The Summer Bridge Program at Kapiolani Community College (KCC) epitomizes the College’s motto, adopted from Queen Kapiolani royal seal, “Kulia i ka nu‘u, strive for the highest.

Through the Summer Bridge Program, High school 11th and 12th graders are engaged in multiple activities designed to promote group involvement, revisit and strengthen personal knowledge in math and science and to instill individual confidence. The goal of the program is to recruit Native Hawaiian students to Kapiolani Community College and to the University of Hawaii (UH).

The focus of the program is to encourage the students to revisit their high school mathematics education to optimize their placement on the UH Compass Placement Test (CPT). One of the very important factor effecting recruitment into and retention within STEM education is the daunting and exhaustive sequence of math courses required of all STEM majors, particularly if the student is started in remedial math courses. One of the questions explored in this program is If students were to systematically revisit their math skills prior to taking the UH CPT would they be able to recapture the requisite knowledge to place higher on the UH CPT? A second question is Can we personalize this math program at multiple math levels and make it fun, innovative and tied into other STEM activities?