On Oct. 25, National Make a Difference Day, the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Pacific Islander Student Center (PISC) co-sponsored its second annual Pacific Youth Empowerment for Success (PacYES) conference for more than 120 Pacific Islander youth from all the
On Oct. 25, National Make a Difference Day, the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Pacific Islander Student Center (PISC) co-sponsored its second annual Pacific Youth Empowerment for Success (PacYES) conference for more than 120 Pacific Islander youth from all the local high schools on Hawaii Island.
On Oct. 25, National Make a Difference Day, the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Pacific Islander Student Center (PISC) co-sponsored its second annual Pacific Youth Empowerment for Success (PacYES) conference for more than 120 Pacific Islander youth from all the local high schools on Hawaii Island.
The youth were hosted by more than 90 college student volunteers from the Pacific Islander Student Center and Hawaii Community College, who served as positive role models of success.
The theme — “Navigating Success: Pacific Youth Career Day 2014” — was aimed at motivating, inspiring and informing high school students of Pacific Island ethnicities about career and college readiness.
Inspired by their ancestral culture of wayfinding, the conference focused on the need for the youth to persevere in making the right and courageous decisions along a path of success.
Keynote speaker was Dr. Wilfred Alik, a Marshallese medical doctor who currently serves as clinic chief at Kaiser Permanente.
Allik challenged the youth, saying “I know that someday you will write far more successful stories about yourselves.”
The daylong conference included speeches, workshops, forums and panel discussions by professionals in the Pacific Islander community who serve in various positions in Hawaii, members of the Hawaii Police Department, UH-Hilo’s Upward Bound, Waiakea High School AVID students, DOE Resource Teachers and college student participants in the Highly Engaged Learning Placements (HELP) program at UH-Hilo.
For more information, visit www.careers.pacificstudents.org.
