With an increase in unemployment and hunger due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawai‘i Community College Culinary Arts students in Hilo are pitching in and helping prepare meals for Hawai'i Island residents.

As part of their classwork, the college students have been cooking meals for keiki at a local charter school Tuesdays and Thursdays this fall semester. And last Friday they prepared 600 meals of luau stew, salad and rice for residents in the Puna District. 

International Education Week is November 16-19 and features games, trivia, presentations, hosts from around the community, food demonstrations, and fun cultural presentations to help celebrate different cultures.

For pre-recorded videos and links to live zoom events, go to https://hawaii.hawaii.edu/iew2020. 

The events this year have been organized by students in the HOST 261: Meeting, Convention and Event Management class.

We interviewed Allegra Petras, who returned to college after two decades away from higher education and enrolled in the Hawai'i CC Accounting program. She talked about the experience of returning to college and being a Hawai'i CC student. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

A Hawai‘i Community College student is the $25,000 grand prize winner of a local business plan competition.

Amanda Gilroy, an entrepreneur behind Mermaid Mushrooms and a Natural Science student at the Hawai‘i CC - Pālamanui campus in Kona, was named the winner of the HIplan Hawai’i Island Business Plan Competition on October 24.

“I still can’t believe it,” Gilroy said after her win.

Kealaka'i “Ala” Matsumoto, a 2011 Hawai‘i Community College graduate, is enrolled at the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, one of the most prestigious vet schools in the country. 

Matsumoto’s journey to this point surprises even him at times. He went from an underachieving high school student to doctoral candidate; from Hilo, Hawai'i to Ames, Iowa; from an academic and career path in social services to one in veterinary medicine. 

Hawai‘i Community College - Pālamanui is pleased to announce a series of online workshops that will be delivered via Zoom in summer 2021 for people interested in learning more about what the Kona campus offers and how to enroll for the Fall 2021 semester. 

The “Discover Pālamanui” workshops kick off Monday, June 21, with an information session about the Early College/Running Start programs.