{"id":215791,"date":"2025-05-13T20:45:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T06:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=215791"},"modified":"2025-05-21T13:12:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T23:12:45","slug":"single-mom-student-leader-windward-cc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/13\/single-mom-student-leader-windward-cc\/","title":{"rendered":"Single mom grew to be student leader at Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr>"},"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><figure id=\"attachment_215930\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-215930\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/windward-kekahuna-c.jpg\" alt=\"Kekahuna holding her child\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-215930\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/windward-kekahuna-c.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/windward-kekahuna-c-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/windward-kekahuna-c-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-215930\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cianni Rae Kekahuna and Obadiah Rai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Cianni Rae Kekahuna, Windward Community College\u2019s Associated Students of the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> (<abbr>ASUH<\/abbr>) president, will earn associate degrees in liberal arts and Hawaiian studies\u2014a milestone the 25-year-old never imagined possible a few years ago.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DJ7lj_1upTV\/\">Catch Kekahuna\u02bbs commencement speech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&ldquo;I never saw myself going to college,&rdquo; Kekahuna said. &ldquo;I&#8217;ve always wanted to, you know, but I never saw myself actually being able to do it after I had a child&#8212;but it was one of the best decisions of my life.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_215932\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-215932\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/windward-kekahuna-1-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Smiling people covered in mud\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-215932\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/windward-kekahuna-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/windward-kekahuna-1-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/windward-kekahuna-1.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-215932\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kekahuna (bottom) with <span aria-label=\"Hookuaaina\">Ho&#699;okua&#699;&#257;ina<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A single mother to now 4-year-old Obadiah Rai, Kekahuna was working multiple jobs when she applied for an apprenticeship with <span aria-label=\"Hookuaaina\">Ho&#699;okua&#699;&#257;ina<\/span>, a non-profit that cultivates taro in Kailua, which required enrollment in Windward <abbr title=\"Community College\">CC<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I love aloha &#699;\u0101ina work (taking care of the land), and when I came across the apprenticeship, I was like, &lsquo;Wow, this is super cool. I really want to do this!&rsquo;&rdquo; she said.<\/p>\n<p>She enrolled at Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr> in 2023.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"blocklink\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/tag\/commencement\/\">Meet more amazing <abbr>UH<\/abbr> spring graduates<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I can honestly go on and on about how much it really impacted the well being of my life overall,&rdquo; Kekahuna said. &ldquo;That campus\u2019 atmosphere is beyond exceptional&#8212;it\u2019s a small-knit community&#8212;and the support that it holds for the students, there&#8217;s so many different support systems that really help you move forward.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Leadership role<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_215933\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-215933\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/windward-kekahuna-2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Large group of people\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-215933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/windward-kekahuna-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/windward-kekahuna-2-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/windward-kekahuna-2.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-215933\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Windward <abbr>CC ASUH<\/abbr> event<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She did more than move forward, and was elected to serve as the campus\u2019 <abbr>ASUH<\/abbr> president in her last academic year. In that role, Kekahuna traveled through the state and to the East Coast for the first time in her life&#8212;to Philadelphia&#8212;for an academic conference.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This whole year, I was the president of Windward [<abbr>ASUH<\/abbr>], and that alone opened so many doors for me. I have personal connections with all these people now, and I\u2019m really grateful for that.&rdquo; Kekahuna said. &ldquo;I\u2019ve met people from Boston, California, Texas&#8212;just those open doors that it offers&#8212;I\u2019m super grateful.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr> Student Life Coordinator Kaahu Alo was the one who convinced Kekahuna to run for president.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Her strength comes from her past. She grew up really fast and so she\u02bbs able to connect with younger students and give her perspective on things,&rdquo; Alo said. &ldquo;She just has this spirit, she makes everybody welcome. She\u02bbll support you and listen to you and talk story&#8212;I think she has a very inviting personality.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;All you could ask for&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Next up: Kekahuna will transfer to <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa and is considering majoring in psychology and &#699;\u014dlelo <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> (Hawaiian language).<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&#8217;m getting chicken skin, because it&#8217;s been really bittersweet for me,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I really don&#8217;t want to leave, but, you know, you have to in order to grow. And I get that. I just love the people, the ambiance, the atmosphere, the support&#8212;it&#8217;s all you could ask for in a school.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8212;By Kelli Abe Trifonovitch<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From taro fields to student government, a young mom found her path forward.<\/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":[349,234,71,66],"class_list":["post-215791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-asuh","tag-commencement","tag-uh-community-colleges","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\/215791","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=215791"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216463,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215791\/revisions\/216463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}