{"id":119321,"date":"2020-05-26T12:11:12","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T22:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=119321"},"modified":"2020-08-07T13:28:14","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T23:28:14","slug":"windward-cc-commencement-caravan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/05\/26\/windward-cc-commencement-caravan\/","title":{"rendered":"Windward <abbr title=\"Community College\">CC<\/abbr> celebrates commencement with caravan"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_34310\"  width=\"676\" height=\"676\"  data-origwidth=\"676\" data-origheight=\"676\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v1FSqPjmQJQ?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Windward CC celebrates commencement with caravan\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>The drive was so much more than a loop around the lush campus at the foot of the <span aria-label=\"Koolau\">Ko&#699;olau<\/span> mountains. It marked a momentous milestone in the educational journeys of graduates from <a href=\"https:\/\/windward.hawaii.edu\/\">Windward Community College<\/a>, who celebrated the occasion in the age of COVID-19 with a commencement caravan on May 22.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/truck_caravan_Windward_graduate_commencement-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"caravan commencement\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-119366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/truck_caravan_Windward_graduate_commencement-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/truck_caravan_Windward_graduate_commencement-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/truck_caravan_Windward_graduate_commencement.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The graduates first gathered in their respective cars and watched a short video ceremony, drive-in theatre style, with speakers such as Windward <abbr title=\"Community College\">CC<\/abbr> Chancellor <strong>Ardis Eschenberg<\/strong> and student speaker <strong>Bernadette Pada<\/strong>, who shared about her long journey, including enduring abuse as a child.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I\u2019m here as living proof that no matter where you come from, how hard your life may be, you can choose to make the best of it and be the best version of yourself,&rdquo; said Pada, who is now an undergraduate at <a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/\"><abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/a>, studying social work.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Related <em><abbr>UH<\/abbr> News<\/em> stories:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/05\/26\/windward-grad-message\">Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr> grad turns pain into positive message [VIDEO]<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/05\/19\/photos-congratulations-spring-2020-uh-grads\/\">Photos: Congratulations spring 2020 <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> grads!<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Eschenberg greeted the graduates in Hawaiian, then thanked their families for the inspiration and support.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Congratulations to this class of 2020! You have defined resilience, overcome pandemic level challenges, and shifted everything to reach your goal of college graduation!&rdquo; said Eschenberg. &ldquo;Our community now needs you to apply your knowledge, your skills, your creativity and aloha to help us through this time. Take your teachings and apply them to increase your knowledge for the benefit of our families and communities. We need you and everything you have learned right now.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/truck_graduate_commencement_Windward_caravan-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"caravan commencement\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-119367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/truck_graduate_commencement_Windward_caravan-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/truck_graduate_commencement_Windward_caravan-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/truck_graduate_commencement_Windward_caravan.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After the speeches, the graduates started their engines and circled the campus in their cars as Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr> administrators, legislators and other community leaders waved and cheered along the route. Names were read over a special radio channel that was available to vehicles on campus.<\/p>\n<p>Like all good local celebrations, there was food&#8212;take-home refreshments handed to the graduates and guests in their cars. Then they headed out on <span aria-label=\"Keaahala\">Kea&#699;ahala<\/span> Road, on to their bright futures ahead.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8212;By Kelli Trifonovitch<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_34694\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vV2IdA5nsTk?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Windward CC celebrates commencement with caravan\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The graduates gathered in their cars and watched a short video ceremony, drive-in theatre style, before circling the Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr> campus and receiving take-home refreshments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12],"tags":[234,9,56,66],"class_list":["post-119321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","category-video","tag-commencement","tag-uh-manoa","tag-video-2","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119321"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124572,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119321\/revisions\/124572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}