{"id":217558,"date":"2025-06-17T13:25:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T23:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=217558"},"modified":"2025-06-17T13:25:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T23:25:13","slug":"uh-students-tackle-city-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/06\/17\/uh-students-tackle-city-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> students tackle city projects through Po\u02bbokela Fellows internship"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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2025 Poʻokela<\/span> program interns<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Twenty students from the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa and UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span> participated in the 2025 Poʻokela<\/span> Fellows Internship Program<\/a>, gaining hands-on experience in public service with the City and County of Honolulu. The paid internship ran from January through May\/June, placing college students in city departments to apply their academic skills to real-world projects.<\/p>\n

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Mira Olivas with Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and other city leaders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mira Olivas, a senior civil engineering<\/a> major at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, helped make Honolulu\u2019s roadways safer through work with the Transportation Engineering Division in the City and County of Honolulu\u2019s Department of Transportation Services. Olivas helped address public concerns related to speeding, parking and pedestrian safety by drafting updated signage and striping plans. Her projects included enhancing crosswalk visibility and replacing missing signs on streets such as University Avenue, Seaview Avenue and Keahole Street.<\/p>\n

“This experience was valuable because it gave me a chance to get my feet in the real world. I was able to see how engineering is applied outside of the classroom and gain insight on the duties and responsibilities of traffic engineers,” Olivas said. “This internship will give you exposure to a wide range of work and connect you with all experienced mentors and departments. It’s okay to not know everything, but be willing to learn and ask questions.”<\/p>\n

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Briana Lee with her mentor and leaders in the Honolulu Fire Department<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Briana Lee recently graduated with her bachelor\u2019s degree in computer science<\/a> in UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s College of Natural Sciences<\/a> and will be pursuing her master\u2019s degree this fall. One of the key projects she worked on was creating a Data Analysis Incident Trend Dashboard designed for public use at the Honolulu Fire Department’s Planning and Development Division. This dashboard<\/a> visualizes patterns, making it easier for the public and the department to understand trends over time.<\/p>\n

“This internship has provided me with real-world experience in data visualization, analytics and cross-departmental collaboration,” Lee said. “The Poʻokela<\/span> Program is pretty competitive, and the coordinators do their best to match you with the different departments around the island. My advice would be to have an open mind and a willingness to learn.”<\/p>\n

The program focuses on leadership development, mentorship and civic engagement. Applications for the 2026 session will open in September 2025, with the deadline set for October. Participants must be upper-division undergraduates or graduate students in good standing.<\/p>\n

2025 interns with UH<\/abbr> ties<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Phat Ca, information and computer science, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Cameron Cooper, mechanical engineering, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Haley Cummings, business administration\u2013marketing, UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Julia DePinto, human resource management, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Cassandra Dumaslan, public administration: justice administration, UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Andrew Gresham, civil engineering, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Jazmin Horio, management information systems and international business, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Tyler Kahmann, management information systems, finance and international business, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Yuto Kudo, finance and marketing, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Ivan Lee, accounting, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Briana Lee, information and computer science, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Liberty Lum, accounting, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Clyds Bautista Manzano, public health\u2013government and public policy, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Sara McGhee, biochemistry, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Nanami Mehring, molecular biosciences and biotechnology, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Mira Olivas, civil engineering, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Allen Palma, civil engineering, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Matisse Sremac, sustainability and climate change, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • William Tam, finance, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n
  • Lauryn Takanishi, business management and marketing, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    UH<\/abbr> students applied their classroom knowledge to real-world city projects through a competitive public service internship.<\/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":[1477,179,308,541,182,1466,568,660,9,59],"class_list":["post-217558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-civil-environmental-construction-engineering","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-college-of-natural-sciences","tag-computer-science","tag-engineering","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-natural-science","tag-student-recognition","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-west-oahu","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217558","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=217558"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217631,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217558\/revisions\/217631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}