More than 9,000 feet up majestic Maunakea is where you’ll find Alika Toledo and his crew on weekdays. The longtime employee of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Center for Maunakea Stewardship (CMS) oversees access to the summit through road grading and snow clearing operations, as well as facilities maintenance of the visitor information center and Halepōhaku, a facility at the mid-level elevation on the mauna.
“It’s a privilege for me to work up here. It’s unique, it’s special, and there’s no other place like it,” said Toledo, who refers to Maunakea as God’s country.
When Toledo, a UH Hilo alumnus, is not working, his love for a game that jetted him into the spotlight as a young teenager isn’t very far. For the past 11 years, he’s coached the boys golf team at his alma mater, Waiākea High School. In his senior year in 1984, he won the individual state title leading Waiākea to the team title. This year, the Waiākea Warriors won the state high school championship and came in fifth at the PGA High School Golf National Invitational in Frisco, Texas.
“My players Dysen Park, Mike Lopez, Noah Otani, Ryder Ng, Jake Otani and Laʻa Kaawaloa-Okita all come with very supportive families, which makes coaching so much easier,” Toledo explained. “This team has been successful for a bunch of reasons this year. Their school, their parents and loved ones, their community and their competitiveness and positivity for each other, which is so hard to find nowadays, was key to their success.”
Two of Toledo’s award-winning players are attending UH campuses this year. This fall, Lopez began his very first semester at UH Mānoa. Park is studying at UH Hilo on a golf scholarship.
Thankful for opportunities
Toledo’s push hard approach he ingrains into his players is the same recipe applied to his very own career. The Hawaiʻi Island native has worked for CMS’ Maunakea Shared Services department for nine years.
Born and raised on the Hilo side of the state’s largest island, Toledo recalls job opportunities that came and eventually faded when sugar plantations closed on Hawaiʻi Island. Alika and his wife Lacey share six boys and a daughter together. He is thankful that the arrival of the state’s astronomy sector in the 1960s provided employment opportunities on his island, everything from food services and engineering to native plant restoration.
Astronomy is responsible for more than 600 jobs on Hawaiʻi Island and generates $102 million annually for the island economy, according to a 2019 UH Economic Research Organization report.
Toledo expresses his fascination with mysteries astronomers on Maunakea unlock far beyond the Milky Way.
“We have the best platform in the world to put a telescope, and to have the clearance of the galaxies and of everything else that is out there. Besides bringing in jobs to the island, it’s that special,” said Toledo.
