Name: Michele Navarro Ishiki
Semester/Year Started
at WCC: 2007
Semester/Year Started
in TRiO SSS: 2007
Degree(s) Earned at
WCC or 4yr. college/university: Completed
Prerequisites for Social Work Program at Myron B. Thompson School of Social
Work
Semester(s)/Year(s)
Graduated: 4 Semesters @ WCC
How has TRiO SSS
helped you/what services have you used? I
moved from the island of Maui and didn’t know anyone but my husband and his immediate family. I am a nontraditional student, mother of 5 (4
at the time we moved), who doesn’t take much time for self; or school. TRiO, more specifically its staff; made me
feel as if I was at home and they also expressed to me, the importance of my
educational commitment, or lack thereof.
This program encouraged and motivated me to further my education, and
assured me that my family would be the ultimate benefactors of this
endeavor. Indifferent and stubborn, I
found lifelong friends, and future colleagues.
TRiO provided me much more than a safe haven, printers to print papers
at no cost, computers to utilize at every crazy hour you can think of. TRiO instilled something that goes far beyond
what is tangible, I have roots there.
TRiO is my ‘ohana and a part of who
I am today, and all that I’ve yet to become!
Personal Statement:
Born and raised on the island of
Maui. I moved to O`ahu with my new
husband who is a Kaneohe native in July 2007.
I’m a 42- year- old mother of five.
My sons are 25, 23, 17 and 3 years old.
My daughter is 12.
In May
2005, eighteen years after graduating from high school, I made a decision to
return to college, and earn a degree in Social Work. At the time, I was working at Hina Mauka
Recovery Center for individuals in the outpatient level of care. Although I had been a counselor for three
years, I never felt capable of doing in depth work; I knew that I wasn’t
qualified to do so. I knew that without
the proper education and credentials, there was a greater potential for me to
do more harm to clients than good; therefore, when that treatment center closed
its Maui office in October 2006, I chose to go to school full time. Since then, I have never looked back.
As
a first generation college student, it is very important to me that I excel to
the best of my ability. Not only am I working on bettering myself, but
I’m also striving to make my community a better place. I am leading by example for my children by demonstrating
firsthand the importance of education and the magnitude of helping
others.
When I made the
decision to return to school, I could not
have done it by myself. It was people who
stood beside me, lent a hand, gave me words of encouragement, and sometimes
carried me through my hardships. This would
be my way of giving back what was freely given to me. This is ultimately what TRiO has been for me
and countless other nontraditional students as well.
If it weren’t for financial aid and programs such as TRiO, I
couldn’t possibly afford a higher
education.
Neither of my parents went to college, and I am not ashamed
to say that I have been incarcerated on more than one occasion and have been
clean and sober for nearly 14 years now; hence the field of Social Work. As I mentioned earlier, a big part of why I
am who I am today, is a direct result of the TRiO program!
UPDATE: May 2023
got her msw few yrs ago and helping conduct the kihei ceremony for uhm thompson school of sw and pub health convocation...
No comments:
Post a Comment