With a pressing need for nurses on Kaua‘i, in Hawai‘i and in the nation, it “hurts” Peggy Cha, Kaua‘i Community College chancellor, to have to turn away qualified nursing students, she said. But that is the case again this semester
With a pressing need for nurses on Kaua‘i, in Hawai‘i and in the nation, it “hurts” Peggy Cha, Kaua‘i Community College chancellor, to have to turn away qualified nursing students, she said.
But that is the case again this semester in the school’s Academy for Future Nurses, as qualified students had to be turned away due to a lack of enough instructors.
It hurts even more, she said, because she and others know that the KCC nursing program is “great,” and respected on this island and across Hawai‘i.
And while official statistics from the University of Hawai‘i show that enrollment at KCC dropped by 2.8 percent, to 1,060 students from 1,091 in spring 2004, the actual final total might approach or slightly exceed last spring’s figure, she said.
Some students registered after the UH enrollment count for KCC was reported to UH leaders in midJanuary, and more new students are expected to enroll next week when a new program designed to enhance the teaching skills of publicschool science teachers is launched, she said.
The science initiative is customized for state Department of Education teachers who want to learn other ways to teach science in publicschool classrooms, and has been tailored by Dr. Marshall Mock and Dennis Chun, KCC instructors, to meet on weekends and nights so as not to disrupt the normal teaching days of the DOE staff, Cha said.
The class combines Hawaiian studies, Hawaiian navigation and traditional science, and Mock and Chun volunteered to teach the class, she said. “We’re trying to help them teach science in context” that children will understand and grasp, Cha added.
A similar program was launched at KCC to improve ways math instruction is delivered in the public schools, which continue to face a chronic shortage of qualified math and science teachers, she explained.
Another new initiative this spring is an online, distancelearning initiative designed to train teachers at KCC, Kaua‘i High and Waimea High on how to teach photonics, or the study of very small objects.
Armed with a National Science Foundation grant that instructor Francis Takahashi successfully wrote for, and a partnership with the New England Board of Higher Education in Boston and Three Rivers Community College in Connecticut, KCC leaders have launched the online lessons for the local teachers, which they may access on their own schedules on campus or at home if they have Internet access, Cha said. Photon 2, the class, deals with photon technology, and is aimed at increasing the number of hightechnology opportunities for high school and college students.
KCC has a laser lab where handson learning in this new technology takes place.
Statewide, UH campuses have 47,479 students enrolled for spring semester, and another 34,000 in noncredit programs, for a spring enrollment growth of 1.4 percent compared to spring semester last year, a UH spokesperson said.
Of the 10 campuses, enrollment is up at four, with UHManoa leading the bunch in terms of numerical growth, 713, to a total of 19,161. Hawai‘i Community College saw the largest percentage increase, 7.9 percent, or 171 students, to 2,336. Hawai‘i Community College and Maui Community College were the only community colleges reporting enrollment increases for spring semester, with KCC, Honolulu Community College, Kapi‘olani Community College, Leeward Community College and Windward Community College all seeing enrollment drops this semester.
UHWest O‘ahu also saw an enrollment drop, not surprising since there is a low statewide unemployment rate and lots of available jobs, the UH spokesperson said.
