Resiliency helps individual achieve goal despite tough times June 9, 2013

On June 1, 2013 CBASE (Competency Based High School Diploma Program) Waipahu held their graduation ceremony at Leeward Community College. Over 300 students from the Leeward Coast of O‘ahu graduated from their program this school year. Among the graduates was Manulani Pa‘aoao. In the middle of Manulani’s final year at CBASE, she and her family became homeless and were staying at Kea‘au Beach Park, where Ka Pa‘alana’s outreach team connected with her and had the privilege of providing her family (which included her three younger siblings) kokua (help) and kako‘o (support) until they were able to find permanent housing. We continued our relationship with Manulani and her family even after they moved off the beach to make sure their transition was a successful one.

Manulani showed remarkable resiliency through her troubling times and didn’t allow the negative circumstances in her life to stop her from achieving her goal of graduating from CBASE. She was so appreciative of our program that she invited us to her graduation and had this to say about us, “Ka Pa‘alana was there for me and my ‘ohana when we were going through some really rough times and I truly appreciate the help they gave us and things they did for us. I want to thank all of the Ka Pa‘alana staff who were there for us through our struggle.” Manulani plans to attend LCC next school year and has inspired some of her family members to follow in her footsteps and pursue their high school diploma.

We would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Manulani on her achievement. Mahalo for being an inspiration to our program, our staff, and the families we are privileged to serve.