Papahana Wailau Ola
Papahana Wailau Ola is an online support program for transfer students entering the University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu. Students will have the opportunity to attend culturally relevant workshops, mentoring, tutoring, and academic support services solely online in addition to their regular distance education degree or certificate program. This program is unique as it embraces ʻōlelo, nohona, and ʻike Hawaiʻi to foster a holistic approach that is inclusive of Native Hawaiian values and principles. The Papahana Wailau Ola is committed to building upon cohort students’ understanding and connection to Hawaiian culture in navigating their educational journey here at the University.
Ka Inoa ʻo Wailau Ola
Wailau Ola brings together moʻolelo or histories from both the Koʻolau region where Windward Community College resides and the Honouliuli region where the UH West Oʻahu. This traditional way of naming a project like this holds importance from a Hawaiian perspective and also indicates the powerful future of this grant. Wailau is a bundle made of leaves that is used to protectively transport paʻiʻai–unmixed, hardened starch pounded from a tuber called kalo–from one place to another to be reconstituted into poi, a paste that is a staple in the Hawaiian diet. Metaphorically, this poi, the heart and soul of a Hawaiian meal, represents the center course or ʻai for a meal. When Native Hawaiians proclaim of a meal, “ʻAi me ka iʻa”, they recognize it as the highest desirable traditional food pairing–‘ai being the poi and the central foundational dish of a meal and iʻa being the fish or the complement dish to the ʻai.
This name takes on additional meaning because Windward Community College is located at the foot of the peak of Keahiakahoe, a peak that is named after Kahoe, a mahiʻai kalo or expert kalo farmer. UH West Oʻahu is located near Kaihuopalaʻai, an estuary bay where the ʻamaʻama fish (mullet) would spawn and eventually travel to the Koʻolau region where Keahiakahoe and Windward Community College sit. Just as the wailau is used to gently carry paʻiʻai to eventually be paired with iʻa, Wailau Ola symbolizes the delivery of students from their foundational beginnings at Windward Community College to UH West Oʻahu where they are fed and nourished in order to thrive, or in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi–OLA! Thus the name Wailau Ola embraces this pathway all that it represents for the future of Native Hawaiians, not only in these two regions but across these islands and those who now live elsewhere.
Program Offerings
In addition to the selection of your Distance Education pathway, being a Wailau Ola student provides the unique experiences to engage in the following:
- Cohort model program
- Programs specific tutors
- Hawaiian language and cultural relevant course offerings
- Specialized advising on academic and personal goals
- Career and graduate school services
- Culturally relevant workshops
- Professional development opportunities
Haumāna Kuleana
Students will be responsible for engaging in the following experiences:
- Bi-weekly culturally relevant workshops
- Monthly group advising check-in meetings
- Semesterly individual advising appointment
- Native Hawaiian and/or Hawaiʻi community relevant capstone
Eligibility & Application Process
Eligibility:
- AA degree from WCC, other UH CC, or regionally accredited institution
- Minimum of 2.0 GPA
- Attend as a degree-seeking student at University of Hawai‘i–West Oʻahu/li>
* Transfer students without an AA may be eligible for acceptance and a hybrid experience on a case by case basis.
Application Process:
- Register for a Hoʻolauna Informational Session.
- Gain Admission to UH West Oʻahu
- Accept auto-admissions offer through STAR and designate UH West Oʻahu as your chosen campus.
- Apply to UH West Oʻahu.
- Complete program KUALI form.
- Attend ‘Aha Wailau Ola Orientation.
- Schedule your first individual advising appointment.
Distance Education Programs
- Accounting
- Finance
- General Business Administration
- Hospitality and Tourism
- Management
- Marketing
- General Creative Media
- English
- Hawaiian Pacific Studies
- History
- Community Health
- Disaster Preparedness and Emergency management
- General Public Administration
- Health Care Administration
- Justice Administration
- Long-Term Care
- Early Childhood Education
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Hawaiian and Indigneous Health and Healing
- Health Information Management
- Middle-Level Education
- Secondary Education
- Hawaiian Language
- Hawaiian Pacific Studies
- Hawaiian and Indigneous Health and Healing
- Substance Abuse and addiction studies
- Sustainability issues
- Risk management and Insurance
- Health Care Administration
- Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management
- Long-Term Care
- Labor Studies
Transfer Students Pathway
Highlighted Pathway for Hawaiʻiloa Transfer Students
| BA in Humanities: Hawaiian-Pacific Studies Certificate in Hawaiian Language (Certificate courses are in italics*) |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1: Fall | Year 1: Spring | Year 2: Fall | Year 2: Spring |
| ENG 200: Composition II | HIST 376: 20th Century Protest and Decolonization | HPST 384: Hawaiʻi from European Contact to the Overthrow | HIST 488: Twentieth Century Hawaiʻi |
| PACS 108: Introduction to Pacific Island Studies | HPST 304: Hawaiian-Pacific Traditions | HPST 440: Kānāwai Hawaiʻi | HPST 483: Archaeology of Hawaii History |
| HIST 288: Survey of Pacific Islands History | HUM 300: Humanities Seminar | HPST 461: Traditional Art of Hawai‘i (Alternate every fall with ^^ of Pacific) | HPST 450: Pacific Islanders Diaspora Experiences |
| HPST 478: Hawaiian Mythology II (alternate every fall with ^^ I) | HPST 383: Aloha ʻĀina: Concepts, Discourse, and Movements | HAW 321: Conversational Hawaiian* | HPST 490/491: Senior Practicum/Project |
| HAW 301: Third Level Hawaiian I* | HAW 302: Third Level Hawaiian II* | HAW 401: Fourth Level Hawaiian I* | HAW 402: Fourth Level Hawaiian II* |
For more information, please contact us at phone at (808) 689-2938 or email at pwo@hawaii.edu.