 Think Tech Hawaii. Civil engagement lives here. Backboard. OK. We're back. We're live for the 4 o'clock block. I'm Jay Fiedel on a given Monday, and I want to say that this is education matters, because education does matter. It matters in Hawaii, you know, in many ways. We haven't kept up with educational trends in the country, educational requirements for citizens. And we need to do that here. We need to make a workforce that creates entrepreneurial activity, that builds a better economy, especially an innovation economy. And if you look around and you do look around, you'll see that we are not as well educated as we should be. And so we have a student today, a student that kind of—I don't know if I should call you an activist student. Maybe you are an activist. Yeah. OK. She agreed. She's a person, kid. And she is a student doing very well at HPU, and we have her to talk about her own educational experience and her views of education in the state. Welcome to the show. Thank you. I'm glad to be here. Yeah. So tell us about your own background. Are you from Hawaii? Where is your training before Hawaii? What are you doing now to get educated? Well, I'm originally not from Hawaii. I'm actually a military brat, so I spend most of my life overseas in Japan. But when I was around the age of 15 years old, I moved to the D.C. area. I moved to Reston, and that's where I went to high school at. So I went to an amazing high school. It was a public school, but it was very diverse. It was in a wonderful neighborhood. And yeah, my education there was amazing. After I graduated from high school, I came here to HPU to continue my education, and I'm getting my bachelor's degree in international business, and I'm also minoring in Spanish. OK. That would impact some of that. Mm-hmm. You had a great high school education. Yeah. What high school was it? Southlake's High School. Reston, Virginia. Public high school? Private high school. Public. Hmm. What was great about it? The education was absolutely amazing. Virginia actually has amazing public schools. I had amazing teachers. Somebody who was actually near and dear to my heart was my counselor. She wasn't my teacher, obviously, but anything that I needed, any classes I needed help with, she always made sure she had the resources that I needed in order to be successful. Because every teacher that was at that school, you could tell that they wanted to be there and they cared about the students and they wanted to see them succeed. So that's really what made my education amazing, or what made me love my high school. It's great to hear you say that, you know. Not everybody says that about their high school experience, yeah. So here you are, and you come, you know, you're fresh out of high school, I guess, and you come to HPU. Why HPU? Well, to be honest, I just really wanted to get as far away as possible and why not go to Hawaii. So it was just more so why not. I was young at the time. I was 18. I really had no reason to stay in the D.C. area. I had never been to Hawaii before. I hate the cold, so this was perfect for me. And then also HPU, the International Business Program, is phenomenal. And I always knew that's what I wanted to go to college for. So it was like the perfect thing for me to actually go to HPU. And why the International Relations Program? Why did that appeal to you? International Business. I always loved business. I actually just always had a love for it, everything that had to do with business. I took IB business classes when I was a junior in high school. So I always knew I wanted to go to school for business and just living overseas and traveling in different states. I just, I wanted to travel, so I just thought International Business was the perfect major for me. So your time in Japan really led up to your interest in international business. Is there any particular kind of business that appeals to you? I mean, when you think about international business, what kind of business are you thinking about? More so education, business in different countries. So my overall dream scheme and just the overall plan of my life is I really want to work for the World Bank Group. And I want to go to different countries and help kids be able to get the education they need and have the access to education better their lives. Because my parents always told me that education is the only ticket out of poverty. And I truly wholeheartedly believe that. So I want to make sure that other children, other people in different countries have the opportunity to go to school. That's noble. Thank you. Good for you. Thank you. How well did you do in high school? I don't remember exactly, it was like three years ago, but I was an average student. I know I wasn't like a straight A student, but I was average. I got A's and B's. The only class I remember I did terrible in was Algebra 2. That's the only class I could just distinctly remember doing really bad in. But for the most part I was an average student. I participated in a lot of extracurricular activities. I worked, I was just an average student I would say. What kind of extracurricular