Kua’ana Students - University of Hawaii

The Kua’ana Student Services Program of the University of Hawaii, whose Director is Ms. Ku’umealoha Gomes, was established on October of 1988 on recommendation of the Hawaiian Studies Task Force in the Ka’u Report of 1986. It was to address the under representation of students of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Since 1988, Kuaʻana has served thousands of Hawaiian students with academic support student services that include need-based tuition waivers, malama aina activites, an annual financial aid fair to allow students to interact face to face with financial aid, tuition waiver and scholarship resources on and off the Manoa campus.  In addition, students may visit the Kuaʻana office to speak with staff about academic related concerns. Kuaʻana also forwards to the Hawaiian students information on the availability of jobs, internship, and scholarships.One example of Kua’ana’s malama aina activities was a recent visit by Kua’ana students to the Kalaeloa Heritage Park within the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station.  They were provided with a history of how the park came to be as part of the closure of the Barbers Point NAS, conveyance to the State of Hawaii Community Development Authority and lease to the private non-profit Kalaeloa Heritage and Legacy Foundation. They were shared the cultural history of the heritage park and a place once known as Kualaka’i. The students were provided with a guided site tour of the park and its many archaeological sites of Tahitian/Hawaiian origin. They finished the day by re-mulching the interpretive trail. Mahalo to Kua’ana.