For Precious Kahokuloa, Kauaʻi Community College is more than a place of learning—it’s a place of transformation for the mother of four and her ʻohana (family).
Kahokuloa started working in the hotel industry soon after graduating from Kapaʻa High School, and had three sons by the time she was 21. College wasn’t even a consideration.
Decades later, it was her own children who inspired her to pursue higher education. Her two younger sons attended Kauaʻi CC through the Waiʻaleʻale Project, a UH initiative that supports non-college-bound and first-time students with financial assistance and wraparound services. Her oldest son Cadence had gone straight to UH Hilo.
“My kids encouraged me,” she said. “They’re the ones that helped me to feel like I can do it.”
Waiʻaleʻale Project help, inspiration
Kahokuloa saw firsthand the difference the Waiʻaleʻale Project made in her sons’ lives—creating a path to college they may not have otherwise taken. Inspired by their example, she enrolled at Kauaʻi CC in 2023.
“When I came into Waiʻaleʻale, and saw all the support that they gave them, it was unreal,” she said.
Lahea Salazar, program coordinator for the Waiʻaleʻale Project and Kīpaipai Program, said there was something special about Kahokuloa from the first moment she met her.
“Precious is exceptionally creative…and is always giving back with an authentic care for others around her,” Salazar said. “Now she is a peer mentor for our Waiʻaleʻale Project and Kīpaipai Program (which supports students in their first year of college), where she is a guiding light helping others succeed in their lives.”
Kahokuloa said, “Now I can help better. I understand it more, and I know how important it is to go to college first.”
‘Almost like family’
Son Matthew Kahokuloa, Jr. will earn a master’s degree in botany from UH Mānoa this summer and has his sights set on a PhD. He, his brothers and his mother also serve as role models for her youngest child, daughter Tierra, who will be a sophomore at Kapaʻa High School in the fall.
As a liberal arts major, Kahokuloa is thriving academically, and has created a new logo for the Waiʻaleʻale Project. She is on track to graduate in 2027 and plans to continue on to UH West Oʻahu’s Creative Media program, offered online through Kauaʻi CC.
“I’m so grateful to UH and Waiʻaleʻale, just for everything,” Kahokuloa said. “You just have to try. People might be intimidated, like how I was, but it’s like a warm support and almost like family.”
—By Kelli Abe Trifonovitch
