Year: 2018

Kimberly Serna is a first-year student attending KCC who is majoring in Physical Therapy. The 18-year-old, who graduated from Farrington High School in May 2017, said that she has felt a connection with the medical field since her junior year when she had the opportunity to do job shadowing and work-study as a physical therapy assistant (PTA) through the school’s health academy.

“I got interested in the way the [PTA’s] environment is and in helping the patients,” Serna said.

Although catching the bus from Kalihi to KCC can be lengthy and tiring, Serna said that she enjoys coming to KCC for her education. Upon receiving her associate’s degree at KCC, Serna hopes to work in Tripler Army Medical Center as a PTA in the future.

Mikey Simmons moved to Hawai‘i from Osaka, Japan, six months ago. He plans on staying for another two years to get his associate’s degree in Liberal Arts. He is currently struggling with his ESL 100 class, which he considers really hard.

“I’m not good at writing. I’m asking to native speakers to help with grammar and suggestions.”

When asked about what makes him tick, Mikey immediately says “music”. He shares that back in Japan, he was in two different bands. He enjoyed playing the guitar in a rock band and the saxophone in a jazz one.

“I’d love to have a band here, too.”

Ron Faison is originally from Daytona Beach, Fla. and his declared major is Liberal Arts. Faison was came out to Honolulu eight years ago because he was stationed with the navy at Pearl Harbor. He recalls the amount of time he was in the navy and was excited to finish his commitment and start college.

“How long was I in the navy?” Faison laughs. “7 years, 5 months and 22 days.”

He is currently in his second semester at KCC and plans to move back to Florida when he finishes his classes this spring. Faison hopes to transfer to a 4-year college somewhere around Tampa or Orlando. While living out in Hawaiʻi he has enjoyed the beaches, hiking and the beautiful weather. In his free time he enjoys watching TV shows like Family Matters, The Office and Living Single.

Jennifer Cho is 21 years old and was born and raised in Honolulu. She is a former student at KCC and chose to major in liberal arts when she attended so that she could get all of her core classes out of the way. Currently, Cho goes to UH Mānoa where she is completing her BA in Travel Industry Management and she works part-time at KCC as a student assistant for Honda International Center where she assists international students with anything they need.

“I help my supervisors, help with students, answer basic questions, email students and answer phone calls,” Cho says about her job at KCC. “I just help with the international students that are currently attending KCC.”

In her free time Cho enjoys hanging out with her friends and playing golf as a hobby. One of her favorite courses to play at is the Hawaiʻi Kai Par-3 because it’s a simple course.