Ignite the Fire of Wisdom Within
“Peace is something that we all have to commit to building with whatever resources, networks, ideas and creativity we have — day after day, year after year.”
“We need to tell stories about the climate crisis that are not frightening but empowering–solutionary stories that remind us of our shared responsibility to one another and to the planet.”
“If we are not content with the stories we inherit, then we can write our own brave narratives of becoming.”
Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng is a peace educator, author, and global citizenship advocate whose life and work embody the thoughtful bridge-building at the heart of the Arete Youth Academy’s mission.
She is a Faculty Specialist in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She also serves as the University’s liaison to the Obama Foundation and works with the Foundation’s Leaders program and Global Girls Alliance on initiatives in Hawaiʻi and the Asia-Pacific region.
Previously, she was the Director of the Matsunaga Institute for Peace at the University of Hawaiʻi, where, in addition to leading outreach and development initiatives, she also taught Leadership for Social Change, Peace Movements, Peace Education, and Conflict Management. For many years, she worked at the University’s College of Education, where she taught Multicultural Education, Social Studies Methods, and Peace Education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.
Dr. Soetoro-Ng sits on several voluntary boards and is the Co-Founder of the non-profits Ceeds of Peace, The Peace Studio, and The Institute for Climate and Peace.
Her multicultural upbringing in Jakarta and Hawaiʻi, paired with her academic and community leadership, uniquely positions her to speak to issues of identity, conflict resolution, and interconnection across global communities. A longtime advocate for youth engagement, Maya has taught in public schools and alternative education settings in New York and Hawaiʻi, and remains deeply involved in initiatives that nurture youth-led civic action, cultural empathy, and resilience.
In addition to her educational work, Maya is a published author. Her children’s book Ladder to the Moon was inspired by her mother and daughter, weaving themes of heritage, healing, and intergenerational connection. In 2023, she co-authored The First Day of Peace, a picture book that speaks to climate justice, compassion, and community action. She is also working on a forthcoming young adult novel, Yellowwood, which explores the themes of war, peacebuilding, and healing.
Books
The First Day of Peace (2023), co-authored with Todd Shuster, is a children’s story about compassion, environmental responsibility, and shared humanity.
Ladder to the Moon (2011) – inspired by Maya’s mother and daughter, this poetic picture book explores intergenerational wisdom and hope.
Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids (2010) – Maya contributed the foreword to this celebrated collection exploring identity and multiracial belonging.
Yellowwood (Forthcoming) – a young adult novel in development, centered on identity, justice, and healing across cultural boundaries.
Other Appearances & Features
Artists as Catalyst Miami 2025 Cohort – meet the Peace Studio’s incredible storytellers and artists
Ka‘a I Ka Wiwo‘ole: Brave Enough from the Frontlines of Our Climate‑Resilient Futures – a 2024 ICP video showcasing BIPOC girls and women in Hawaiʻi building community resilience and climate justice through Indigenous knowledge, mentorship, and collective action.
Washington Post Interview (2023) – discussing The First Day of Peace and the deeper mission behind peace education.
PBS’s The Open Mind – interview on peacebuilding, storytelling, and the moral imagination.
100 Offerings of Peace – a global storytelling initiative launched through The Peace Studio in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Obama Foundation: Leaders Asia-Pacific Program – Maya helped design and facilitate leadership training for emerging young changemakers across the region.
Ceeds of Peace: Youth Talk Back – a community engagement program amplifying youth voices and civic action in Hawaiʻi.
Institute for Climate and Peace – Maya’s climate justice nonprofit integrating environmental stewardship with peace education.
Learn More
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Bill Taylor was the visionary founder of the original Arete West program, which ran from 1979 to 2017. Over the course of 40 years, he personally led students on 20 transformative journeys across the globe, inspiring hundreds of young people to pursue wisdom, leadership, and compassionate service. His encouragement helped spark the creation of the Arete Youth Academy, which carries forward his mission to empower youth through education. This scholarship fund ensures his legacy continues to shape future generations.
To designate your gift:
1. Visit our donation page.
2. Enter your donation amount and choose the “Give in honor or in memory of someone” option.
3. In the “Honoree’s Name” field, type “Bill Taylor Scholarship Fund”
Gifts to the Bill Taylor Scholarship Fund will be used to provide tuition support for one or more participants in each cohort—extending Bill’s spirit of mentorship and service to future generations.
We’ll send a personalized message to your honoree or their family, letting them know how their influence continues to empower youth through Arete.