activities? Because we're going to talk about some more of your current extracurricular activities. What did you do in high school? I was a part of FBLA. So that was actually the only business program I was ever a part of. And then also something that a lot of people don't know about me is I used to be a Tahitian dancer. I've been dancing ever since I was like 10. So when I was 16 and I was living in the DC area at the time, they don't have any Tahitian dance classes there whatsoever. So I decided to start my own business and I started teaching dance classes all around the area and it's actually very successful. I taught in Baltimore, taught in DC, I taught in Northern Virginia. So that's actually what I was focused on and that was more so what my extracurricular activities were. Do you think you have a penchant for teaching? Yes and no. I don't see myself being like an elementary school teacher or a middle school teacher, but I do see myself giving certain classes. I like sharing my experiences and I like helping people. I don't really see teaching, but just more of I guess like type of consulting work is what I see myself doing, but not like a teacher in the classroom. Okay, okay. All right, now here we are in HPU. Three years ago, you were a junior now. So how has it been? What have you done? So HPU has been amazing. My first semester was one of the hardest. I was just going through a lot of hard times. I was young. Like I said, I was 18. I just, I wasn't used to being so far from my parents. It was just hard adjusting going to school. So my first semester actually was a really hard semester for me at HPU and I didn't do that well. But after that, I started doing really, really well and HPU has been amazing. A lot of the classes are very challenging, but HPU is really good with providing resources in order for the students to be successful. So the staff here, I can't stress that enough. They're absolutely amazing. I can tell that HPU really takes time to consider who they hire. So the staff has helped me so much. And since I want to say my freshman year, it's been an amazing journey being a student here. So what are your favorite, what have your favorite classes and teachers been in HPU over the past couple, three years? So my favorite teacher in my favorite class, top of the board, top of everything. I would have to say Dr. Fawn. She's a political science teacher. She is absolutely amazing just because I could tell that she wants to be like, she wants to work here. She's very passionate about what she does. So in political science, she talked about problems that she focused on problems that were current day and things that the students were interested in. And she always had open discussions to hear our point of view. So she's been an amazing teacher. I love her. I wish I could take more classes by her. I don't actually think I have enough time on my schedule. But she's been, honestly, I can't stress her enough. And my academic advisor, Ms. Coveo, she's like amazing. Like, I got actually, I actually got switched three times with my academic advisor. When I first got here, I had one academic advisor, then she moved, then I had a second one, then she moved, and now I have her. And she's been my academic advisor for years now. And like during the summer, she's calling me to talk like, how are you doing? During the summer, hey, that's completely voluntary, isn't it? Oh yeah, definitely. She's absolutely amazing. Like I can't stress that enough. Even if I just want to talk because something went wrong, she's there for me. So she's just, yeah, she's not a teacher, but yes. Anybody else you want to mention? And then you're the course you want to mention? No, not at the top of my head. Okay, what about Spanish? I actually haven't taken any classes yet here at HBU. I'm doing an online class through my community college back home, but I'm not taking like any like classes here at HBU yet. So I'll actually be studying abroad next year in Peru, and I'll be going. Peru, did you say? Yes, Peru, Lima, Peru. I'll be taking classes in the country there at a partner's school. That's your senior year next year. So you'll be spending your senior year abroad. This is a regular program that you can do that people do? Yes, exactly. So HBU has a lot of study abroad programs to choose from. There's like only, there's over 70 countries. I believe that you can choose from. This past summer I actually went to Morocco to teach English. So with HBU, actually I went through one of their programs. So yeah, I will be going to Peru with a partner's school at HBU. Oh, that's great. That's great. Yeah. So what about scholarships? What are you great, what are you, what's your grade point at HBU? I need to know so I can match that against, you know, your zeal on education. So my GPA is around a 3.2, 3.25, 3.3. Right now I'm focused on trying to raise my GPA. So like I said that first semester I was here. Oh God, it was, it was just completely terrible. You know, it's completely my fault. I can't blame the school. But I was just like, school wasn't my first priority at the time. So right now I'm