{"id":179982,"date":"2023-07-07T15:34:48","date_gmt":"2023-07-08T01:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=179982"},"modified":"2024-03-15T12:40:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T22:40:09","slug":"sophia-kaawa-aweau-windward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/07\/07\/sophia-kaawa-aweau-windward\/","title":{"rendered":"From prison to social work, Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr> changes student&#8217;s life"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_41710\"  width=\"676\" height=\"380\"  data-origwidth=\"676\" data-origheight=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w6SamJAnR2w?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Sophia Kaawa-Aweau\u2013Student Success Speech\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>&ldquo;For the majority of my life I was in and out of prison. Domestic violence, crime and trauma had me on a total path of destruction. Four years ago I was sitting in a prison cell filled with feelings of guilt and shame. I couldn&#8217;t look at myself. I couldn&#8217;t care for my kids, and their cries would haunt me day in and day out,&rdquo; said Sophia Kaawa-Aweau.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_179984\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-179984\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/winward-sophia-kaawa-300x169.jpeg\" alt=\"Sophia Kaawa giving her speech\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-179984\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/winward-sophia-kaawa-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/winward-sophia-kaawa-130x73.jpeg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/winward-sophia-kaawa.jpeg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-179984\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo credit: Nakoa Camvel)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/windward.hawaii.edu\/\">Windward Community College<\/a> 2023 spring commencement speaker was describing her life prior to contact with the college. Her speech at the ceremony in May was posted to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CsR_6sEru0f\/?hl=en\">Instagram<\/a>, and by late June had been viewed more than 15,000 times, with more than 150 shares.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I was failing as a mom and I failed my mother, who had to carry [my children] through my prison [sentence] and my addiction. Getting arrested was the best thing that happened to me. It gave me time to reflect and regain my self-esteem, through prison, and Windward Community College courses,&rdquo; Kaawa-Aweau said. &ldquo;I took a chance and studied hard and passed all the courses that were offered. I then received my psychosocial developmental studies certificate and this is where I felt inspired to go back to school and continue my education. As soon as I came out of prison I enrolled at <abbr>WCC<\/abbr>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>According to Kaawa-Aweau, college was life changing. She said she gained personal knowledge and awareness from every course. At Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr>, she also acquired the tools to help to grow into who she is today. She graduated summa cum laude with associate\u2019s degrees in liberal arts and Hawaiian studies.<\/p>\n<p>She said, &ldquo;I can look at myself today. I can care for my kids. I&#8217;m not a failing mom and I&#8217;m making it up to my mother. I will be someone for my kids and my mom to depend on.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Sophia\u2019s story is a true testament to the supportive aloha of a Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr> education. Through services like our <span aria-label=\"Puuhonua\">Pu&#699;uhonua<\/span> Program in incarcerated facilities and our TRiO Student Support Services program on campus, our faculty and staff serve students so they can achieve their dreams despite huge barriers,&rdquo; said Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr> Chancellor Ardis Eschenberg. &ldquo;Sophia never gave up; she is an inspiration to the entire community.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Kaawa-Aweau\u2019s story doesn\u2019t end with turning things around at Windward <abbr>CC<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Today, I&#8217;m graduating with honors and I will continue to pursue my degree in social work because of my personal experiences and because of my growth in myself and in my education,&rdquo; said Kaawa-Aweau, who was accepted into the social work program at <abbr>ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½<\/abbr> M&#257;noa and plans to eventually pursue a master\u2019s degree. &ldquo;I want to help women who have been where I&#8217;ve been because I know that the struggle is real, and I believe that education helped me regain my life in ways that I cannot explain.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8212;By Kelli Trifonovitch<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Commencement speaker Sophia Kaawa-Aweau was in and out of prison before Windward Community College helped her turn her life around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[234,1500,1518,660,1453,71,56,66,1626],"class_list":["post-179982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-commencement","tag-hawaiian-studies","tag-liberal-arts","tag-student-recognition","tag-trio-student-success-services","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-video-2","tag-windward-community-college","tag-women-of-uh","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179982"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180220,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179982\/revisions\/180220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}