New college offers
rare opportunity
to 2 in isles

Star-Bulletin staff

Leighton Ige of Iolani School and Cheryl Inouye of Pearl City High School have the chance to help develop a new engineering college.

They will join 29 other students this fall to develop the student life program and new curriculum for the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Mass., the first new engineering college to be started in the United States in more than 40 years. The campus has yet to be finished.

After a year of working on development, they will form the core of the first freshman class when the college officially opens in the fall of 2002.

The core group of "Olin Partners" was chosen through an intensive admission process. From its 663 applicants, the college invited 116 students to two "candidate weekends" and observed their interactions in interviews and team-based activities.

Academic achievement was not the only factor in their selection. The school also sought evidence of creativity, teamwork and broad interests, qualities not always associated with engineers.

Ige and Inouye have been awarded scholarships worth $170,000.

They will take a program that will include study, community service, leadership training and a trip to France during the first "partner year." The scholarships will cover the "partner year" and the four years of the regular baccalaureate program.