solve community issues, and how to turn lived experiences into powerful stories of resilience and leadership. They will feel empowered to engage in campus community impact projects, gain tools for holistic wellness, and connect with peers who share their journeys—leaving the workshop with greater confidence, community, and balance as they navigate college life. | Location information will be shared during check-in |
| Closing Keynote | Dr. David Ga’oupu Matthew Palaita | | Anna Head Alumnae Hall |
| Closing reception: Karaoke Dinner | Catered by Understory Oakland and CupCakin Bakeshop | | Anna Head Alumnae Hall |
