Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 4, 1 April 2017 — Kamehameha Scholars first community education pro gram to win national honor [ARTICLE]

Kamehameha Scholars first community education pro gram to win national honor

Kamehameha Scholars, the statewide community education program whieh assists puhlie and

private high school students in reaching higher education goals, has won national recognition by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), the first eommunity education program in the nation to receive the ASCA honor. ASCA named Kamehameha Scholars a Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) for its commitment to delivering a eomprehensive, data-driven school counseling program and an exemplary educational environment. The program will be honored at ASCA' s annual conference on July 10 in Denver, Colorado. "As a year-round career guidance and college prep program, Kamehameha Scholars plays an important role in creating systemic changes that ean improve the educational well-being of Native Hawaiians in areas such as graduating high school on time, boosting enrollment in eollege, and increasing on-time college

graduation rates," said Kūamahi Community Education Managing Director Wai'ale'ale Sarsona. "With these outcomes, we believe Hawai'i will produce even more loeal and global leaders. It's what drives our investment in this program." Created in 2003 as part of Kamehameha Schools' community outreach efforts to serve more Native Hawaiian youth, Kamehameha Scholars serves students frompublic and private schools statewide, and allows them to match their skills and interests with colleges and career options for future planning. The program is open to students in grades 9-12 who reside on the islands of Hawai'i, O'ahu, Maui, and Kaua'i. In school year 2015-16, the program served a total of 720 students who represented most of the private and public schools across the state. Charter and home-school students were also in the program. For more information on Kame-

hameha Scholars, go to https://apps. ksbe . edu/kscholars/.