Growing Leaders Who Give Back

Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders

At the Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders (CTL), young people are encouraged to see leadership not simply as achievement, but as a responsibility to their community. With support from the Takitani Foundation, five students received scholarships to participate in the CTL Fellows program, where they learned alongside Hawaiʻi leaders, carried out service projects, and developed leadership skills grounded in character, courage, humility, and community. Foundation support also provided college scholarships for graduating seniors whose student-led projects were recognized through CTL’s Project of the Year, creating opportunities for young people to turn what they are learning into meaningful action.

This year’s winning project, Breaking Barriers, Building Friendships, grew from students’ desire to create places where young people with special needs could feel welcomed and celebrated. Through inclusive community gatherings and a special-needs prom open to students across the island, the project centered belonging and connection. Reflecting on the experience, the students shared, “Everyone deserves to feel seen, valued, and included. Inclusion is not a one-time effort or project; it is a mindset we carry forward.”

That same sense of responsibility was echoed by the Fellows as they reflected on their own growth. One student captured the spirit of the program simply: “To ask myself, not just what I’m taking, but what I’m giving back.” By making the Fellows experience accessible regardless of a student’s ability to pay and recognizing youth-led projects that respond to community needs, Takitani Foundation support helps young people grow into leaders who are prepared not only for what comes next in their own lives, but to contribute meaningfully to Hawaiʻi along the way.