Kapiʻolani Community College students can join the Ka Hiki Mai Leadership Program to learn about how to give back to the community (Photo by Shawna Takaki).

By Shawna Takaki | Staff Writer

The Ka Hiki Mai Leadership Program is a leadership development program available to students at Kapiʻolani Community College and Chaminade University of Honolulu. It was brought together by Professor Beau Ewan of Kapiʻolani Community College and Mindy McDermott from Chaminade University of Honolulu and will take place this fall semester.

Students who complete this program will receive a $500 stipend and be granted a United Nations Certificate of Completion from Chaminade University of Honolulu.

Through the program, students will learn valuable lessons about leadership and giving back to the community. Students will also receive individualized resume help and career coaching from Ewan.

The Ka Hiki Mai Leadership Program will also teach about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and encourage sustainable development and giving back to the community.

“We should be interested in giving back to the community and our students should, too,” Ewan said. “My goal is to expose students to leaders in the community who are … doing really interesting work out there to help the community in some way.”

There will be six virtual Zoom sessions during the semester, with the Orientation Session taking place on Monday, Sept. 19 and closing on Nov. 28. Attending all six sessions are mandatory unless under extreme mitigating circumstances such as a death in the family. 

Four guests will speak during the program. Among these speakers is Noel Dunn, a wildlife biologist at Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Hawaii. She advises on how to protect native and endangered species on the military bases.

Ewan wants to motivate students to chase their passions.

“When people major in, let’s say wildlife biology, a lot of parents say to them, don’t major in that, you’ll never have a job,” said Ewan. “[They will say] there’s no career in conservation. I kind of want to dismantle and demystify that. Someone like Noel shows that if you’re passionate about something there is a path and a way to make money doing what you love.”

Students are eligible to apply if they have at least a 2.0 GPA and have attended Kapiʻolani Community College for at least a single semester. Applications are open until Wednesday, Sept. 14. 

Ten students from both Kapiʻolani Community College and Chaminade University of Honolulu will be chosen, resulting in a total of 20 students in the program this fall semester.

It’s funded through a Title III Part A Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions (ANNH) Grant Funding to Strengthen Community College Partnerships and Experiential Learning. Due to the nature of the grant, the Ka Hiki Mai Leadership Program plans to prioritize Native Hawaiian students in their selection.

The Ka Hiki Mai Program will also run in Spring 2023, and students who apply this semester and aren’t chosen will be prioritized for the next run of the program.

You can apply here until Sept. 14 this month.