Name: Kaulana McCabe
Semester/Year Started at WCC: 2009
Semester/Year Started in TRiO SSS: 2010
Degree(s) Earned at WCC or 4yr. college/university: AA
Semester(s)/Year(s) Graduated: 2012
My name is Kaulana McCabe and I am currently in the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. After barely graduating from Damien Memorial High School, I was uncertain on where or if I would be continuing my education. I applied for colleges knowing well that I would not be accepted because of my graduating GPA and SAT test scores that clearly represented how much I cared about my education. After some discussion with my family, I agreed to attend Windward Community College. My first semester at WCC was not a spectacular experience. I avoided making any attempts to engage with the student activities offered. I found myself attending class and leaving immediately after, intentionally maintaining the least amount of attachment possible to the college. It was in my second semester at WCC that I had found TRiO Student Support Services. I heard of a free math class being offered through the program over the summer. At the time, I saw it as an opportunity to get out of WCC quicker, so I joined. Over a single summer, my entire view of education had changed. The TRiO staff and participants provided me with an eye-opening experience that I will forever be grateful for. I found myself trying harder than ever before to excel in my education. In one summer, I went from being content with below average and failing grades to fighting for the best grade in the class. I accredit my success in higher education to the relationships and opportunities that TRiO has provided me. To list what this program has given me would take pages upon pages to complete. My parents, who were once concerned about where I was heading in my life, cannot express the amount of appreciation they have for TRiO SSS, its staff, and participants who are the sole catalysts responsible for the ambition I have today. I am still employed at TRiO SSS at a tutor and have been able to access other employment opportunities through the relationships that I have created through this program. This summer will be my third one working for TRiO Upward Bound, in a residential summer program for low-income first generation students. Because of the priceless experiences that TRiO has given me, I now understand the importance of student engagement in higher education. Through TRiO Upward Bound I do my best to create those same priceless experiences for students who have the same negative attitude that I once had about higher education. I expect to graduate in the Spring 2014 semester with my Bachelors of Social Work and intend to continue on to the School of Social Work’s Master program. A long term goal of mine is to attain a doctorate degree and hopefully over my life time, advance Native Hawaiian education to a level of proficiency that can lead Native Hawaiians into a society where the status quo is education is expected and celebrated. If my high school friends were to read this, they would undoubtedly assume I had help writing this. However, I am proud to say that today I have ambition, I have goals and dreams to chase after and most importantly, I wrote this by myself with the deepest appreciation for a program and a family that is irreplaceable in my life. I would not have any of this, if it had not been for TRiO Student Support Services.
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