As a Kamehameha Schools student in the early 1980s, Michael K. Naho'opi'i was a member of the first group of children to be permitted onto Kaho'olawe while it was still under military control.

But it wasn't until he returned to the bomb-scarred island more than 10 years later as a Navy lieutenant that he experienced a cultural awakening.

Naho'opi'i, 43, is the newly appointed executive director of the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission, where he is balancing the management skills he acquired in the Navy with the mandate to integrate Native Hawaiian cultural concerns into all facets of the agency's operations.

"I still embrace the military stuff. It's a certain way of thinking, and sometimes you need both," he said.

Commission Chairman Dr. Noa Emmett Aluli praised Naho'opi'i's skills as a project manager and his background in fund development, which is of increasing importance to the agency as it seeks to protect a trust fund set aside for restoration of Kaho'olawe.

"Mike also understands how to develop and implement strategy and how to track and measure results. He is very familiar with us, our programs and work that we do, and he knows Kaho'olawe," he said.

Aluli first met Naho'opi'i in 1981 when the Kamehameha-Kapalama student was on a four-day trip to Kaho'olawe with classmates. The trip was organized by Charles P.M.K. "Doc" Burrows, another commission member.

Naho'opi'i said that after the high school excursion, he put aside thoughts of Kaho'olawe while pursuing a westernized education focused on science and math. After graduating from Kamehameha in 1982, he won enrollment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

He received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and was commissioned an ensign in 1986. Six years later, Naho'opi'i earned a master's of business administration in accounting from Chaminade University.

While working as a nuclear submarine training officer at Pearl Harbor in 1993, Naho'opi'i was approached by Adm. W.A. Retz, commander of Naval Base Pearl Harbor, to serve as officer-in-charge of the Navy's Kaho'olawe project. At the time, the military was in the process of conveying the island to the state.

Naho'opi'i accepted the challenge and became the first Native Hawaiian naval officer ever assigned to Kaho'olawe.

In his new post, he commanded a "Seabee" Naval Construction Battalion Unit responsible for operation and maintenance of the base camp at Honokanai'a Bay on the southwest end of the island, and Navy compliance with a 1980 consent decree with the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana, a grassroots group that fought to reclaim the island. He also was deeply involved in the Navy's $400 million ordnance removal project completed in 2004.

In his first years on Kaho'olawe, Naho'opi'i would stay 10 days a month while his unit performed ordnance sweeps, eradicated goats, conducted plantings and assisted in scientific studies. As the Navy's liaison to the 'Ohana, Naho'opi'i also spent a lot of time with the group at its camp at Hakioawa Bay on the north side of the island, where he reconnected with his native culture.

"It was really an awakening," he said.

Naho'opi'i began dancing hula and has since competed at six Merrie Monarch Festivals, three with kumu hula Holoua Stender's Ka Pa Hula o Kamehameha, and three with Ka Pa Hula o Ka Lei Lehua, under the direction of kumu hula Snowbird Bento.

Under the tutelage of Auntie Gladys Grace, Naho'opi'i also became an expert in lauhala weaving, and in 2006 participated in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on The Mall in Washington, D.C.

He is a mo'o Lono, trained to maintain proper protocol for the traditional Makahiki celebration, a time of religious ceremonies, sports and other activities, now celebrated on Kaho'olawe.

"I've come 180 degrees from my military days," he said. "It all started from Kaho'olawe."