In this season of gratitude, one student is finding a way to inspire hope and healing for both people and the planet. Mari Dela Cruz ’26 has combined her love for Hawaiʻi’s ʻāina and her passion for mental wellbeing into a project that encourages gratitude, fosters awareness, and takes action to address climate change.
With events such as the recent Maui wildfires in Lahaina to the hurricanes causing great damage to the Southeastern United States, students are keenly aware that climate change is quickly becoming more harmful to the lives of many on these islands, in the nation, and the world. Dela Cruz said, “The damage that climate change could continue to cause is a frightening thought, making it easy to understand why many individuals around the world are experiencing ‘climate anxiety’ – fears around what the future of a warming planet could bring to the table.”
Dela Cruz is combating this problem through her “Aloha Āina Ambassadors ” initiative. Through this project, she hopes to improve the mental health and emotional wellbeing of the younger generation of Hawai‘i while increasing awareness and taking action on the climate change issue by instilling and encouraging gratitude and acts of aloha towards our ʻāina.
With guidance from Yolanda Lau ‘98, director of the Case Accelerator for Student Entrepreneurship (CASE), Dela Cruz began researching the positive effects expressing gratitude can have on the mental wellbeing of the daily lives of people. Lau coached Dela Cruz to use generative artificial intelligence to brainstorm project ideas that combined Dela Cruz’s own interests, ideas and goals and then to iterate with the AI to refine the ideas. Ultimately, Dela Cruz developed a unique project that reflects her passions and personality.
Dela Cruz’s project aims to work with students to write gratitude letters to “Mother Earth,” in which students could write and draw about one thing they love about planet Earth, and then write one thing they pledged to do to take care of the environmental thing they listed. She hopes that through this, students can become more aware of how beautiful the land is and how lucky we are to live here in Hawaiʻi, help to improve improve overall mental wellbeing of students surrounding climate change through writing with gratitude, and instill a core belief in students to realize that they truly could make a difference in the environment and preserve it for future generations.
Recently, she worked with 48 fifth graders in Stephanie Lum Yee (who was one of Dela Cruz’s elementary school teachers) and Jan Murakami ‘86 Furuta’s joint class to teach them about the importance of gratitude. She had each student write their own letters to the environment. Students enjoyed writing about their love for the beaches, mountains to hike on, and plants that help give them air to breathe.
Dela Cruz hopes to showcase the letters of these students to the Punahou, Hawaiʻi and global community to serve as a beacon of hope that others can look at to get the same impact the students got out of writing these leaders: an appreciation and sense of kūleana to take care of the ‘āina.
Lum Yee said, “It was wonderful to see a former student continue to work diligently and advocate for meaningful issues while also inspiring the next generation of learners. Having the opportunity to work on this project with my students was an incredibly rewarding experience. What I found particularly powerful was how the project combined elements of mindfulness, cultural appreciation and environmental stewardship in a way that felt very personal and accessible to the students. It gave them a chance to slow down and reflect, something that many of them don’t often have time to do in their busy lives. It also sparked thoughtful conversations about sustainability and the importance of taking care of the land for future generations. The focus on gratitude, connection to the land and emotional well-being created a powerful space for students to reflect on their own lives and the environment they are so fortunate to be a part of.”
Dela Cruz’s project was launched through the recently reestablished Project Accelerator, a program of the CASE with Lau. The Project Accelerator was originally designed as a summer school course, which debuted in 2023. For 2024 – 2025, Lau redeveloped it into a program to provide high-quality support and guidance to all our budding entrepreneurs while fostering a collaborative community of like-minded students. The Project Accelerator emphasizes a triple-bottom-line mindset, considering people, planet and profit in all entrepreneurial endeavors – including for-profit ventures as well as nonprofit initiatives like Dela Cruz’s.
Dela Cruz shared, “The Project Accelerator provided me with invaluable advice and guidance to help me turn my many ideas into a reality, and allow me to create an impactful solution to give back to Hawaiʻi and instill a sense of hope in this generation that we truly can create a healthier planet and future.”
Her project was also recently accepted into the 2024 – 2025 Hawaiʻi Youth Sustainability Challenge with KUPU and Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation, which provides funding and guidance for students working to create projects to conserve the environment of Hawaiʻi and increase sustainability awareness. She hopes to use this program to expand her project outside of Punahou, and make more impact in Hawaiʻi and beyond.
Lau, who also taught Dela Cruz in a fourth and fifth grade robotics course years before mentoring her through CASE, said, “I feel honored to work with innovative and thoughtful student entrepreneurs like Mari. The next generation holds the key to both hope and healing in the face of climate change – and a world of uncertainty and rapid change. Watching Mari grow from a curious fifth grader to a passionate leader fills me with pride and confidence for our collective future. Mari’s journey embodies the values of compassion, creativity, kuleana and leadership that we aim to nurture in all our students.”