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  • Maui High Next Steps to Your Future group photo

Maui high school students gained access and support to attend college thanks to a $50,000 grant to the University of Hawai‘i Foundation for the Next Steps to Your Future program in 2021.

Central Pacific Bank Foundation (CPB Foundation) has contributed two grants totaling $100,000 to support education in Maui County — $50,000 each to the Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders (CTL) and UH Foundation. Both grants are exclusively in support of Maui County high school and college students.

Next Steps

Building on Next Steps to Your Future 2020’s success, the 2021 initiative served more than 1,000 graduating Hawaiʻi public high school seniors statewide this past summer, targeting those who were undecided about their post-high school plans. The initiative connected these students to postsecondary education, training and/or employment through:

  • Hawaiʻi P-20 Summer Advising Initiative: Connected graduating high school seniors with Next Steps Advisors to provide customized advising and “nudges” to help them make informed decisions and take actionable steps towards achieving their post-high plans.
  • UH Community Colleges Summer Career Exploration Classes: Supported students’ transition with career-themed Next Steps: Career Explorations classes to explore career options and discover the education and training needed to reach their goals. Classes also prepared students to complete a math placement test and onboarded students to complete fall semester registration.

“Hawaiʻi needs all of our high school graduates to understand that continuing their education is not only possible but is the best way they can achieve their potential, especially as we recover from this devastating pandemic,” said UH President David Lassner. “This generous grant from the CPB Foundation has helped us offer every graduating Maui County public high school senior with the impetus and support they need, including $500 scholarships for each participating student, to set each of them on a path to a more positive future for themselves, their families and their communities through higher education.”

Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders

CTL is building a pipeline to engage, equip and empower young leaders in Hawaiʻi. Leadership development programs are being embedded within the school day at Maui County public high schools, starting with Maui High School. A diverse group of students are learning the essentials of leadership and communication, and will design and implement projects that make a difference in their school. After this year, CTL will continue to provide opportunities for multi-year leadership growth, even post-high school.

“We are pleased to support these two organizations with the common goal of developing our future young leaders on Maui,” said Catherine Shimizu, assistant vice president of CPB’s Maui commercial banking center. “We are hoping that coordination between CTL and UH will foster even stronger results for Maui’s high school students.”

Questions? / More Information

If you would like to learn how you can support UH students and programs like this, please contact us at 808-376-7800 or send us a message.

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The University of Hawai‘i Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawai‘i System. The mission of the University of Hawai‘i Foundation is to unite donors’ passions with the University of Hawai‘i’s aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawai‘i and our future generations. uhfoundation.org