Spring 2026 graduate Leilani Badamo chose UH Hilo for agriculture program’s focus on sustainability
As someone personally involved in the diaspora of Native Hawaiians, Leilani Badamo returned to reconnect with the culture and ka ʻāina. She’s about to start her new job at USDA conducting research on Native Hawaiian plants.
By Lauren Aoki/UH Hilo Stories.
University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo spring 2026 graduate Leilani Badamo’s curiosity about land and the origin of her food led her to look back at her own beginnings.
Though she was born in Honolulu and grew up visiting family in Waiʻanae, Badamo was primarily raised in Long Island, New York. As someone personally involved in the ongoing diaspora of Native Hawaiians, she became interested in returning to Hawaiʻi, not only to reconnect with the culture for herself, but for her daughter as well.
“I wanted to return to Hawaiʻi to raise my keiki here so she would become more deeply connected to her roots and be closer to our ʻohana on Oʻahu,” says the new spring graduate now with her UH Hilo bachelor’s degree in agriculture. “As a kānaka ʻōiwi raised in diaspora, I wanted to provide her something that I did not have, so we could both deepen our relationship with our culture and ka ʻāina.”
In 2019, she visited Hawaiʻi Island to see a friend who farmed; that experience inspired Badamo in her decision to return. From there, she chose UH Hilo for its agriculture program’s focus on sustainability and natural resource management.
An influence on her decision to major in agriculture came from researching a macrobiotic diet for a family friend with pancreatic cancer. While studying traditional Japanese diet and lifestyle, she learned the positive effects of unprocessed food.
“I began to understand how impactful eating a healthy, unprocessed diet could be to human health and I wanted to learn as much as I could about growing food to keep myself, family, and community healthy,” she says.
The importance of internships
During her pursuit of the agricultural degree, Badamo participated in the Kīpuka Native Hawaiian Student Center’s Hoʻolana Career Development and Internship Program, which supported her wish to serve her community through encouraging healthy foods and lifestyles. Through Hoʻolana, she interned in two separate labs.
In Professor of Biology Jon Awaya’s lab, she extracted and analyzed the DNA of amoeba and non-tuberculosis cyanobacteria from soil samples. In Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Leng Chee Chang’s lab, she studied the health benefits of Native Hawaiian herbs and plants used in the traditional healing practice of lāʻau lapaʻau. Badamo is deeply grateful for these experiences and emphasizes the importance of internships in student success.
“Internships such as these allow students to build their network, relationships, and explore career opportunities before graduating,” she says.
University service
Also as an undergraduate, Badamo herself created opportunities for her fellow students.
“One of my main goals was to provide more resources to CAFNRM students for volunteer, internship, and employment opportunities and I am glad to say that through the past year I successfully met that goal,” she says.
To achieve her goals, she served as a student senator representing the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management (CAFNRM) in the UH Hilo Student Association (UHHSA), where she was co-chair of the Student Basic Needs Committee.
In one of her highly effective projects as senator, she collaborated with the Agriculture Club to create UHHSA’s Student Basic Needs Produce Giveaway program to give away food that was grown hydroponically by students at the agriculture college’s farm in Panaʻewa.
“Over the last year, I was able to coordinate and operate weekly produce giveaway program that was supported by the UH Hilo hydroponics class and partnership with The Locavore Store,” she says.
Badamo also developed other programs to better students’ academic experience, such as the ʻUlu & Self-Care Workshop, the Kōkua & Kaiāulu Produce Giveaway, and the agriculture college’s Connection Day for Professional Networking.
A future supporting her community’s health and well-being
Looking back at her time at UH Hilo, Badamo is amazed and proud at all she’s done, especially while balancing work, school, and family responsibility as a single parent. She’s not only done it well, but done it spectacularly. She graduated this spring on the Dean’s List.
The budding agriculture scientist has already established her plans once she leaves UH Hilo. She’s starting a research position with the U. S. Department of Agriculture where she will continue researching Native Hawaiian plants to support her community’s health and well-being.
Story by Lauren Aoki, who graduated this spring with a degree in English and a minor in anthropology at UH Hilo. She served as literary editor at the university’s student publications Kanilehua and Hohonu.
