{"id":45998,"date":"2016-05-16T17:03:28","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T03:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=45998"},"modified":"2023-09-21T12:12:47","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T22:12:47","slug":"uh-commencement-molokai-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2016\/05\/16\/uh-commencement-molokai-style\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr>UH<\/abbr> commencement Moloka\u02bbi style"},"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><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NDA7to-myNQ?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0\" title=\"Youtube video player\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"clear-photo\">Commencement ceremonies for the <a href=\"http:\/\/maui.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Maui College<\/a> are not all annual events. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Every four years, our outreach sites on <span aria-label=\"Molokai\">Moloka&#699;i<\/span> and <span aria-label=\"Lanai\">Lana&#699;i<\/span> do graduations,&rdquo; said University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Maui College Chancellor <strong>Lui Hokoana<\/strong>. &ldquo;We also have outreach sites in H&#257;na and also in Lahaina. So it really celebrates the accomplishments of all our graduates from Maui College this year. We have a total of about 700.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Between 2012 and 2016, the <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> Maui <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2012\/05\/16\/molokai-celebrates-graduates\/\"><span aria-label=\"Molokai\">Moloka&#699;i<\/span> Education Center<\/a> awarded 87 associate degrees, 17 bachelors degrees and 12 masters degrees. Forty-one of the graduates participated in the 2016 commencement ceremony, including <strong>Ekolu Ah Yee<\/strong>. The <span aria-label=\"Molokai\">Moloka&#699;i<\/span> native earned associate degrees in Hawaiian studies and liberal arts, worked at the center as a tutor, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2016\/05\/16\/student-speaker-inspires-at-molokai-commencement\/\">delivered one of the student addresses at commencement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;College has opened so many new doors for me,&rdquo; said Ah Yee. &ldquo;It has made me comfortable enough to stand before each and everyone of you today, and give a speech. Five years ago, you wouldn&#8217;t catch me dead up here. No ways.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_46016\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-46016\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/maui-molokai-commencement.jpg\" alt=\"Molokai Education Center graduates\" width=\"620\" height=\"347\" class=\"size-full wp-image-46016\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/maui-molokai-commencement.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/maui-molokai-commencement-260x146.jpg 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-46016\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Graduates walking into the ceremony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The 2016 <abbr>UH<\/abbr> graduates were mostly non-traditional students, meaning they did not go to college right after high school. Seventy-five percent are Native Hawaiian, they are parents to 38 kids and range in age from 17 to 59. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Shyla Kamakaleihiwa Purdy-Avelino<\/strong> is the youngest graduate ever from the <span aria-label=\"Molokai\">Moloka&#699;i<\/span> Education Center, earning associate degrees in Hawaiian studies and liberal arts.<\/p>\n<p>Purdy-Avelino shares, &ldquo;This is a really important moment for me and my, especially my mom, since she help for this whole journey. It was kind of an experiment, we didn&#8217;t know what we were doing but we did it and I&#8217;m humbly proud.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_46015\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-46015\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/maui-molokai-commencement-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"310\" class=\"size-full wp-image-46015\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/maui-molokai-commencement-2.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/maui-molokai-commencement-2-252x260.jpg 252w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-46015\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span aria-label=\"Molokai\">Moloka&#699;i<\/span> Education Center graduates<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As part of <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Maui College, the center offers a wide range of credit and non-credit courses and certificate and associate degree programs. Like other <abbr>UH<\/abbr> outreach sites, it provides selected courses from other <abbr>UH<\/abbr> community colleges and receives selected bachelors and masters degree programs from <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa, <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo and <abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> via <abbr>UH<\/abbr>&#8211;<abbr title=\"International Television\">ITV<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&#8217;s an example of how the entire <abbr>UH<\/abbr> System works together, to serve students throughout the state, including via technology and all of the distant learning programs that we are able to offer,&rdquo; said University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> President <strong>David Lassner<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the graduates say they are just getting started. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Next semester, I&#8217;ll be attending <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo, pursuing a bachelor&#8217;s degree in Hawaiian studies, minoring in marine science,&rdquo; said Purdy-Avelino.<\/p>\n<p>Lassner said, &ldquo;Two thirds of the students who got degrees here today plan to continue on in higher education, creating a great future for themselves. This is why we are here.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Consider this. Ask not what <span aria-label=\"Molokai\">Moloka&#699;i<\/span> can do for you but what you can do for <span aria-label=\"Molokai\">Moloka&#699;i<\/span>,&rdquo; said Ah Yee.<\/p>\n<h2>Look back on <span aria-label=\"Molokai\">Moloka&#699;i<\/span> Education Center&#8217;s 2012 ceremony<\/h2>\n<div class=\"responsive-video-wrap\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DGevVieJ-2I?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0\" title=\"YouTube video player\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong><abbr>UH<\/abbr> News video<\/strong>: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2012\/05\/16\/molokai-celebrates-graduates\/\"><em><span aria-label=\"Molokai\">Moloka&#699;i<\/span> celebrates graduates<\/em><\/a>, May 16, 2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University of Â鶹´«Ã½ Maui College celebrates their Moloka&#699;i Education Center graduates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":46017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12],"tags":[234,300,71,60,56],"class_list":["post-45998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","category-video","tag-commencement","tag-molokai-education-center","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-maui-college","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/maui-molokai-commencement-f.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45998","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=45998"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183930,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45998\/revisions\/183930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}