Twenty-four students from the Republic of the Marshall Islands graduated with their master’s degrees in education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Pacific Master in Education Program, PACMED, this summer.

The cohort was the third from RMI to complete the program, which cultivates Pacific Islander STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) educators through place-based, culturally responsive curriculum.

“This is an incredibly rewarding program,” said PACMED’s director, Deborah Zuercher.

The program launched in 2017 in response to a commitment included in the school’s 2015-2025 strategic plan that pledged to serve Hawaii and its neighboring Pacific island communities, Zuercher said. Meanwhile, the American Samoa Department of Education had previously voiced a request to expand its existing bachelor’s degree program in education, which was an ongoing partnership with UH for 45 years.

When UH agreed to expand the program, PACMED was born. It was initially established in American Samoa as a five-semester, 30-credit program geared to Pacific island educators and community leaders. Each class is assigned two instructors: a content expert and a place-based instructor, the latter of which is fluent in the class’ native language and understands local culture, political systems and educational standards, she said.

All classes are also delivered via Zoom and Google Classroom Suite to accommodate students who prefer to remain in their home communities.

“They’re all teachers, administrators or leaders and have full-time jobs during the day,” she said. “So they get to stay home and we bring (the classes) to them.”

With the students being far from UH campuses, each cohort is assigned a coordinator to ensure they don’t get lost in the system, she said. The coordinators guide their cohort through the program, streamlining processes like admissions, class registration and submitting graduation forms.

When Hilda Heine, president of the RMI at the time, heard of the program, she requested that it be made available in her country as well, Zuercher said. It was brought to RMI in 2018, and the program has also since expanded to be featured across Hawaii, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau, according to a UH Manoa news release.

For Theresa Kijiner, a PACMED student graduating this summer in RMI’s third cohort, the program helped her attain her master’s degree when traveling out of country to attain it proved difficult.

“I first attended University of Hawaii in Hilo, but it’s very expensive living there, especially with my whole family,” Kijiner said. “I had to take my kids, my husband, and it was a struggle.”

Even though the RMI government financed her schooling in Hilo, coordinating the tuition payments in time for class registration became complicated, and Kijiner found herself falling behind the rest of her classmates. After about a year, Kijiner gave up and returned to RMI, where she enrolled in PACMED.

There she was able to work as the RMI public school system’s national coordinator and associate commissioner for early childhood education while studying for her degree.

The program also requires students to incorporate their culture in the curriculum they create, Kijiner said. In her case this directive was carried out between herself and a group of classmates who were assigned to create a Marshallese children’s book. The completed book is slated to be published in about 100 copies, which Kijiner said will be distributed in RMI schools.

“It gives you the chance to explore further your own identity, your own culture and connect that to what you do in your work,” she said. “I’m a true believer that you can teach Western concepts and at the same time promote your own culture and language. And for me that’s very important.”

The program also connects students with past cohorts of the program in order to further support the students, in addition to providing dedicated class instructors. Newton Langidrik, another member of this summer’s graduating cohort, said this was one of the standout features throughout his experience.

“They provided a lot of examples on what we were expected to do,” Langidrik said. “Doing follow-ups and also just inspiring us and motivating us.”

Since PACMED was created, the program has seen a 100% student retention rate, Zuercher said, and it currently serves more than 250 graduate students.

Zuercher affectionately refers to the PACMED students as “agents of change,” viewing them as the world’s future leaders.

“We expect them to continue to research and make data-informed decisions about changes that need to be made,” she said. “Especially in confronting some of these issues like … health challenges, climate change, sea level rise, issues of sovereignty.”

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Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.