“It is the most incredible feeling to be back home,” said Susan Kazama, who was appointed Chancellor of Hawaii Community College in July 2024. Born and raised in Hilo, Kazama returned home for the first time in nearly 40 years to serve as an interim member. Hawaii CC Chancellor a year earlier.

Hawaii CC The fall semester began with a faculty and staff meeting in August, where Kazama ʻawa and participated in a hula.

Integration of Native Hawaiian values

“We want to make sure that we integrate Native Hawaiian values ​​as part of the curriculum, as part of the values ​​and as part of the culture of the college,” Kazama said, noting that more than half of the students there are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. “It’s really important that we make sure that we help our keiki and our Native Hawaiians succeed on this island and in the institution.”

She has already gotten to know the host culture in many ways by joining the Halau campus and working for a cultural exchange through the Hawaii Pāmaomao program in summer.

“For me, it’s not just hula,” she said. “It was about learning about the culture and the values, because one of the things they taught us at the I Ola Hāloa Center for Hawaii Life Styles is more about the integrity and respect that you learn from the hula messages that come from the dance. It is about how to respect the land, how to ʻāinahow to respect people, how to ask instead of taking.”

Thriving on the island

Hula is one of the Hawaii CCAnother key goal is to develop and expand programs that focus on building a skilled workforce across all industries.

“This means that we are able to offer internships and training to students on this island – 78% of the students who Hawaii CC stay on this island. To me that means we need to build the workforce in our community,” Kazama said. “We need to make sure they live here, stay here and get a job that will provide them with a living wage, because they need to be able to succeed on this island.”

This can be a challenge for the large geographic area covered by the Manono campus in Hilo, the Kō Education Center in North Hawaii and the Pālamanui campus in West Hawaii. Kazama said Hawaii CC This semester, they may experiment with shorter eight-week courses to reduce the time required for some certifications.

Promote sustainability

A third goal is to promote the sustainability of the land and culture and to learn ways to grow and thrive on that land. Hawaii Island. She refers to the college’s three-hectare Mauliola farm, where agricultural students produce fresh produce for the Hawaii Food Basket, with a geographical and programmatic expansion of the agricultural programs in sight.

“I grew up as a farmer’s daughter,” Kazama said. “My parents both came from farmers – my mother from a 100-acre farm in ʻĀhualoa and my father is from Pepeʻekeobut has a degree in agriculture and has always grown his own produce.”

She said the campus is undergoing exciting geographic and programmatic expansion.

“Stronger together”

The key to Hawaii CCThe success of is the people, says Kazama, who Hawaii Iceland, after studying at four other universities Hawaii Campus grounds.

At Hawaii CCeveryone is greeted with aloha, she said, and everyone makes an effort to go a little further. For example, if a visitor asks where the cafeteria is, they are escorted there rather than just shown the right way. Ultimately, Kazama says, it’s everyone working together in that spirit that makes the campus successful.

“Together we are stronger,” said Kazama. “We must help each other and live the community spirit that we are all proud of. Hawaii CC.”