Molokai
Working with teachers on Molokai to bring AI and computer science curriculum into local classrooms — designed around place-based pedagogy and the island's own context.
Molokai is the least developed of Hawaiʻi’s main islands. It is also the one with the deepest commitment to keeping its way of life intact. Schools on the island do extraordinary work with very limited access to the kinds of computer science and AI curriculum that mainland schools take for granted.
Our partnership starts at Kaunakakai Elementary, where teacher Kawika Gonzales has been integrating AI literacy into project-based learning. The Foundation has supported curriculum delivery, including a recent unit where students built an anti-bullying AI assistant rooted in their own community values.
How the work has unfolded
August 2024 — Molokai GenCyber. Lijie traveled to Molokai to guest-teach the Molokai GenCyber program, an NSF-funded cybersecurity training experience for high school students on the island. Her session covered what a career in security and infrastructure engineering actually looks like — the day-to-day work, the pathways in, and what high schoolers might want to be thinking about now if any of it sounds interesting.
March 2025 — Kaunakakai Elementary, first visit. Lijie and Chuck spent time at Kaunakakai Elementary alongside Kawika Gonzales, co-teaching on entrepreneurship, career planning, and applied AI for K–5 students.
March 2026 — Kaunakakai Elementary, follow-up. Returned to the same classrooms to extend the work. The short clip below is from this visit — Lijie leading an AI career-coach simulation activity with students.
What this looks like in practice
- On-site teaching residencies at Kaunakakai Elementary
- Curriculum co-development with local teachers, designed around Hawaiian place-based pedagogy
- Long-term relationships with educators rather than parachute programming
Why it matters
The students on Molokai are not less capable than students at any well-resourced school in California. They have less access. The Foundation’s job is to narrow that gap on the community’s terms, not ours.
The thinking behind this work
Short clip from Chuck on a framing he’s been working with — that as AI takes over more of the technical execution, what compounds for the next generation is artistic intelligence: creativity, judgment, and the ability to use technology to make something of real value. The Kaunakakai Elementary work is what this looks like in practice with K–5 students.