ʻŌiwi Builders:
From Idea to App
with Jaden Kapali
What if the next app built for our lāhui was built by you?
Not someday. This week.
Our kūpuna were builders. They didn't wait for someone else to solve their community's problems. This workshop is that same kuleana in a new form.
In ʻŌiwi Builders, you'll learn from Jaden Kapali, a Kamehameha Schools alum who now builds tools and applications rooted in Hawaiian values at Purple Maiʻa Foundation in Hilo. No coding background required. No tech experience needed. Just an idea worth launching.
The core skill you'll develop is designing a solution and directing AI to build it. Before you write a single prompt, you'll find a real problem and learn what they actually need. Then you'll learn to turn that understanding into prompts that produce exactly what you imagined. Through the ʻŌiwi Edge Innovation Process, you'll move from the first spark of an idea to a working product ready to share with your community. You'll:
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Learn to craft prompts that direct AI to build exactly what you imagine
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Ideate, scope, and plan a real product through user stories and prototypes
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Build a functioning app, game, or digital tool, then test and iterate it
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Present and launch your work for a real audience at our hōʻike
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You'll leave with a working product you built yourself and prompting skills that transfer to any AI platform, any industry, any idea.
Because every app on your phone was built by someone who started with just an idea.
Now you're that person.
Dates:
Workshop Days: Oct 5, 7, 8, 9, 2026
Time: 8:00 AM–3:00 PM
Grade Levels: 6–12
Max Participants: 15
Jaden Kapali
Full Stack Developer | AI Technologist | ʻŌiwi Builder
Jaden Kapali is a Kamehameha Schools alum and full stack developer at Purple Maiʻa Foundation in Hilo, where he designs and builds technology rooted in Hawaiian values and Indigenous innovation.
He holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, alongside a Certificate in Data Visualization and Communication and a Certificate in Creative Writing: a rare combination that shapes how he thinks about building tools that are not just functional, but meaningful.
His work spans full-stack web development, AI and machine learning applications, data visualization, and culturally grounded digital tools. Among his most significant projects is the Kūʻē Petition website, which allows users to search the names of Native Hawaiians who opposed annexation and connect those names to their own moʻokūʻauhau. It is technology in direct service of genealogy, identity, and lāhui.
At Purple Maiʻa Foundation, Jaden leads technology projects focused on Indigenous data sovereignty and regenerative ʻāina-based solutions. He has mentored interns, led projects from prototype to launch, and helped grow the next generation of builders in Hawaiʻi's tech ecosystem. His approach to AI is grounded and purposeful: asking not just what a tool can do, but who it serves and why it matters.
Jaden doesn't just write code. He builds tools that know where they come from.
