  {"id":222225,"date":"2025-09-17T14:06:43","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T00:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=222225"},"modified":"2025-12-02T13:52:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T23:52:20","slug":"uh-hilo-internship-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/09\/17\/uh-hilo-internship-fair\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo internship fair sparks career connections for students and local employers"},"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_222230\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-222230\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hilo-internship-fair-2025-1.jpg\" alt=\"Students walking aroun d tables\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-222230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hilo-internship-fair-2025-1.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hilo-internship-fair-2025-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hilo-internship-fair-2025-1-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-222230\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo students engage in conversations with employer representatives during the internship fair.<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The University of <span lang=\"haw\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo kicked off the new academic year by linking students with career opportunities through an internship fair at the Campus Center Plaza on September 10. Nearly 50 students engaged with 12 local employer exhibitors, making valuable connections designed to launch careers and strengthen <span lang=\"haw\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span> Island\u2019s workforce.<\/p>\n<p>The event was sponsored by the <a href=\"https:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/career\/#:~:text=K%C4%ABpapa%20I%20Ke%20Ala%20Ka%CA%BBi%3A%20Center%20for%20Career%20Advancement%20emphasizes,Career%20Counseling%20and%20Advising\">K\u012bpapa I Ke Ala <span lang=\"haw\">Ka&#699;i<\/span>: Center for Career Advancement<\/a> and emphasized career pathways, networking and professional growth. Students from across <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> Hilo attended to explore openings, meet industry partners, and learn how internships could help them gain workplace experience or transition into full-time employment.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hilo-internship-fair-2025-3-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"2 people behind a job booth\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-222232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hilo-internship-fair-2025-3-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hilo-internship-fair-2025-3-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hilo-internship-fair-2025-3.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo student Pohoku Roby said, &ldquo;The internship fair offered a variety of internship opportunities for us to explore. It provided valuable networking tools to support our career growth.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>For employers, the event offered a chance to recruit and invest in future professionals. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It was great to attend the event today. We have opportunities, and we feel like we made some good connections with students,&rdquo; said Napua Adviento from the <span lang=\"haw\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span> Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.<\/p>\n<p><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo Career Services Director Marcy Martinez underscored the importance of experiences that broaden students\u2019 perspectives.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_222231\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-222231\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hilo-internship-fair-2025-2.jpg\" alt=\"2 women\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-222231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hilo-internship-fair-2025-2.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hilo-internship-fair-2025-2-130x130.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-222231\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Raynell Espaniola, internship and experiential learning coordinator and a <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo senior<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Students should be able to utilize their degree, no matter what field or employment opportunity they pursue,&rdquo; Martinez said. &ldquo;They should be able to navigate the world as it changes, use their education, skills and experience, so they can adapt as their careers change. Opportunities like internships and other experiential learning are great ways to learn about interests and opportunities available. Those same events can weed out the ones that are not a good fit for them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Internship fairs offer students a bridge between classroom learning and real-world application, empowering them to explore career paths, build professional relationships, and take confident steps towards their futures,&rdquo; added Raynell Espaniola, internship and experiential learning coordinator. &ldquo;By hosting these events on our campus, we make these opportunities more accessible and student-centered, ensuring that every student has the chance to engage directly with potential employers.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The event reflects <abbr>UH<\/abbr>\u2019s broader commitment to workforce development, a core pillar of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/strategic-plan\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> System&#8217;s Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo students engaged with prospective employers at a campus internship fair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[969,14,603],"class_list":["post-222225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-career-development","tag-uh-hilo","tag-workforce-development","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222225","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=222225"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222235,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222225\/revisions\/222235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}