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Aka Lehulehu (Office of Hawaiian Affairs Grant $180,000)

The purpose of Aka Lehulehu is to help upper-division undeclared undergraduate Native Hawaiian students attending UH Mānoa complete their Bachelor’s degrees by providing integrated career and research-focused internships. In keeping with the Hawaiian worldview of maintaining balance, the program is designed to be holistic in nature and encourage academic and life success through guidance and mentoring. Aka Lehulehu refers to the “shadow of the multitudes” or, more figuratively, “a well worn path.” That is, the mentor knows the path well and the student “shadows” the mentor. In this context, students will discover they have many mentors, sources of support, and guidance in their journey through higher education and beyond. As such, in addition to gaining valuable real world work experience, we also have students engage in activities which also help them to clarify personal values and interests, strengthen personal gifts, and foster self-reflection that will contribute to assisting in declaring a major and graduating within a 2-year time frame.

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