Author: Ayoung Lee

Aldrin Calilao from Kihei, Maui, came to KCC for the Physical Therapist Assistant program and said that it is too soon to tell if he will return home after he finishes. While he enjoys hiking, going to the beach, watching sunsets, swimming, and hanging out with friends, he didn’t have a chance to explore much of the island of Oʻahu yet as he is spending most of his time studying. He found it difficult to make friends once he came here but eventually made friends in his courses.

“I just gotta find my place here and start off slowly talking to people,” Calilao said.

Calilao stays with his aunt in Kalihi helping out around the house. He enjoys the campus but doesn’t know if he would change anything as he has only been on campus since the beginning of the semester. He went to UH Hilo and UH Maui before this and says that some similarities between the campuses are how the students get to know each other and bond together.

With all the clubs and organizations on campus, Calilao said that he would enjoy seeing something like a Relay for Life event to help out the community.

Lariza Duncan is at KCC for her second certificate, this one in Hospitality Operation Management, at 25 years old she graduated with a bachelers on the mainland back in Michigan with a psychology degree and already has a management certificate. She came to KCC as she originally came for a volunteer program that came with a scholarship and enjoyed her stay so much she declared KCC as her home college to stay on island. Should she go back to the Mainland she thinks she will be more adventurous, seeking out more nature stuff especially as her hobbies evolve around nature. Her hobbies include things such as scuba diving, free diving, rock climbing, bouldering, hiking, slack lining, traveling, photography, music, and art.

Duncan has traveled to Australia, New Zealand, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Canada, and the Philippines. She wishes to go back to the Philippines and go to Singapore and Thailand. Though mostly she wishes to go back to Philippines to start a business to help provide more jobs to reduce human trafficking, especially in children. Duncan also feel like she should be helping the Filipino people because she is part Filipino, has family in the Philippines, and grew up with her mom telling her that she has to help where she can to the less fortunate. She specifically wants to help those getting trafficked though due to videos she sees on the internet. While she did start a bracelet business it faded out as school took priority. Her first business was in elementary selling candy, she would buy the big bags of candy and sell the individual pieces for a higher price.

From Nu’uanu, 20-year-old Dylan Khoe hopes to have a future in animation. Khoe spends his free time drawing digital paintings, making animations, watching anime, and playing video games on the computer. While he finds that painting and making animations are fun, they can get frustrating when things don’t go the way he wants them to so he relaxes in those situations by looking up references or watching some anime or playing his games, mostly Team Fortress 2. He got into digital painting from watching YouTube videos and went from drawing to digital.

Khoe is waiting to apply to the New Media Arts Program with his portfolio at the end of the next semester for the beginning of the next school year. Despite having his hobbies and enjoying what he does, Khoe is also dedicated to learning more about his trade as he studies resources and attends lectures from guest speakers when animators come.

“I’m waiting [to get connections] until I get into the program,” Khoe said. “Right now I’m just looking for knowledge I guess.”