{"id":178204,"date":"2023-05-25T10:39:24","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T20:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=178204"},"modified":"2023-05-25T10:39:24","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T20:39:24","slug":"robert-boom-kapiolani-cc-certificate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/05\/25\/robert-boom-kapiolani-cc-certificate\/","title":{"rendered":"76-year-old caps 50-year career with Kapi\u02bbolani CC<\/abbr> certificate"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Boom
Robert Boom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Robert Boom, 76, participated in his fourth commencement in May, earning a certificate of achievement from Kapiʻolani<\/span> Community College<\/a>\u2019s paralegal program<\/a>. It marked a 52-year span from his first bachelor\u2019s degree from the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa<\/a>. In between, he also earned a certificate in teaching English as a second language from Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Pacific University and a master\u2019s degree in teaching English as a second language from UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n

\"Three
From left: Susan Jaworowski, Robert Boom, John Richards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His five-decade career has meandered from the archetypal (owning a publishing company, teaching English as a second language) to the unconventional (producing a Japanese play, overseeing an attempt to utilize the Chinese tallow tree in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>) to his latest act as a septuagenarian: entering the legal profession.<\/p>\n

“The university or the college is what opens your mind to a lot more things than just what\u2019s in the newspaper or on the evening news,” said Boom, who earned a 4.0 GPA<\/abbr> in the 32-credit certificate program. “It just broadens your horizons. …How much life are you still interested in? And the colleges and the universities can provide you [with] that.”<\/p>\n

While his peers may be a decade or more into retirement, he\u2019s thrilled to be armed with his newly acquired legal knowledge and is delighted at the possibility of utilizing his paralegal skills at a job.<\/p>\n

“Law firms out there are really interested in our graduates because we\u2019re the only program that trains them for Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> law,” said Susan Jaworowski, director of the paralegal program. “We have something unique to offer.”<\/p>\n

Wisdom to share<\/h2>\n

Boom was drawn to the legal profession after working with a Chinese lawyer in Honolulu for the last five years. The lawyer needed help with writing and editing in English, strengths that were honed through Boom\u2019s years as a publisher, writer and editor.<\/p>\n

An experienced student and teacher, Boom was active and engaged in the virtual classroom, never shy about taking a leadership role or voicing his perspective about assignments.<\/p>\n

“He always has a lot of wisdom to share with students,” said Assistant Professor Kimberly Koide Iwao. “He\u2019s been very helpful in providing tips, not only to students but to his instructors, so myself included. He\u2019s a very eager, mature student. His work product is excellent.”<\/p>\n

Real world experience<\/h2>\n

A highlight of Boom\u2019s Kapiʻolani<\/span> CC<\/abbr> journey has been his capstone internship with the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Innocence Project<\/a>. The group—which notably helped to exonerate Albert Ian Schweitzer after a wrongful conviction for the murder of Dana Ireland—utilizes UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa William S. Richardson School of Law and Kapiʻolani<\/span> CC<\/abbr> paralegal students to investigate past crimes for new evidence.<\/p>\n

Discussing his work with the project made Boom light up. He recalled poring through old police reports and searching for a discrepancy that could change the life for one incarcerated person.<\/p>\n

Kapiʻolani<\/span> CC<\/abbr>\u2019s paralegal program<\/h2>\n

\"Boom<\/p>\n

Kapiʻolani<\/span> CC<\/abbr> has the only Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>-based, American Bar Association approved paralegal program in the state, serving about 80 paralegal students. Some are seeking a one-year certificate of achievement (requires a bachelor\u2019s degree) and others are working toward a two-year associate in science.<\/p>\n

Now armed with his new certificate, Boom is hopeful an employer will give him an opportunity to utilize all his past careers, all his life experiences and all his years of knowledge.<\/p>\n

“I never thought I would stop working,” he said. “And if I can still contribute useful services to other people or something that I\u2019m good at and other people think I\u2019m good at, then I\u2019d like to be able to do that.”<\/p>\n

—By Kim Baxter<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fifty-two years after earning a bachelor\u2019s degree from UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, Robert Boom has a new paralegal certificate from Kapiʻolani<\/span> CC<\/abbr>.<\/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":[234,63,154,9],"class_list":["post-178204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-commencement","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-law","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178204","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=178204"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178227,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178204\/revisions\/178227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}