{"id":225454,"date":"2025-11-14T14:18:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T00:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=225454"},"modified":"2025-11-15T22:18:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T08:18:33","slug":"ibarra-automotive-teaching-at-palamanui","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/14\/ibarra-automotive-teaching-at-palamanui\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawai\u02bbi CC<\/abbr> alumnus gives back through automotive teaching at P\u0101lamanui"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Student Jason Bois and Chris Ibarra.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Ibarra\u2019s journey from student to teacher is one fueled by perseverance, passion and a commitment to his community. The Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island native graduated from Konawaena High School in 2000 and completed the two-year automotive program at Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community College<\/a> in Hilo in 2002, under instructors Ken Shimizu and Harold Fujii.<\/p>\n

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Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> CC<\/abbr>–P\u0101lamanui automotive technology students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, Ibarra is giving back by teaching the next generation of mechanics through a partnership that he helped to establish between the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Department of Education (DOE<\/abbr>) and Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> CC<\/abbr>–P\u0101lamanui<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Through Early College, students at Kelakehe High School can earn college credits toward a degree in automotive technology<\/a> from Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> CC<\/abbr>–P\u0101lamanui.<\/p>\n

Kalei Haleamau-Kam, director of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> CC<\/abbr>–P\u0101lamanui, said “The enrollment numbers have grown in Automotive Technology, and the program is going strong because of the internal support that the DOE<\/abbr> has given the program and the partnership of the workforce community. The Automotive Technology model has inspired other programs, such as offering Culinary Academy classes at Konawaena, a sustainability certificate at Kohala, and others in the making.”<\/p>\n

The rough road to teaching<\/h2>\n
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Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> CC<\/abbr>–P\u0101lamanui automotive technology students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Post-graduation, Ibarra\u2019s early career included a short stint at Island Chevrolet and years alongside his father at Randy\u2019s Repair. <\/p>\n

After working as a mechanic for Nanea Golf Club, Ibarra\u2019s former high school teacher, Butch Hughes, asked him for help with a truck\u2014reigniting his connection to teaching. Ibarra started as a part-time teacher at Kealakehe in 2007 and was hired full-time as a temporary emergency hire the following year.<\/p>\n

The road to becoming a certified teacher wasn\u2019t easy, and Ibarra squeezed by for about seven years. He eventually earned his alternative Career and Technical Education certification in 2016 through Leeward Community College after multiple attempts at the exams.<\/p>\n

“So many Leeward CC<\/abbr> and Kealakehe teachers were rooting for me and helping me,” he said.<\/p>\n

Driving futures forward<\/h2>\n
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Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> CC<\/abbr>–P\u0101lamanui automotive technology students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the cusp of his sixth year of teaching through the Early College program at Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> CC<\/abbr>–P\u0101lamanui, Ibarra is seeing the impact firsthand. About a dozen of his students graduated in May.
\n“We do a lot of high tech stuff,” Ibarra said. “And the kids, that’s where they find their home\u2014in auto shop. They’re good with their hands. They’re smart kids. They’re really good kids.”<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges and pay cut that came with switching from the private sector to teaching, Ibarra knows he\u2019s where he belongs.<\/p>\n

“I had students graduate, and I see them in the community,” Ibarra said. “It\u2019s worth a lot more than the pay.”<\/p>\n

Through his dedication, Ibarra is proving that giving back can drive futures forward.<\/p>\n

\"group
Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> CC<\/abbr>–P\u0101lamanui automotive technology students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From fixing cars to shaping futures, Chris Ibarra helps students turn skills into success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":225475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[90,70,61,435,71],"class_list":["post-225454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-automotive-technology","tag-hawaii-community-college","tag-palamanui","tag-uh-community-colleges","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/hawaii-automotive-ibara.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225454","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=225454"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225476,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225454\/revisions\/225476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}