![](https://www.hawaii.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017PeleAwards.jpg)
![](http://www.hawaii.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017PeleAwards.jpg)
University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu early college students Abigail Mae Calara, Christian-Elijah Peebles, Ryssa-Jean Edayan, Jerahmeel Cabahit and Robin Bucaneg received the student silver award for animation and special effects at the 2017 Pele Awards. The students were under the direction of Michael O’Connor, head of Waiʻanae High School’s prestigious Searider Productions and a UH West Oʻahu creative media lecturer.
The students, who won silver for What Goes in the Ocean, are participating in an early college collaborative effort between the Academy for Creative Media at UH West Oʻahu and Waiʻanae High School’s Searider Productions. Students who are part of the Waiʻanae High School’s Searider Productions and choose to take part in this program have the opportunity to fulfill their high school graduation requirements while simultaneously earning college credits from UH West Oʻahu.
For more, read the UH West Oʻahu E Kamakani Hou story.
—By Leila Wai Shimokawa