just focused on trying to raise my GPA. But honestly with HBU, when it comes to study abroad programs, when it comes to scholarships, you really want to make sure your GPA at the very least is a 3.0. So yeah. So you're on a scholarship? A slight one. Yeah, a slight one, okay. Yeah, I can't go into details about it, but I'm on a slight one with HBU. Yeah, okay. Yeah. So you're going to graduate what, a year from this coming May, June? Yeah. So I'm actually focused on trying to graduate earlier, which will be the winter of 2019. So if everything just works out perfectly, I'll be graduating around that time. But if not, then I'm just spring 2020. That's what I'm looking at graduating, but basically like, yes, a year from now. You like the HBU campus, the downtown experience? No, nothing. Everyone would be wanting to be like... What, do you want green grass? Is that what? Yeah, I actually want an actual college campus. And I don't want to talk negatively about my school because I'm really proud to be an HBU shark. But I do not like the campus. I've had a lot of problems just walking here by myself. So I do think HBU has a lot to improve when it comes to our actual downtown campus, when it comes to safety and making sure kids actually feel like they're actually at a college campus rather than just going to random buildings and classrooms. But it is what it is, you know. HBU is working on it. I know we'll be getting a new campus because they're moving the lowest side. It changes in the making, yeah. So, you know, you told me before the show began that you have no problem in school, that you're a good student, that you can maintain a high grade point of average without really working that hard. Am I right? Mm-hmm. That sounds about right, yeah. Okay, with all of that, you have spare time, and you have some really interesting extracurricular activities. Yes, I do. May I say activist extracurricular activities? Can you tell us about that? You could say that. Yeah, you could say that. Okay. So I do have two organizations that I started with HBU. So the first organization is called the Young Minorities Professionals Association. So what it does is it focuses on trying to get not only minority students, but just raise the graduation rate at HBU all together. And we also hold classes on racism and stereotyping, if it was to happen to you in the workplace and how to deal with it correctly and appropriately. And we also provide resources to students if they were to need it. And then my second organization that I have is called Future Business Leaders of Hawaii. So I started with the Entrepreneurship Club. I'm a part of that. It's an amazing club, by the way. And what they did is they're like, we each get like our own projects that we have to come up with. And so for mine, education, you know, began, so I love education. So I decided to start this program to help the youth in Hawaii, specifically juniors and seniors at public high schools here. I'm going to go there and teach business and marketing classes and also talk about my experience as a college student in hopes to get high school students to go to college. Both of these organizations, you founded, no? Yes, I started them myself. Did you find them alone or did you find them with groups of others? So the Young Minorities Professional Association, I started it on my own. I originally got the idea from talking actually with my Dr. Vaughn. She's the political science teacher I mentioned earlier. So she told me just about the statistics of the school, or of school in general. And actually, minority students at college are sometimes more likely to drop out of school just because, like, even if they have their tuition paid for, just because a lot of times they don't have that sense of belonging. And at HPU, it's a very diverse school, but we don't have that many, like, black students in general. So at first, I was going to do, like, a black student union, and I was like, no, I don't want to do that. I want to include everybody. So who's a minority for purposes of this organization? The minorities. Well, the organization is for all minority, I'm not going to say all minorities. The organization is for all students in general. I'm not going to single, oh, because you're this, you can't come. I would never do that. It's for all students in general. But it originally started because minority students at HPU, unfortunately, if you're not wider Asian, the chance of you graduating is very low. And I'm trying to boost that and get us to graduate from the school. Okay, so, and the future business leaders of Hawaii, that's the one that gets you out, huh? You're out into the neighborhoods. Yes, so, yes, that's the one. I'm actually going to be going to public schools, public high schools in Hawaii. And I'll be going to talk to seniors and juniors at the high school to get them to, like, you know, go to college and also teach business and marketing classes just to get them involved and to see what it's like to continue your education after high school. How time-consuming is it to run two nonprofit, quote, activist organizations like