GENESIS

Princeton Pono Pathways began with a simple recognition: Princeton students needed more opportunities to engage meaningfully with Indigenous communities and to learn from their histories, values, and ways of knowing. The program was created by students who had experienced the transformative power of community-based learning and wanted to build a structured path for others to connect with Indigenous-led work through service, education, and reflection.

From the beginning, the program's founder, Ruxandra Iosif, has been intentional in acknowledging that she is not Native Hawaiian or Indigenous. For that reason, her hope has always been for the program to be shaped by the guidance and reflections of the community members who generously shared their knowledge with her. Her role is simply to support and to make space for others to lead.

The idea for Princeton Pono Pathways took root during Ruxandra's sophomore spring semester, when she studied abroad in Australia and New Zealand. It was the first time she had the opportunity to learn about Aboriginal, Māori, and broader Pacific Islander cultures. Growing up in Ploiești, Romania, she had never been exposed to these histories or had the chance to engage with these communities. Her own upbringing, shaped by the lasting effects of Romania's post-communist transition, helped her recognize similarities between authoritarian regimes and the legacies of colonialism across the Pacific.

She saw how both systems of power had worked to erase cultural identities, displace communities, and leave behind long-term structural harm. At the same time, she was deeply moved by the resilience, pride, and strength of the communities she encountered. In her research, she began learning about the Hawaiian Renaissance, a powerful cultural and political movement that revitalized Native Hawaiian language, traditions, and identity in the face of colonization and U.S. annexation. She studied how Native Hawaiians have continued to resist erasure through grassroots organizing, land stewardship, education, and cultural preservation.

For her, learning about this history was not just an academic exercise. It revealed how stories of resilience can offer other communities the language, inspiration, and models they need to reclaim sovereignty, heal from injustice, and build futures rooted in their own values. These moments of learning stayed with her and made her want to help other Princeton students access similar experiences—ones shaped by humility, care, and the leadership of communities who continue to resist and rebuild on their own terms.

Having grown and been supported at Princeton in ways she never expected, Ruxandra felt a deep responsibility to give back. She wanted to support communities that had lived through histories that echoed her own family's experience, and to encourage students to learn from perspectives they might otherwise never encounter. When she discovered the extensive network of Native Hawaiian and ally-led organizations in Hawaiʻi, and learned that Princeton funding required programming to occur within U.S. territories, the vision for Princeton Pono Pathways began to take shape.

The Native Hawaiian value of pono is at the heart of Princeton Pono Pathways. More than just a word, pono reflects a worldview grounded in balance, integrity, and a deep sense of what is just and aligned. It speaks to the idea that every element of life — people, land, water, and spirit — has its place and purpose, and that harmony comes from supporting things to exist as they are meant to. Pono is not about personal perfection but about restoring and sustaining collective balance, especially in the face of harm, displacement, or disconnection.

It was one of the first Hawaiian words Ruxandra learned, and one she immediately fell in love with for its simplicity, its depth, and the way it captured everything she hoped the program would stand for. The name and logo of the program both draw from this principle. Just as the logo brings together water, fire, and native fauna to reflect interconnected forces, the program itself weaves together learning, service, and reflection to help students engage with care, clarity, and respect.

Pono is a reminder that this work is not about leading or fixing but about listening, supporting, and showing up in ways that honor the people and places that welcome us. Every part of the program, from shared housing to internships and community work, is built on the belief that justice lives in relationships and that learning becomes most meaningful when it is rooted in humility, accountability, and long-term commitment.

Looking to the future, Ruxandra hopes that Native students at Princeton—especially Pacific Islanders—will feel inspired and empowered to take the program forward in their own ways. She also hopes that more students will come to see the deep value in learning from Indigenous knowledge and stories, and that this program can be one small part of a broader shift toward more inclusive and grounded education at Princeton.