Student Highlight: Eliana Massey

Eliana Massey, a student in their final year at the University of Utah majoring in Philosophy of Science and museum studies, has been working on a capstone project developing a curriculum on culturally significant plants and foods that connect the Pacific Islands and the Americas for Pacific Heritage Academy (PHA), a K-8 charter school in Rose Park. Eliana’s capstone project was inspired by the Roots program by the Utah Pacific Islander Health Coalition's Healthy, which supports local Pacific Islander families in growing their food. Eliana’s hope for this project is to make the lives of the heritage teachers at Pacific Heritage Academy easier and for students to learn about how their communities' histories are intertwined through plants and food. On top of this, Eliana hopes that their curriculum might strengthen future grant applications for more resources at Pacific Heritage Academy.

This project has been a major opportunity for Eliana to learn more about their heritage as she is a multiracial Native Hawaiian and Mexican American while applying her curriculum and program development skills. Out of this project, Eliana has had the opportunity to foster relationships with local Pacific Islander community leaders and is excited to see what relationships come out of this project in the future. Despite various challenges faced when implementing this project, Eliana persevered and redirected her project to fit the community's needs.

In the future, Eliana hopes to continue her education in a graduate program. After that, they are hoping to work in an informal education space like a museum, library, or nature/cultural center.