University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College students welcomed 130 local high school students to the UH Hilo campus for Pacific Islander Youth Career Day. The daylong series of workshops, forums and talks was aimed at encouraging high school students to connect with college students from their respective language and cultural groups to motivate them to continue on to college and beyond.
“We engage our college students to serve as role models of success for the Pacific Islander students in local high schools,” says Vidalino Raatior, director of UH Hilo’s Pacific Islander Student Center. The annual event is part of the center’s Pacific Youth Empowerment for Success community outreach.
Pacific Islander Youth Career Day 2014 highlights produced by
UH Hilo Pacific Islander Student Center’s Pacific Students Media.
Students who host and attend the annual event are from the Pacific Island regions of Sāmoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, as well as students of Pacific Island ethnicities who are U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, or permanent residents who grew up outside of the island.
Inspired by the Pacific Islander ancestral culture of celestial navigation, the theme of the day was navigating success. “In keeping with the theme, we gave each of the students a star and told them to reach high,” says Mitch Roth, prosecuting attorney for the County of Hawaiʻi and one of the sponsors of the event. “We told them if you are going to reach for the stars, you need to know where you are going.”
Read the full story at the UH Hilo Stories website.
