The kūpuna have called Melissa “Missy” Momi-Lani Boyanton, 27, to the ʻāina.
Hawaiʻi isn’t home in the same sense as her drizzly birthplace, Renton, Washington, or the swampy suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana, where she grew up. But it is her motherland – the place where her grandmother waded in East Maui loʻi and where generations thrived before her.
This July, Boyanton will follow in their footsteps, making the leap from Miami, Florida, to Hilo. She’s accepted a school psychology internship at the Kaʻū-Keaʻau-Pāhoa Complex Area, where she aspires to uplift Kānaka Maoli students among others.
“The American education system was imposed upon our people,” Boyanton said. “The systems need to change to better respect and integrate our values, especially on the islands.”
Her next steps are a childhood wish coming true.
Boyanton was raised in a traditional nuclear family of four. She glowingly referred to her father, Carl Boyanton, as “the epitome of a Southern man.” Her mother, Heidi Ululani Goodall Boyanton, is primarily of Kānaka and white descent, although her great-grandfather emigrated from China to work in Hawaiʻi.
Boyanton, the youngest of two, spent her earliest years toddling behind her older sister. She was only a keiki when her ʻohana left Renton for a yearlong stint in Diamondhead, Mississippi, before settling down in Slidell, Louisiana.
She felt grateful for the insulation of her close-knit neighborhood where kids romped outside, set up lemonade stands, and chased after the ice cream truck. Boyanton said it was “just joy.”
But “as much as I loved growing up in the South, there obviously was not a big Hawaiian community,” Boyanton said. “I was always kind of chasing my Hawaiian identity.”
Born with blonde hair like her father, she didn’t feel like she looked Kanaka. Though her tresses darkened over time, the sentiment stuck. Still, she can recall pidgin words slipped into conversations at home. Boyanton leaned on her inoa Hawaiʻi for grounding.
Her dad, who owned a produce company, worked grueling hours almost every day. Her mom balanced an accounting job at the family business with parenting demands, packing lunches and dropping the girls off at extracurriculars.
Though Boyanton painted herself as an anxious and shy child, she found outlets for expression – including a budding sense of humor. She swam competitively from a young age, and, for 15 years, she chased after balls on soccer fields. Boyanton learned how to play piano and tried her hand at the violin.
Life took a turn when the middle schooler explored the attic of her home, rummaging through boxes. Boyanton found a dusty psychology textbook. Her mom had hoped to be a psychologist, and she’d stowed the book away.
Boyanton inherited that dream.
She described her four years at Slidell’s Pope John Paul II Catholic High School as “formative.” Boyanton looked forward to her literature and art classes, painting in her bedroom late into the night.
After graduating in 2016, she started college at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge before transferring to the Lone Star State’s Houston Community College. But she really hit her stride when she landed at Northwestern State University of Louisiana in Natchitoches.
“It was everything I wanted it to be,” Boyanton said.
The small-town undergraduate experience served as the launchpad for her psychology career. In the pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in psychology and addiction studies, she seized opportunities in her field. Boyanton served as an administrative and research assistant at her school’s counseling center, and she drove to nearby Winnfield, Louisiana, to work with children with disabilities as a registered behavioral health technician.
She also embraced leadership roles, presiding over both the psychology club and the local Psi Chi International Honor Society.
After earning her degree in 2020, Boyanton debated her next steps. She decided to move in with her sister in Washington, D.C., in 2021 and enjoyed a gap year.
“When I think about my favorite time in life, it was my time spent in D.C.,” Boyanton said.
It was work and play: She took on roles as a therapy aide at a clinic and a test development assistant at Cambium Assessment, along with an internship as a grant researcher and writer at Empowerment through Integration, a global nonprofit.
Boyanton also touched Hawaiian soil for the first time that year when she traveled to Kauaʻi. “You can just feel the mana,” she said.
Miami, Florida, beckoned in 2022 when she decided to pursue her master’s degree in school psychology.
While learning at Barry University, she worked as a psychometric research associate at Cambium Assessment and a learning specialist under a school psychologist. A work trip on Oʻahu helped Boyanton begin to bridge the gap between her Hawaiian identity and her career ambitions.
After graduating in 2024, Boyanton went on to enroll at Florida International University for her specialist’s degree in school psychology, which she will complete in May 2027.
Like kalo, Boyanton has unfurled her lau.
She worked as an adjunct instructor and teaching assistant in psychology courses. She published several academic papers, including one with a Kanaka school psychologist on supporting Native Hawaiian adolescents. She served as president of her university’s school psychology student association. Boyanton presented at conferences and took on roles within the National Association of School Psychologists, representing the Pacific Islander faction.
As she prepares for her move from Miami to Hilo, Boyanton said, “I am more rooted now in my Hawaiian identity than ever. Less than 1% of school psychologists identify as Native Hawaiian, so I’m happy to be a part of that.”
Author’s note: Melissa Momi-Lani Boyanton is the sister of Ka Wai Ola writer Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton.
