Jensine Naho‘opi‘i from Kāne‘ohe
Jensine graduated from our first Maritime Careers Exploration on April 15, 2014. Never missing a day, she was always enthusiasic to learn and experience as much as she could. She found a passion in sailing and was hired by Marimed to serve as a deckhand on SSV Makani Olu voyages. She was grateful for finding out about the maritime program which guided her to a scholarship toward additional maritime training. She enrolled in the Ship Repair and Fabrication program at Honolulu Community College. “The MCE Program in a nutshell was Awesome, FUN, Amazing, Educational, Hands On, Eye Opening, enlightening, productive, rewarding, challenging, an incredible experience and just an all in all BLESSING.”
Kekoa Ochmann from Ewa Beach
Kekoa graduated from our first Maritime Careers Exploration class which started on January 7, 2014. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. His strong work ethic during the ship haul out turned out to be important preparation. Pacific Shipyards International selected him to be one of the first interns from our program. After the 6-week internship, Kekoa was hired full time. We enjoy hearing from Kekoa whenever we visit for a field trip. “ The program ends with a week long sail around the Hawaiian Islands, that your class plans and prepares, which is definitely a once in a lifetime experience and I can’t stress enough how awesome it is. Furthermore, the relationships you gain with your class, crew, and staff, will absolutely help you along in the career of your choosing.”
Breeani "Bree" Sumera Lee
As a high school senior, Bree was one of just two students chosen to represent Hawai‘i at the United States Senate Youth Program and to receive a college scholarship, which provided a special opportunity to meet President Barack Obama, Senator Daniel Akaka and other notable individuals. Since then, Bree’s endeavors have brought her to ALU LIKE where we have been a part of her growing list of accomplishments, first as a participant in our ClassRoom Training (CRT) program and now as a worksite supervisor and resource for our community. She is now a college graduate, a wife, a mom, an entrepreneur and a philanthropist – her business, www.keaukahageneralstore.com, now has its own scholarship program! Here is a statement that she recently submitted:
“ALU LIKE was so helpful and proactive in helping to ensure I had the assistance and guidance that I needed. I was grateful to be a recipient of ALU LIKE assistance and graduated college with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and a Certificate in Women Studies. During college, my mom and I opened up a small store, Keaukaha General Store in Hilo. We worked tirelessly to understand how to get our little store up and moving, and reunited with ALU LIKE, specifically Mike Dias who has been helpful throughout my education and now helpful in our business. Since reconnecting with ALU LIKE, we are now a part of the ALU LIKE job-training program, where we do employment and training programs with students. We have had many participants that have done employment and job-training programs with us and some of them still work with us today, while others went away to college or embarked on their careers. We are blessed to have reunited and connected with ALU LIKE so that we can work together to not only help the keiki and haumana of Hawai‘i, but to reconnect to learn more about how we can make our business better to serve our community of Keaukaha the best way that we can.”