University of Hawai'i University Relations Media & Publications Honolulu, HI 96822	(808) 956-8856 Telephone (808) 956-3441 Facsimile ur@hawaii.edu E-Mail
Contact: Amy Agbayani, (808) 956-4567	Air Date: November 19, 1997

Operation Manong celebrates 25 years at UH Twenty-five years ago, Operation Manong was created to help underrepresented students overcome barriers to higher education. For OM founder Amy Agbayani and her volunteers, that meant going to schools and communities with the highest percentage of minorities underrepresented at the university. They made efforts to outreach children of families displaced by plantation closings. Over time, they included support services to other minority groups, like Koreans, Samoans and Southeast Asians-immigrant or local. Today, Operation Manong offers several programs aimed at helping underrepresented students advance to and succeed in higher education. For immigrants or children of immigrants, language or verbal difficulties often hinder progress in a normal curriculum. Operation Manong continues to place tutors in areas with a high percentage of minority students and also act as positive ethnic role models. Operation Manong also helps the Department of Education ensure that minority students are given the best possible chance to succeed in their own schools by encouraging positive, culturally sensitive learning environments. This is the University Report, I'm Tracy Orillo Donovan.

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