Summertime at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is vacation time for some, but also a time of academic and social enrichment for many students and prospective students.
This summer, UH Hilo hosted Upward Bound programs wherein young people took steps to follow their educational potential. We had PIPES and Akamai interns on our campus and in our community, and we welcomed Nalukai Academy that offers intensive leadership and entrepreneurship programs for high school students. We also organized the annual symposium for the Islands of Opportunity Alliance where university and college students from Hawaiʻi and the Pacific region showcased their research projects.
Upward Bound is a year-round program with services and activities to assist high school students pursue their educational and career goals. Upward Bound Summer Academy is a six-week program where students are welcomed to stay in a university residence hall and take classes that count as credit for their upcoming school year. This year’s class was treated to one of our geology courses, allowing them to learn about the unique geologic features of the island on which we live. There are also recreational activities, sports, workout sessions, and games, all in the spirit of providing a supportive foundation upon which students can thrive academically, socially, financially, and emotionally to ensure success in college and their future careers.
The Pacific Internship Programs for Exploring Science or PIPES is a summer program that supports ʻāina-based internships in our local communities and island environments with the goal to grow the next generation of leaders in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. PIPES offers four program pathways — ancestral, ecological, community, and research — each focusing on internships and mentorships that help students track into careers that improve the quality of life for themselves, their ‘ohana, and their communities. Many alumni of this program work with state and federal agencies charged with environmental stewardship, jobs for which they are well prepared.
The Akamai Internship Program, led by the Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators at University of California Observatories in partnership with UH Hilo, is an eight-week summer program for Hawaiʻi university and college students who want hands-on work experience at an observatory, company, or scientific facility in Hawai‘i. In addressing specific workforce needs that come with Hawai‘i observatories, the program has a community of mentors who collaborate with Akamai staff in support of students from a wide range of STEM majors (science, technology, engineering, and math). Participants presented their work publicly in a series of forums in Hilo, Waimea, on Maui, and in California.
The Nalukai Academy Summer Startup Camp was held at UH Hilo in July. Nalukai’s programs offer Hawaiʻi high school students training in social, cultural, and commercial entrepreneurship. The summer startup camp is a 10-day program where students receive mentorship from industry experts, educators, and cultural practitioners to conceptualize and pitch ventures of their own creation. During the process, participants learn about leadership, networking, and the entrepreneurial drive it takes to address the challenges of Hawaiʻi communities. I was honored to hear the final products of teams which were universally creative, socially conscious, and well considered.
Also in July, more than two dozen university students from Hawaiʻi and the Pacific region took part in an international STEM symposium organized by UH Hilo. The students and participants — who hailed from American Samoa, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, Hawaiʻi, the Marshall Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau — spent three days near Kīlauea volcano presenting their independent research projects, taking huakaʻi (journeys), and doing independent self-guided pilina (connection)-building activities.
This annual symposium is an event of the Islands of Opportunity Alliance, which is administered by UH Hilo and supported by the National Science Foundation through the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation program that has a mission to increase underrepresented populations in the STEM fields.
The grant supporting the alliance has just been renewed at $2.5 million for the next five years. I’m grateful that the NSF recognizes the value of the program with another grant cycle. The network we have built around STEM across the Pacific and the opportunities the program gives to students is an important component of improving all of our island communities.
With aloha,
Bonnie D. Irwin
Chancellor, UH Hilo