Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 1, 1 January 2010 — Achieving the dream [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Achieving the dream

With 0HA's help, UH community colleges join nationwide initiative

ByT. Ilihia Gionson Publications Editor U.S. Department of Edueation data shows that less than half of eommunity eollege students nationwide aehieve their higher edueation goals - 45 pereent of students seeking

an assoeiate's degree or higher and 41 pereent of students in a eertifieate program - and the statisties are more dire for minorities. But Hawai'i's community colleges are participating in a nationwide initiative to help change that for the better. The University of Hawai'i eommunity colleges have a higher percentage of Native Hawaiian

students, 21 percent, than the University of Hawai'i system as a whole, where Native Hawaiians make up 17 percent of enrollment. By the numbers, two-thirds of Native Hawaiians in the system were attending community colleges last academic year. (Numbers were still being compiled for the current year.) "At community eol-

leges, we educate people a little differently than the baccalaureate campuses," said Hawai'i Community College Chancellor Rockne Freitas. "We prepare them for work or for transfer. Either way, we're interested in the student. To say that we're student-centered is an understatement." With the Hilo campus, the UH Center in Kealakekua and distance-

learning classes around Hawai'i Island, about 36 percent of Hawai'i Community College's students are Native Hawaiian - the campus goes back and forth with 0'ahu's Leeward Community College for the highest percentage. Out of Spring 2008's 486 graduates, 30 percent were Native Hawaiian. Established in 1941 by the territorial Legislature, Hawai'i Vocational School underwent several name changes and was under the Hawai'i Department of Education and the University of Hawai'i at Hilo before becoming the independent Hawai'i Community College in 1990. Sixtynine years later, programs to help Native Hawaiians access higher education are flourishing at the campus under Freitas, a Kamehameha graduate and former NFL star now in his sixth year as ehancellor. One of the biggest initiatives of the University of Hawai'i eommunity colleges is Achieving the Dream, a national initiative to support students, especially minorities, in their higher-education quests. Hawai'i is one of 22 states helping students through Achieving the Dream, and the UH community

colleges are the only institutions participating in the state. Hawai'i joined the initiative in 2007. As part of the initiative, eaeh participating school develops strategies to help students, based on strengths and needs at the school. At many schools, the strategies include strengthening recruitment, improving remedial courses, strengthening links with high schools and fouryear colleges, beefing up both academic and personal advising for at-risk students, and offering tutoring. Since joining the initiative in 2007, Freitas has implemented several programs to help students achieve the dream at Hawai'i Community College. In Kea'au, the college operates a Middle College, where high school students ean take courses for college credit. And when students are through with their two-year degree, articulation agreements are in plaee to make it easier for graduates to continue their studies at Oregon State University, the University of Hawai'i at Hilo and Waikato University in Aotearoa. Freitas has also worked to strengthen the "first-year experi-

enee," helping with admissions, advising, counseling and even teaching time management to new students. "People who fill out applications but don't follow up, we eall them. If we can't eall them, and if someone knows where to find them, we'U go see how they're doing," he said. "All you've got to do is get through the first year, and the second year is easy," Freitas said. "After the second year, people say, 'wow, I should go for my bachelor's degree.' And after the bachelor's, it's, 'wow, I should go for my master's.' We've got to get that first-year experience to a level where everyone is confident that they ean do this." The Office of Hawaiian Affairs awarded a $500,000 grant to the University of Hawai'i's community colleges to participate in Achieving the Dreamto support Native Hawaiian students, paid in $100,000 annual installments. The initiative is also supported in Hawai'i by Kamehameha Schools. "Achieving the Dream is an initiative to get minorities to college," Freitas said. "We're building strategies to address our people. It is a very important initiative." ■

U ^education noonaauao

Rockne Freitas