Local environmentalist and educator reports on YPL TechCamp

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — TechCamp for the Young Pacific Leaders for Climate Action workshop took place in Auckland, New Zealand, Oct. 28 - 31. Here, 50 leaders from 15 Pacific island nations gathered to gain more insight and capacity building to learn technical expertise applicable to address various global challenges.

The TechCamp consisted of several interactive workshops from trainers across the globe, ranging from Columbia to India and even to American Samoa. The sessions began with a round of “SpeedGeeking,” a concept similar to speed dating, where the participants sped through 5-minute introduction sessions with each TechCamp trainer to get a bit of a preview of their sessions. 

Local environmentalist Dr. Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka was invited to lead as one of the seven workshop facilitators. For this SpeedGeeking portion of the program, Suluai-Mahuka shared her experience as an educator and nonprofit founder and also shared a video reel by the Finafinau National Student Council President, Bainivalu Davetawalu. The video was well-received by the TechCamp participants as it highlighted the educational and cultural values of youth leadership in environmental advocacy as well as youth-centered activities.

Suluai-Mahuka offered a course entitled “Impactful Instruction: STEAM education for Pacific Islands” which outlined various strategies to revamp institutional curriculum to incorporate STEAM education with place-based learning and cultural values. The course also showcased how to meet the school system’s standards and benchmarks for environmental education and emphasize necessary learning such as using local research to fuel student/youth created products to showcase classroom learning and promote awareness.

Here, Suluai-Mahuka shared resources and examples of the curriculum that allowed her to be the first American Samoan to win the USEPA Presidential Innovative Environmental Education Award for Region 9 so that other nations may replicate the blended curriculum. The main objective of the session targeted the importance of investing in the education of our youth to not only honor the knowledge of our ancestors, but also include that knowledge in current classroom instruction to pave the path for future generations. In sum, the workshop promoted intergenerational learning to leverage community involvement and partnerships to fill the gap that may exist in the current offerings of STEAM education in Pacific communities.

Suluai-Mahuka served as one of seven trainers at the Young Pacific Leaders TechCamp in Auckland, New Zealand. [courtesy photo]

In one instance, Vanuatu community leader Joanna Wari had the opportunity to work one-on-one with Suluai-Mahuka, where they outlined the issue of deforestation and how to leverage the education system to address this challenge. Wari had shared that one of the barriers for STEAM education in her community was that there was a lot of discussion about climate issues but not enough action. Together, Wari and Suluai-Mahuka devised a strategy to work with nonprofit organizations, governmental departments, and community elders to incorporate youth-centered activities that were more proactive than reactive measures towards climate action. This advocacy strategy focused on utilizing community networks to supplement classroom learning with instruction that promoted STEAM education with emphasis on reviving cultural skills and traditions. 


Suluai-Mahuka shared “Since 2019, I’ve always been a participant of the Young Pacific Leaders (YPL) events and now, being a trainer at TechCamp has been an even more phenomenal experience. One of the best highlights is having the opportunity to network with so many amazing people, and I also get to share the triumphs that are happening in American Samoa. It’s been such an honor to not only represent my territory, but to also the opportunity to share my passion for youth leadership and environmental advocacy. In this space, I get to share my story as an educator and also the founder of Finafinau with the hope that my story resonates with others, where they might feel inspired to do the same in their communities.”

This TechCamp was a public diplomacy program hosted by the Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State as well as the office of Cultural Vistas.

The U.S. Embassy & Consulate in New Zealand shared “Following the workshop, TechCamp participants will incorporate learning and technologies to implement seed grant-funded projects to mobilize climate change stakeholders in their communities.” All 50 workshop participants will have the opportunity to compete for funding up to $8,000 USD to fuel their individual community projects for climate action.