Aloha mai,
I am a 34 year-old Hawaiian woman from the ahupua’a
of Waimanalo. My educational setbacks began during my sophomore year of high
school. A time when most teens begin to think that friends and self-pleasures
outweigh education. Because of my lack of presence at school I failed an entire
year of education, earning just a half a credit out of the six possible credits
given at that time. My mother’s disappointment fueled my desire to improve my
circumstance thus; I decided that a move to the island of Hawaii with family
would be of best interest to me. My parents agreed and off I went to spend my
repeated sophomore year slash junior year of high school at Honoka’a High.
First and second quarter grades showed my true potential and things were surely
on its way. My mother enrolled me in two different corresponded courses to make
up credits loss from the previous year. Everything was going according to plan
until my body showed signs of an internal growth inside of me. A baby was on
its way; I was just 16 years old and yet again I swam in my parents’ sea of
disappointment. My determination grew and I stuck with it, deciding that my
journey was even more meaningful now that I was with child. To make a long
story short I worked my butt off as a new mother, and still attended school,
which allowed me to pass all the classes I needed to graduate with my original
class at Kailua High School in 1997.
Life continued forward and I met my future
husband. My second child was born when I was 19 years old. But my new little
ones time in the spot light was limited in a sense because attention went back
to my first born who was three years old when diagnosed with stage 4
neuroblastoma (cancer of the nervous system). Again my determination grew and
life changed as I knew it.
You
may be wondering what all this has to do with TRIO??? I share this with you
because we are all here with purpose. The students that have come back to
school after being out of it for 10, 15, or even 20 years, come back for
GREATER purpose. We have seen the world and the circumstances that everyday
people and families endure. We understand the needs where services may lack,
and understand the potential that every individual has yet to find. TRIO is a
gathering place for all these people. It is a place where we all find support
in our studies but in our LIVES as well. It is a place where people actually
care for you. For some people that is huge, especially if that someone has no
support systems at home, but wait…There is so much more.
My
life journey brought me here to Kula Kaiaulu o Ko’olau in the fall of 2010. I
knew nothing of what to expect but knew of a program called TRIO. I heard they
had free printing and knew right away that I would be spending a lot of my time
there. I didn’t know how to go about applying for all the different things that
come with college like scholarship applications, program applications, or where
to even begin. I had been out of school for 15 years for goodness sake. I had
tangible access to all the right people there and quickly noticed how aspiring
students all gathered there. I began accessing the computers there for
studying, typing, and printing. The director encouraged the students to talk
story about the classes they had been through. At TRIO I was informed about
classes of interest to me, and classes that I should avoid. My TRIO mentors helped
to pave my educational planning. TRIO tutors worked with me for one solid month
enabling me to score into a higher math class on my placement test. Thus
enabling me to participate in TRIO’s math program last summer where I scored
myself a B grade, fulfilling my math component towards my Associates Degree in
Liberal Arts. So you see kind people of power, TRIO is needed here in this
community. TRIO is needed everywhere for that matter. TRIO gives us students a
better chance towards the future for ourselves but mostly for the keiki that we
go home to after long days of learning.
My
educational journey will continue in the school of social work at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa in the fall. I will go there willingly with all
that I am and TRIO is where I will continue to come back to. TRIO will remain
my place of study. It will remain to be the place where aspiring students will
gather if they be from the WCC campus, West Oahu campus, or even Manoa. We will
gather to share of our experiences we endured in the different classes that we
have taken elsewhere, sharing our mana’o, and tutoring each other in subjects
of expertise. I will go out into the community of Hawaii and kokua the people
of these islands. Then I will return to this school nestled in the beauty of
the Ko’olau to inspire more people, touch more lives, but this time as a kumu. Mahalo
TRIO for being a part of my life journey…
My
three year old cancer survivor is now a 16 year old junior, with plans to
continue his education after high school at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
My new born is an advancing 14 year old athlete and a big brother to three
other siblings that include two more boys and one baby girl. Their mother’s
educational experiences will positively affect their individual lives and the
lives they touch in their future. Long live TRIO!
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