Overcoming losing her home in the Lahaina fire, losing her tourism industry job during the COVID-19 pandemic, drug addiction and dropping out of high school, Miriam-Ashley Keo, a 40-year-old grandmother, became the first in her family to graduate from college when she walked in Kapiʻolani Community College’s fall commencement ceremony on December 19.
“It’s been a journey for me, but I wanted my kids to see first of all that—no matter what trials and tribulations—we can do it,” said Keo, who earned an associate in arts in Hawaiian studies through online classes. “And I want them to know that higher education is so important. And doing it at 40 is way harder than if I did it in my 20s, but sometimes we learn the hard way.”
Escaping the fire
Early in the morning of August 8, Keo woke up in Lahaina to howling winds blowing dust, rocks and debris into her fourth-floor apartment’s double-paned windows. The wind, sounding like a “freight train,” eventually woke her two youngest children (11 and 13). Keo’s oldest daughter and her 1-year-old grandson joined them, and together they waited.
With no electricity and very little cell phone service, they ventured out to find some lunch, only to be shocked at the damage the wind had already created, leaving corrugated metal strewn about, downed power lines and a small shed on a street corner. Later, they witnessed the first houses catching on fire around them and grabbed what they could before escaping. They made it to safety and watched in horror as Lahaina burned.
Stunned, they navigated to a niece’s home, ate their first meal of the day, filled up their vehicles with gas and spoke to Keo’s parents, who had also evacuated from Lahaina.
“We’re so fortunate, though, because for every story that I’ve heard, I’ve heard one worse,” Keo said. “So much sadness. But there’s so much blessings, too. Like our community, how it came together. I’m not just meaning Lahaina but all of Hawaiʻi—how everyone came out and supported us. It’s huge.”
Close to quitting
In the aftermath, Keo and her family have bounced between living in the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort in Kaʻanapali, where she works as a reservations agent, and her husband’s company’s house. She has had to juggle work, her schoolwork and advocating for her children’s education, while also spending some full days working with FEMA and the Red Cross or trying to find basic necessities such as clothes, food, diapers and supplies.
She admitted she came “this close to quitting” her studies at Kapiʻolani CC and held her fingers millimeters apart.
“It’s hard to keep your head in the game when your life is happening, right?” Keo said. “I would read the subject matter, but to really take it in and try to do your homework and stuff, it’s almost overwhelming. I decided that I didn’t want to give up, and I didn’t want quitting to be my moʻolelo (story), when I have come so far.”
The thing that kept her going through all the challenges and pivots of being an adult student is the pilina, the relationships and connections she made with people. One key bond was with Kapiʻolani CC Interim Director of Strategy Michaelyn Nākoa Hall, who served as Keo’s advisor via Zoom, and visited Keo on Maui with supplies and technology equipment after the fire.
“I’ve witnessed Miriam persevere through the pandemic, balancing family, work and school and stay the course to reach her goals,” Nākoa Hall said. “She carries a positive energy, a sense of humility, and is honest with herself and others. With these traits, she can own the challenges, face them and push through. She will inspire so many people.”
Holomua
Keo aspires to be a Kaiapuni schools (Hawaiian language immersion) teacher, delivering lessons exclusively in the Hawaiian language, which she weaves effortlessly into her everyday life.
“The hardship I faced in these last few years is so small in comparison,” Keo said. “I just want people to know that you can, you can do it, you can keep moving forward even when it’s so hard and I felt like there was no way out. But then the next day comes, and it’s a better day. I think that’s an important message for people to always keep in their head. Holomua (progress). Just keep going.”
—By Kim Baxter
