{"id":119445,"date":"2020-05-26T16:08:06","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T02:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=119445"},"modified":"2024-03-15T14:19:13","modified_gmt":"2024-03-16T00:19:13","slug":"windward-grad-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/05\/26\/windward-grad-message\/","title":{"rendered":"Windward <abbr title=\"community college\">CC<\/abbr> grad turns pain into positive message"},"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_27754\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GLrXxO5IFXQ?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 grad turns pain into positive message\"  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>One of the many graduates joining in <a href=\"https:\/\/windward.hawaii.edu\/\">Windward Community College\u2019s<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/windward.hawaii.edu\/\">Windward Community College\u2019s<\/a> exuberant commencement caravan on May 22, was student speaker <strong>Bernadette Pada<\/strong>. An abuse survivor, whose mother went to jail when she was three, Pada shared her difficult and redemptive journey with fellow graduates through an inspirational address on the big screen.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I\u2019ve endured abuse growing up and it continued into my relationships. My life spiraled downhill, but after I had my children, I knew I wanted to break that cycle of abuse. I had two choices: stay and keep doing the same thing, or do something better with my life,&rdquo; Pada said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_119452\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-119452\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernadette_Pada_WCC_graduation.jpg\" alt=\"Bernadette Pada\" width=\"250\" height=\"350\" class=\"size-full wp-image-119452\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernadette_Pada_WCC_graduation.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernadette_Pada_WCC_graduation-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernadette_Pada_WCC_graduation-93x130.jpg 93w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-119452\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bernadette Pada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\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-cc-commencement-caravan\/\">Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr> celebrates commencement with caravan<\/a> [VIDEO]<\/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>She chose the latter. At age 26, Pada started at Windward <abbr title=\"community college\">CC<\/abbr> as a single mom with two children, doubting herself and her abilities. She found the help she needed with <a href=\"https:\/\/windward.hawaii.edu\/paying-for-college\/paipai-o-koolau\/\">Paipai o <span aria-label=\"Koolau\">Ko&#699;olau<\/span><\/a>, a program that provides scholarships and academic support, and Paipai Director <strong>Sarah Akina<\/strong>. The college\u2019s TRiO student support services became a second home. Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr> also helped her pursue her dream of becoming a social worker.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It took long nights, dedication and hard work for me to get where I am today,&rdquo; Pada said. &ldquo;I took all the negative things that happened in my life\u2014the pain, the hurt, abuse\u2014and turned it into my life\u2019s mission to give back to those who have gone through something similar. I want to go back into my community and work with children and teens that experience abuse and neglect. I want to be that light in someone else\u2019s life, which is why I stand before you as the first of my family to graduate from college.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Now the proud holder of an associate\u2019s degree in liberal arts, Pada was recently accepted into the bachelor\u2019s of social work program at <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa for fall 2020 and aspires to earn her master\u2019s and <abbr title=\"doctor of philosophy\">PhD<\/abbr>, as well.<\/p>\n<p>She said, &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;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_119458\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-119458\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernadette_Pada_truck.jpg\" alt=\"Bernadette Pada\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-119458\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernadette_Pada_truck.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernadette_Pada_truck-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernadette_Pada_truck-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-119458\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bernadette Pada at the commencement caravan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr> helped Bernadette Pada move from abuse survivor to an aspiring social worker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[234,1453,71,56,66,1626],"class_list":["post-119445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-commencement","tag-trio-student-success-services","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-video-2","tag-windward-community-college","tag-women-of-uh","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119445","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=119445"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119471,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119445\/revisions\/119471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}