{"id":171437,"date":"2023-01-13T13:30:01","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T23:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=171437"},"modified":"2023-03-16T10:29:57","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T20:29:57","slug":"online-aa-program-helps-working-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/01\/13\/online-aa-program-helps-working-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Online AA<\/abbr> degree program helps working students with families"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Woman
Sarah Moore with her daughter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In December 2021, the first cohort of Leeward Community College<\/a>\u2019s Online AA<\/abbr> Program\u201419 students, from in-state and as far away as California, North Carolina and Virginia\u2014earned their associate\u2019s in liberal arts degrees<\/a>. Their success inspired the Alaka\u02bbina<\/span> Foundation<\/a> to sponsor 10 full-tuition scholarships<\/a> (up to $10,000 per recipient) for fall 2022 and 10 for spring 2023.<\/p>\n

The program has helped many working adults, with an opportunity to earn their degrees without neglecting their personal responsibilities. Fall 2022 scholarship recipients Sarah Moore<\/strong> and Angessa Newman<\/strong> said getting their associate\u2019s degree is the first step on a path toward a meaningful career and helping others who have had similar struggles.<\/p>\n

Single mom<\/h2>\n

Moore was raised by a hard-working single parent and is now experiencing the challenges of raising a daughter of her own.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe barriers can be daunting at times. It is difficult to work full-time, be a present parent, a student, and take care of myself physically and mentally. But I know that education is a privilege, and I will not waste the opportunity,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n

Completing her coursework online allows her to maintain her work schedule, while the scholarship makes it affordable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe funding pays for tuition, which is a huge weight lifted. It removes the financial burden and encourages me to keep going,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n

She is determined to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree and work in environmental conservation\u2014to join the movement of those dedicated to protecting the natural world.<\/p>\n

Caring for siblings<\/h2>\n

Newman had to overcome tragedy in her family\u2014her mother passing away when she was only 20 years old, leaving her with the responsibility of guardianship of her younger siblings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that everything that I had planned for in life needed to be put on hold for a while because I needed to step up and be the person who would care for them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After seeing her siblings through high school, Newman has a child of her own and she wants to be an example to her family and to others who face similar struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis (scholarship) will open up more opportunities and get me started on my journey to become a social worker,\u201d Newman said. \u201cBeing a social worker means helping families that are torn apart, and children who deserve a family who loves and cares for them like their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Leeward CC<\/abbr> Liberal Arts Online AA<\/abbr> Program consists of 60 credits and approximately 20 courses. The two fully online degree tracks are Cohort Year-Round and Flex Track. Leeward CC<\/abbr>\u2019s Alaka\u02bbina<\/span> Scholarship is available to eligible students who are part of the year-round cohort.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the program at: www.leeward.hawaii.edu\/distance-education<\/a>. For more information on the Alaka\u02bbina<\/span> scholarship and to apply, email alakaina@hawaii.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Alakaʻina<\/span> Foundation sponsored 10 full-tuition scholarships for fall 2022 and 10 for spring 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1224,65,1518],"class_list":["post-171437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-distance-education","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-liberal-arts","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171437","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=171437"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174342,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171437\/revisions\/174342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}