KEKAI REBECCA ROBINSON

PO`OKULA, HEAD OF SCHOOL

Kekai Rebecca Olsen Robinson is a Maui-born native of Nā Wai ʻEhā with roots in Waikapū, Wailuku, and Waiheʻe now living with her family in Waiehu. Raised part-time in Pauoa, Oʻahu, she obtained her high school diploma from Kamehameha Secondary Schools, Kapālama, returning to Maui to teach ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi for the Maui Community School For Adults in 1993. She earned her Associate in Arts in Liberal Studies before being accepted into the College of Education at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa while concurrently studying business through Kaplan University.

She received her Bachelors of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, Human Relations from the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa. She is currently pursuing her masters degree at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in Curriculum Studies STEMS^2 Program integrating traditional Hawaiian technologies with STEM concepts. She has been active in the Hawaiian language and Hawaiian studies community for almost thirty years, working and/or volunteering with community organizations like the Maui Historical Society, Hale Hōʻikeʻike, Queen Liliʻuokalani Trust, Kula Kaiapuni o Maui, Keiki o Ka ʻĀina, Hoʻolaupaʻi, Lae ʻUla O Kai Canoe Club, Hawaiian Canoe Club, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and served as the Hawaiian Cultural Advisor for the Makaʻala Project Waiehu, Resilient Hawaiian Communities Initiative. She is a member of Hui Wanana, an organization committed to the revitalization of Kealakaʻihonua Heiau and the restoration of traditional Hawaiian lifestyles. She is also a member of Hālau Nā Hanona Kūlike ʻo Piʻilani and an accomplished practitioner of oli (Hawaiian chant).

Kekai, previously a singer/songwriter and bass-player for the award-winning Hawaiian music wāhine trio, Ahumanu, is also blessed to travel on tour as a backup singer for Hawaiian Music Legend and Kumu Hula, Kealiʻi Reichel, and Grammy-award winning music artist, Kalani Peʻa.