Living For The Outdoors
Photo by Lawrence Tabudlo
Colette Jost always seems to be at ease in the open air even when the environment around her is in turmoil.
Two summers ago, she found herself in such a situation — among a cavalcade of humans and horses trekking through the rugged New Mexico terrain. Midway through the journey, however, the pack animal in front of her suddenly lost its footing and took a spill into a ravine, agitating the remaining train of 20 or so horses and leaving the entire group vulnerable to also falling over the edge.
As Jost recalls, “The horse tumbling into the ravine had created an emergency situation. My own horse was freaking out and so I had to quickly scramble off him before he decided to do something reckless.”
In the ensuing chaos, Jost was one of the few riders who managed to keep their composure. Perhaps her unruffled reaction was due to the lessons learned from her mom, a yoga instructor who often lectured about mindfulness and learning to regulate emotions. Or maybe it was just her innate tranquil nature showing through. As Jost says, “I’ve always been the quiet, calm type.”
Whatever the reason, Jost’s ability to control her emotions and act decisively were impressive. Her favorable response led to her being tasked with leading the fallen horse — which had eventually been pulled from the ravine but was still sporting both fresh wounds and a fragile psyche — out of the deep wilderness and into safety.
“We had to walk 3 miles out to the nearest emergency road, but this was an instance of being able to keep my emotions in check and stay calm because animals can sense your emotions,” explains Jost. “Staying calm was really important to give that horse a sense of peace while he was injured and obviously hurting.”
Bringing peace to her surroundings is important to Jost, a senior at Punahou School. This includes the Earth, which she believes is also hurting and in need of dire assistance.
“The environment is really a big issue for my generation,” she says. “It’s my generation that has taken a stand for what we believe in and what we see as important for the future of the Earth.”
Her stand, in part, means finding time to serve on The Coral Conservancy as its youngest volunteer. Jost’s passion to restore dying reefs is what motivates her to lead efforts in coral replantings, educate volunteers at various sustainability fair booths and offer a youthful perspective for the community-based organization at the state Department of Land and Natural Resources meetings.
“I love coral conservation so much that it keeps me up at night,” she plainly states.
Jost’s path to The Coral Conservancy began a couple of years ago after viewing a documentary about the Coral Gardeners, the Tahiti-based organization created by Titouan Bernicot and dedicated to saving coral reefs and revolutionizing ocean conservation.
“It’s been my dream to work with the Coral Gardeners here,” Jost explains, “so when I first heard about them, I wanted to find a similar organization in Hawaiʻi, like The Coral Conservancy, that I could work with.
“For me, I’ve always been deeply connected to the ocean and the Coral Gardeners really opened my eyes to the fact that anybody can do the work they’re passionate about,” she continues. “I was really inspired by the group’s founder, Titouan Bernicot, who I found to be similar to me. In his teens, he realized that the corals were dying and he wanted to do something about it.”
Jost credits The Coral Conservancy and its president, Damien Beri, with training her in all the basics of coral conservation, including the often cumbersome and patience-trying permitting process.
She calls her direct involvement in handling corals and replanting them onto reefs “invaluable,” and is tickled at being able to take lessons learned at the conservancy to help guide her fellow classmates at Punahou.
Already, she’s been able to breathe life back into the school’s Sustainability Club, where she currently serves as its co-president. She’s also been instrumental at introducing younger students to a summer oceanography class.
“I was able to connect them and they now have a program for eighth-graders,” says Jost. “To be able to kind of give back to my school in that way because they’ve given me so much is really quite amazing.”
Maybe even more astonishing has been her recent selection as one of 40 members of the Heirs to Our Oceans Advanced Leadership Program for the U.S. Youth Action Council for the United Nations Ocean Decade — a flagship initiative that integrates youth into global decision-making roles.
“The Ocean Decade is from 2021 to 2030, which is really just a time for people to come together and focus on ocean-related solutions, fix our waterways, fix our oceans and really change policy around those things,” Jost explains. “What the (council) does is bring those challenges to schools and communities, and hopefully teach them how to solve the challenges we’re facing.”
Those challenges include conquering marine pollution, and protecting and restoring ecosystems. But they also encompass altering people’s relationship with the ocean, she says.
“Although I’ve grown up in a community that is really connected to the ocean and surrounded by it, there are communities around the world who feel like they do not have so much of a connection to the ocean and so they don’t care about it so much,” Jost explains. “Being able to change humanity’s relationship and connect emotionally with the ocean is an interesting idea for me and something that I’m excited about.”
Over the years, Jost has found ways to channel her boundless energy into a number of outdoor pursuits, including paddling. The sport has not only helped her to stay fit, but it’s also kept her connected to the bluest part of the planet.
As members of Lanikai Canoe Club, Jost and her teammates competed in the 2025 Nā Wāhine O Ke Kai canoe race last fall, crossing the 41-mile distance from Molokaʻi Channel to O‘ahu in just over 6 hours and 40 minutes. The effort was good enough for a second-place finish in the women juniors division.
“Growing up on the island has given me access to the ocean and that opportunity to love it as deeply as I do. But paddling, I guess, kind of funneled that energy,” explains Jost, who at age 3 moved with parents Jim and Stasia and older brother Noah, from California to Hawaiʻi.
“In being out there every day as a paddler and as dedicated as I am to the sport, I got a lot closer to the ocean in that way,” she explains. “From there, I kind of found my path in what I wanted to do in conservation.”
Of course, the signs for her love of the outdoors were already there in her early teens. Back in 2019, she had become intrigued with her brother’s involvement in the Boy Scouts organization and greatly desired “camping and hiking and doing all these amazing things.”
“My perception of Girls Scouts was that they were less adventurous,” Jost says. “While I’m sure they do some adventuring and camping, the Boy Scouts showed me a lot more avenues that I could take with their merit badges and more.”
Ultimately, Jost became one of the initial members of the first all-girls Boy Scouts troop in Windward Oʻahu. Last year, the young trailblazer soared where only a precious few other young women in Hawaiʻi have gone, achieving the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout.
Today, she is just one of an estimated 25 local girls to have earned such a distinction. Hawaiʻi’s own Kimi Nelson and Larissa Obeginski were part of the nation’s first-ever female Eagle Scout class in 2021.
“I really see myself as somebody who helps others and is courteous and kind and everything that embodies being a scout and upholding the oath and law,” says Jost, who celebrated her Eagle Scout ceremony in August 2024. “I look forward to reaching out to the younger girls and bringing them into a circle where, traditionally, they may not have felt welcomed.”
Jost has one more semester of school left before she heads off to a mainland college, where she plans on majoring in environmental science and possibly minoring in marine biology.
Until then, she’s more than content with finding additional moments to enjoy the islands’ Great Outdoors.
“I was just on a hike the other day and I was really appreciating that I was in the middle of stormy weather and just being dunked on by rain,” she says. “For me, it’s all about getting out of the house and being in nature … it’s kind of that nice relaxation for me, even if I am in the middle of a rainstorm.”
