Former President Barack Obama ’79 spoke earlier this year at an event at the East-West Center at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, addressing 21 fellows who took part in the Obama Foundation’s Asia-Pacific Leaders Program. The program – launched in 2018 to help the next generation of leaders better engage and serve their communities – was held in Honolulu, because of Obama’s deep ties to the Islands. “Whenever I meet young people who are already making a difference, I am inspired, and I am confident about the future,” Obama said at the event. “They will transform and solve the problems that we face. But we’ve got to want to see them succeed and invest in them in ways that, frankly, we don’t always do.”