Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Natash Ariyoshi's TRiO SSS Success Story



Name: Natasha Ariyoshi 
Semester/Year Started at WCC: Fall 2010 
Semester/Year Started in TRiO SSS: Spring 2012
Through my experiences at Windward Community College I have been able to decide what I want to do with my future.  I resumed my college career in 2010, with no idea what direction I was going in except that there was value in education.  My Associates in Liberal Arts degree is expected at the end of the spring 2013, semester. During this time I have discovered my passion for helping people.

It started with an opportunity to be a peer tutor for TRiO Student Support Services.  I am still employed at TRiO as a peer tutor for a variety of subjects.  I love this job because I get to help students, like myself, be better.  I believe that I have an affinity for people that are in need because I, myself, just celebrated five years clean from drugs and alcohol in November 2, 2012.  In those five years, I have gone back to school, decided what I want to do with my life, started working again, and cultivated a relationship with my family that is second to none.  I really believe that the constancy and stability created at TRiO greatly contributed to all the things I have been able to accomplish in my time at WCC.

I am privileged to be a member of Phi Theta Kappa (an international honor society for community and junior colleges), Psi-Beta (a national honor society in psychology for community colleges). I am able to work with a great group of women that I can learn from.

Being a part of TRiO has brought so many opportunities into my life that have already begun to enrich my life.  I have already been accepted into the BSW program at Mānoa and could not be more excited.  I am also a volunteer with the American Association of University Women and was honored to receive a scholarship award to travel to Washington, D.C. for the NCCWSL convention.  I would never have known to apply if it wasn’t for one of the ladies in TRiO.

UPDATE as of Spring 2016 

Natasha graduated with her AA in Liberal Arts at the end of the Spring 2013 semester and her Bachelor's in Social Work from the University of Hawaii at Manoa at the end of the Spring 2015 term. She is currently in the graduate school at the University of Hawaii at Manoa working on her Master's in Social Work degree and expects to graduate at the end of the Spring 2016 semseter.

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