Under the direction of R. Keawe Lopes, Jr., Hālau Ka Lā ʻŌnohi Mai O Haʻehaʻe won the 2023 Merrie Monarch Festival. A Hawaiian language professor and the director of the Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language at the Hawaiʻinuākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, Lopes earned both an MEdT and PhD from the College of Education.

Lopesʻs daughter Piʻikea Kekīhenelehuawewehiikekauʻōnohi Lopes, who is a current MEdT student, was Miss Aloha Hula at the 2022 Merrie Monarch Festival. She belongs to the award-winning Hālau led by her parents Keawe and Tracie Lopes who also holds an MEdT from the college and was Miss Aloha Hula in 1994.

Read the UH News story about Kumu Hula R. Keawe Lopes, Jr.