Welcome to Making Waves Mondays! As part of our year-long celebration, “Making Waves: 70 Years of Pacific Islands Studies,” we will feature a #CPISgraduate who is out in the world and putting their Pacific Islands Studies training to work. Check us out every Monday in 2020 for our featured Making Waves Monday graduate!
Today’s Making Waves Monday graduate is Vehia Wheeler (CPIS MA, 2018). Born and raised in the ahupua’a of Waiau on the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i, and with roots tracing to Mo’orea, Tahiti and Mangareva, Gambier Islands, she has strong relations to these islands and ocean. Her upbringing has instilled a passion for healthy and balanced (pono) environments, which led her to be a trained Urban Planner in Pacific Environmental Planning from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa (UHM). Vehia centers indigenous knowledges of her tupuna, the indigenous people from Tahiti. Her work varies from community volunteering with local environmental organizations in Mo’orea to research with UHM and University of French Polynesia.
![Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, standing, tree and outdoor](https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/s960x960/82413902_3038991599468378_5678668298342891520_o.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_ohc=5jImtmHHhHoAQnXoeObV4HhA71bqisHu0hLly_NlIBhmEM8fN-mS-l5Kw&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.xx&_nc_tp=1&oh=a51bb1a7856fa47069901abb485a2199&oe=5ED973E5)
Vehia currently lives on Mo’orea. She tries to appreciate her family, the trees around her and the surrounding ocean on a daily basis. She is a private environmental consultant in Tahiti, and volunteers with local non-profits that focus on the environment and Tahitian culture.
Looking back on her time at CPIS, Vehia notes “I can trace my ignited passion for Oceania to Professors Noenoe Silva and Terence Wesley-Smith at UHM while studying for my undergraduate degree. Through their teachings, I really began to understand my ancestral connection to place, and the politics of Oceania. I am forever grateful for what I’ve learned through CPIS, and it has brought me live in Tahiti and do work here, focusing on environmental and political justice. I hope you guys are doing great! I continue to follow CPIS through social media, and love the work you folks continue to do!!”
Mahalo, Vehia, for all your contributions!
Know of a CPIS graduate out there making waves? Send us a private message with your nominations for Making Waves Mondays! #CPIS70#MakingWaves2020#CPISgraduates#CPISintheCommunity#CPISintheRegion