In this talk, we will explore the ways in which Pacific Islander Students learned how to understand and engage with their isolation and alienation from school to eventually transform it into a place of discovery and meaningfulness. Building against the historical contexts of imperialism as well as the structural forms of domination that students lived through, we will touch on the values of collective work and cultural activism that Pacific Islanders and their allies enhanced to enable resistance and institutional change. We will learn what it meant to embrace the ocean in their school. This talk will then be followed by a discussion with the audience.