In a symbolic exercise of overcoming obstacles to achieve their goals, students of Kamehameha Scholars at the 2008 senior retreat broke wooden boards upon which they wrote down their goals and the obstacles that might stand in their way. Second from left is Raeanna Popaca-Raymondo, who will be the first in her family to attend college. - Photo: Courtesy of Kamehameha Scholars

College dreams

Kamehameha Scholars helps broaden horizons

By Lisa Asato / Ka Wai Ola

Raeanna Popaca-Raymondo will be the first in her family to go to college when she starts as a freshman at Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles in the fall.

A 4.0 National Honor Society student at Campbell High School, Popaca-Raymondo, said she loves school and knew she wanted to pursue a higher education. But she credits the Kamehameha Scholars program – and highlights program counselor Aunty Aki deLeon, with helping her focus her goals, such as deciding to pursue a doctorate in nursing and deciding to attend college on the U.S. continent to broaden her horizons.

"It really guided me," said Popaca-Raymondo, an 'Ewa Beach, O'ahu resident, who will be a part of the program's first graduating class when she earns her high school diploma in June. "It made me get to where I want to be. Being that my parents didn't go to (college), it was that extra support."

Kamehameha Scholars, an outreach college-preparation program for students who don't attend Kamehameha Schools, is seeking 200 new enrollees in grades 9 to 12. The program expanded last year with regional programs – it's now offered on O'ahu, Kaua'i, Maui and in east and west Hawai'i Island – and hired staff from those communities to serve as coordinators and counselors.

This year the changes continue. For the first time, the program will focus solely on high school students and it will offer an open application process. Previously students in grades 7 to 12 were randomly selected or invited to participate.

Program director Andrea Dias said Kamehameha Scholars aims to serve as the "other piece of the picture" to help families with their children's success. "We see our role as being allies with parents and helping parents to understand the college-preparation process," she said. It also provides college and career guidance, cultural identity programs and student-led service-learning projects. Past projects include working with nonprofits such as Ronald McDonald House, Weinberg Village in Waimānalo, the national whale sanctuary on Maui, and the American Cancer Society in Hilo, where students learned about breast cancer and volunteered at a fair to help educate others. Besides serving a community need, the projects also offer students a chance to teach their parents, who are invited to participate. "A reverse mentoring is very powerful for students to feel, 'I taught my mom something today,' " Dias said.

Dias said earning a college degree is even more important in the current depressed economy. "A college graduate will be exposed to more opportunities so we want to help support our 'ōpio in developing, in knowing what they need to do to plan for college and tie that into their career interest," she said. Although the program emphasizes attending a four-year university, it helps students prepare for various types of post-secondary education.

Because 75 percent of the program's current 417 students come from public schools, Kamehameha Scholars aligns its merit scholarship with the state Education Department's personal transition plan. That alignment allows students to earn merit points toward the scholarship – by attending workshops, completing assignments and excelling in school, among other things – while fulfilling a DOE requirement. The maximum scholarship is $2,500 for post-high school studies at an accredited institution.

Kamehameha Scholars is part of Kamehameha School's efforts to reach more Native Hawaiians. Dias said the "true impact" of the program is seen when students like Popaca-Raymondo, the Campbell High senior, take what they learn back into their own communities, "planting that seed from within."

"I think that's so important," Dias said. "And that's why we do outreach."