Power of
positive thinking

Hawaii's college campuses are
full of graduating seniors who see
prosperity in years to come

At-risk teens convey hopes

By Eloise Aguiar
Star-Bulletin

College students graduating in 2000 are sloughing off pessimistic attitudes about the economy and saying they're looking forward to the new millennium.

Some of these seniors admit they know students who expect a bleak future, but others say campuses are full of students with great expectations.

"Most people I talk to are upbeat," said Scot Parry, who is earning a master's degree in education administration at the University of Hawaii. "When you talk to students, they are excited to get out there, to take a chance in the world. I hope the world is ready for us."

'The future holds promises because
with my bachelor's degree, I'll be more
competitive in the market.'
Wendy L. Doronio
HAWAII PACIFIC UNIVERSITY
NURSING STUDENT (SHOWN WITH HER FIANCE,
FRANK B. DE CARVALHO)

The gradual upward trend in the economy, rather than the change of the century, contributes to Parry's optimism. Plus, he's attaining a goal after making a decision to return to college to earn a higher degree. He graduated from college in 1991 with a history degree. He worked at Bishop Museum for five years until state cutbacks forced layoffs there. A year in a title company made him realize he wanted something different.

With graduation a few months away, Parry said finding a job won't be easy, even though opportunities are out there. He has a 3.5 grade point average, but said he's met other skilled students he'll have to compete against for positions.

"It's going to be a challenge," he said. "I think that is what is exciting. That there are so many skilled people, and you have to go out. You have to do your very best."

Wendy L. Doronio, a nursing student at Hawaii Pacific University, said she's optimistic after increasing her knowledge and earning a bachelor's degree.

Before attending HPU, she had obtained a registered nurse associate's degree on Kauai. Despite her new education, she predicted that the technology she learned at the university will become obsolete in 2000.

"It's going to be a challenge.
I think that is what
is exciting."
Scot Parry
UH STUDENT

"The future holds promises because with my bachelor's degree, I'll be more competitive in the market," Doronio said. "But by the time I'm out, technology will surpass me, so that's a burden I'll have to address."

Doronio, 34, is a proven student with a 4.0 grade point average. She will be class valedictorian at her graduation next month. She's a member of the Alpha Chi and the Alpha Sigma Lambda honor societies, and is a candidate for the Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society.

She returned to college when people in nursing kept saying that an associate's degree wouldn't be enough to gain an entry-level nursing position in the future. Achieving a higher degree was also a legacy left by her grandfather, who died in 1996, she said.

Born and raised in California, Doronio moved to Kauai nine years ago to take care of him. A plantation worker all of his life, Doronio's grandfather believed an education would improve life. She is the first in her family to graduate from college.

"He planted the seed, so I started taking classes here and there," Doronio said.

Layne Richards, a 22-year-old liberal studies student at the University of Hawaii, said life is what you make of it -- and he's planning to make a difference.

"I'm not willing to accept the excuse that the economy is bad," Richards said. "I want to do something different."

The millennium will mean change, but no more than is expected when a student graduates, he said.

With a degree in Pacific business and a 3.8 grade point average, he said he's considering his options, including travel, a higher degree or work.

"I'm optimistic," he said. "It's the only way to look at it."

Noella Callejo, also the first in her family to graduate from college, said she thinks the turn of the century is a big deal.

"The millennium is seen as a time for expansion and innovation," said Callejo, a Brigham Young University-Hawaii senior. "I'm not sure where that's going to leave me."

Pondering her future, Callejo, 21, said she hasn't made any decisions about a career and wants to just make it to graduation next year. Many of her friends are in the same situation, but she is confident that when the time comes, she'll do well.

"I'm optimistic just because I've worked hard my whole life just to be who I am," Callejo said. "I've always gone after opportunities. I've always been proactive, so I'm not about to say the economy is bad and just give up."

The Kona resident earlier ran for Miss Hawaii and won enough scholarship money to attend college. Currently, she's editor of the college's newspaper.

Carrying about a 3.0 grade point average, Callejo said she could have done better, but didn't apply herself in the first two years of college.

"I didn't take college serious," she said. "I didn't realize the value of learning. I realized later that going to college just to learn skills that you're going to use on a job is a trend. Education in any form on any subject is always valuable. No education is ever wasted."

---

At-risk teens convey
hopes for future

By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

"I hope and pray that by the year 3000 that the human race will live in peace and harmony with each other and planet Earth."
-- Jason Allen, Olomana School student

---

A cure for cancer and AIDS, a world without violence and the continuation of the native Hawaiian race are some of the wishes for the future that Olomana School students will share with the rest of the country.

Twenty-five messages written by Olomana students will be included in the National Millennium Time Capsule. The design of the capsule and some of the contributions are scheduled to be unveiled at the opening ceremony of the three-day "America's Millennium" today in Washington, D.C.

The actual time capsule -- which will be completed in the spring and then exhibited and housed permanently at the National Archives -- will be opened again in 100 years.

"The students will have this very rare opportunity to be able to leave the reflections for their hopes for the future," said Olomana teacher Ellen Schroeder, Hawaii's 1998 Teacher of the Year. "They wanted to leave a real sincere and genuine message for future generations."

The White House Millennium Council invited state teachers of the year and their students to submit 25-word statements of their hopes for the future.

Olomana School serves at-risk youths from ages 13 to 18, many of whom are from the Hawaii Youth Correctional Center.

Schroeder said school officials were struck by the depth of the messages written by students, who sometimes enter this particular institution without much hope for a future.

"Many of them don't believe that they will live a long life," she said. "Many of them don't believe that they will live to be 30."

But the responses to the time capsule project left Schroeder and others optimistic.

"I guess the really biggest hope they had was that the violence would end and that this suffering would go away," she said. "They wanted the pain and suffering to go away. They have firsthand experience."

It's exactly the kind of future that student Novite Waiolama is looking forward to when he wrote: "My hope is that everyone will stop all the violence and make a better world. Our life is real short. You can die any time in your lifetime. Make it count."

Along with the four pages of written reflections, the school also was invited to submit one item to the capsule. They chose a 4-by-5-foot Hawaiian flag donated by Flags and Things.

"Most of them wanted a Hawaiian flag to be sent because of its connections to the past, and it's our state flag and it would endure as a symbol of the future," Schroeder said.

"Here, they are making history. That was the chicken-skin part for us."