ABOUT PISA NATIONAL
National Pacific Islander Student Association (PISA) is the national arm to connect, resource and spotlight PISA student-clubs across America’s colleges and universities.
Similar to the Black Student Union and MEChA, PISA is the student-affinity group for Pacific Islanders across America’s two and four year colleges and universities. Since the first student-club was founded in 1980 at Cal State Long Beach, over 150 PISA clubs have emerged across the continental U.S, Hawai’i and U.S territories.
Through its major partnerships, PISA National leads the Blue Pacific Youth Coalition, a bi-Pacific network within the Blue Pacific Strategy Group that aims to build sustainable pathways between the Pacific and the U.S Pacific diaspora, providing the highest quality of community service and cultural impact for all Pacific Islander peoples.
PISA National Links the Blue Pacific Region to the U.S Pacific Diaspora.
Historically, Pacific Islander identity, values and cultural practices are tied and preserved by our relation to land, sea, and physical proximity to one another. The movement of people, mostly through migration and relocation, has interrupted and obstructed indigenous methods of cultural preservation and community development. Hence, Pacific Islander diasporic communities have emerged within the social melting pots and cultural ambiguity of America, leaving identity, values and cultural practices to now be experienced through a social construction reflected by dominant culture, place and space.
In light of the soft power repertoire and the recent Congressional amendment allowing the American government to consult the domestic public on matters of foreign affairs and international diplomacy, there is a unique opportunity to unify Pacific Islanders on both sides of the Pacific and embrace a renaissance of cultural identity, education, and knowledge exchange through our Blue Pacific Pathways Project project focus areas.