In France, Creative Scholars will explore the humanistic tradition through Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, examining questions of justice, conscience, inequality, redemption, and the individual’s responsibility to society. Near Paris, students will return to the Literary House of Victor Hugo at the Château des Roches in Bièvres, which Daisaku Ikeda founded as an international center for literature, art, and cultural exchange. Through Hugo’s life and work, participants will consider how literature can challenge injustice and awaken compassion. Visits to Parisian cultural and historical sites, together with dialogue with French scholars and young people, will connect the ideals of nineteenth-century humanism to the challenges facing a new generation of global citizens.
In China, students will explore one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations while examining the relationship between Confucian humanism, collective responsibility, modernization, and global citizenship. In Beijing, Tu Weiming and Daisaku Ikeda’s New Horizons in Eastern Humanism will frame the dialogue on Chinese philosophy and the encounter between Eastern and Western thought, complemented by films such as Zhang Yimou’s To Live. Participants will engage in dialogue with students and scholars at Peking University and explore Beijing’s historical and contemporary life. A possible journey to Xi’an, the ancient capital and eastern gateway of the Silk Road, will illuminate centuries of exchange among Chinese, Buddhist, Islamic, and Central Asian civilizations.
In Italy, Creative Scholars will explore the evolution of Western humanism from the classical world through the Renaissance. In Florence, Dante’s Divine Comedy will provide a lens for examining moral choice, transformation, and the human journey, while Michelangelo’s David and Renaissance art will illuminate changing ideas of human dignity and potential. Students will also explore the life and legacy of Florence Nightingale, who was born in Florence in 1820, examining how compassion, disciplined learning, evidence, and service enabled her to transform nursing, professional education, and healthcare worldwide. In Rome, the legacy of the ancient world and the emergence of Christianity will be explored alongside Reza Aslan’s Jesus of Nazareth. In Naples, participants may collaborate with Scholas Occurrentes, engaging young people in dialogue around culture, community, human dignity, and the challenges facing their generation.
In Greece, students will walk in the footsteps of the world’s first philosophers—tracing the origins of inquiry, democracy, and the examined life. Standing in the Agora, where Socrates engaged young Athenians in fearless dialogue about virtue and truth, participants will reflect on how authentic conversation remains the heartbeat of human progress. Visits to the Parthenon, the Acropolis Museum, and the ruins of Aristotle’s Lyceum will anchor discussions on the birth of reason and the moral responsibilities of free thought. Key readings will include selections from Plato’s Apology and Republic, Pericles’ Funeral Oration, and Constantine Cavafy’s timeless poem Ithaka, urging travelers to cherish the inner journey as much as the destination. Students will also explore Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, reflecting on his vision of “eudaimonia”—a flourishing life achieved through virtue and self-mastery—and its relevance to modern global citizenship.
In Japan, Creative Scholars will explore courage, conscience, loyalty, and the complex relationship between individual character and responsibility to society. In Tokyo, students will examine Bushidō, the Meiji transformation, and Japan’s encounter with Western modernity, asking how a civilization can embrace change without losing its cultural identity. A journey to Kamakura and Tatsunokuchi will explore the near-execution of the influential 13th-century Japanese Buddhist teacher and reformer Nichiren, and his refusal to abandon his convictions as a case study in moral courage. The journey will then continue to Hiroshima, where the Peace Memorial Museum and dialogue with Japanese youth will provide a profound setting to examine war, militarism, nuclear destruction, historical memory, and reconciliation. Through stories such as diplomat Chiune Sugihara’s rescue of Jewish refugees during World War II, students will ultimately consider when conscience must transcend loyalty and how suffering can be transformed into a commitment to peace.
In India, Creative Scholars will explore the meeting of Buddhist, Islamic, and humanistic traditions and their shared search for compassion, dignity, and peace. In Delhi, Reza Aslan’s No god but God will explore Islam, including a possible visit to the shrine of Nizamuddin Auliya and a dialogue on Sufi traditions of love, service, and spiritual openness. Students will also visit Emperor Ashoka’s 3rd-century BCE Rock Edict and study the origins of Buddhism in ancient India, exploring its founding spirit of compassion, nonviolence, and inner transformation. The journey will culminate at Bal Ashram in Rajasthan, where Kailash Satyarthi’s Karuna: The Power of Compassion will guide dialogue and service learning alongside young people and members of the Satyarthi Global Compassion Movement, asking how wisdom and courage can ultimately be transformed into compassionate action.
In Athens, Creative Scholars will return to the intellectual origins of Arete itself, exploring what it means to pursue human excellence and live a good and meaningful life. Plato’s Dialogues and the ideas of Socrates and Aristotle will guide discussions of virtue, justice, democracy, truth, friendship, and civic responsibility. Visits to the Acropolis, the Agora, and other sites of ancient Athens will transform philosophical texts into lived encounters with the places where many of these ideas first emerged. Through dialogue with Greek students and scholars, participants will consider how ancient questions about character, citizenship, and human flourishing can illuminate the challenges confronting democracy and global society today.