Anguay receives Steve Holeman national award

At a recent conference for TRIO Program personnel held in Reno, Universityof Hawaiʻi at Hilo's Cornelia Anguay was honored with the prestigious SteveHoleman Award. The purpose of the award is to acknowledge the accomplishmentsof directors of educational opportunity programs who have demonstrated continuingdedication to the cause of educational excellence and equity, concern forthe development of students' potential, and professionalism in the administrationof their programs.

Anguay has been director of UH Hilo's Upward Bound for 16 years, buther work experience with disadvantaged and minority students spans over22 years. She has served as an administrator for programs such as HeadStart and the Hawai'i Multicultural Awareness Project. Anguay is a prolificgrant writer whose expertise has allowed for thousands of students in Hawai'iand the Pacific Islands to reach their goals by successfully securing funding. She has brought in over $5 million in federal grants to the University.

TRIO Programs are federally funded programs designed to promote and expandeducational opportunities for disadvantaged students throughout the nation. UH Hilo sponsors several TRIO Programs: Upward Bound; Upward Bound Mathand Science; and Student Support Services.

The Upward Bound Program provides a wide range of academic and socialsupport services for Big Island high school students who come from low-incomebackgrounds and are potentially the first in the family to graduate fromcollege. The Math and Science Program essentially is the same as the originalUpward Bound Program, but focuses primarily on developing math and scienceskills and is also able to include students from the western U.S. statesand the Pacific Islands.

Under Anguay's vision and direction, the Upward Bound Programs at UHHilo have over a 90 percent success rate for assisting students enrollin college. The programs boast some of the finest physical facilities inthe nation, and the Math and Science Center has been recognized nationallyas a model program.

As a further testament to the success of the program, a former participantin UH Hilo's Upward Bound Program was also recognized at the conferencewith an award. Abraham Kaleo Parrish was awarded the association's "Achiever"award for 2001. This award acknowledges the accomplishments of TRIO Programstudents who have completed their baccalaureate degree, entered professionalfields, and whose community or professional activities have served theirfellow humans and are focused on the improvement of society.

Parrish is a 1990 graduate of Waiakea High School, as well as a graduateof the Upward Bound Program. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minorin Geography from the University of Northern Colorado in 1994, and recentlyearned a Master of Arts degree in Library Information Science and Geographyfrom the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. A native of Glenwood, Hawaiʻi,Parrish currently works as a geospatial analyst with the National Imageryand Mapping Agency in Washington, D.C.