this? It's very time-consuming, very, very time-consuming. But to be honest, both of these programs and both of these organizations, it's very, very, very close to my heart. Because I didn't have a hard life growing up whatsoever, like, you know. You didn't do this in high school. Oh, no, no, I just didn't. This is all happening right here at HBU right now. Yeah, exactly. But again, like, it is very time-consuming, but it's close to my heart. Like, you know, like I said, I didn't have a hard life growing up. I came from a two-parent household. Both my parents went to college. My father is an engineer. My mom is a social worker. So I come from a very good life, a very good background. I never met a social worker I didn't like. Good. If you met my mom, you would love her. But my parents, unfortunately, they didn't have, like, really good lives. My mom, she grew up in a very bad part of Atlanta. My dad is from Baltimore. They both had really, really terrible lives growing up. They both grew up in a time with the crack epidemic and just a whole bunch of things happening. So they would always tell me, like, oh, because we went to college and we got our education, like, this is the reason why we're able to provide this for you. And even though I didn't have a hard life, when I see other students who, you know, they might not be going through the same thing as my parents are going through, but it might be harder for them just to go to school to continue their education or they might not know or they might be scared. I want to help them because in the long run, you know, nobody can take your education away from you. You're always going to have it. It's always going to be there. So it's just, it's very close to my heart. And I just, I really want to see not just minority students, but all students in general really want to see us succeed. I love this conversation. Don't you love this conversation? Thank you. So Tara Johnson-Kid, we're talking about education. We're talking about her experience. And we're going to talk about the kinds of things that she does and thinks and consults about right here in Hawaii right after this break. This is going to be great. You'll see. We'll be right back. Hello, my name is Stephanie Mock and I'm one of three hosts of Think Tech Hawaii's Hawaii Food and Farmer series. Our other hosts are Matt Johnson and Pamai Weigert. And we talk to those who are in the fields and behind the scenes of our local food system. We talk to farmers, chefs, restaurant tours and more to learn more about what goes into sustainable agriculture here in Hawaii. We are on a Thursdays at 4 p.m. And we hope we'll see you next time. If you're not in control of how you see yourself, then who is? Live above the influence. Hi, I'm Ethan Allen, host on Think Tech Hawaii of Pacific Partnerships in Education. Every other Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. I hope you'll join us as we explore the value, the accomplishments and the challenges of education here in the Pacific Islands. Okay, we're back. We're live with Satari Johnson-Kid. We're talking about education. She's a junior at the HPU and she came from a family where her parents had hard times and they told her education was really important and she's incorporated that into a world view and she's playing it out in not one but two educational helping programs here at HPU and we are very impressed with that. Thank you, I appreciate it. So I want to talk about your conclusions, your public policy conclusions about education in Hawaii and education, I suppose, as part of the economy, as part of the life experience. So you told me before the show began that you were concerned that a lot of students, a lot of would-be students, never went to college here and that concern, you tell me what you've learned about it and what the factors are to keep kids out of college here. So I don't want to say a lot of students are just like, you know, they're just not going to school but if you look at the statistics as a whole, unfortunately Hawaii doesn't have a really big college graduation rate. So that's, you know, I don't want to say that's alarming to me but it's like, I feel like students should be able to go to college. You think everybody should go to college? Oh yeah, definitely, definitely. If you have the means to, actually let me rephrase that. If college is something you truly want to do, then I believe you should go. Like if you have a dream of becoming a doctor or a lawyer, of course you're going to have no choice but to go to school. I believe that you should go. But I don't think somebody should use like the excuse like, oh, my parents didn't go to school so I shouldn't go or like I'm not smart enough because I do believe that everybody has the ability and is capable to go. So with Hawaii, unfortunately, like I said before, they don't really have a huge college graduation rate. So I really want to change that with the students. I'm not from here specifically but I have a lot of family that lives here and they tell me that the high schools here don't have the best education system, unfortunately. Like I said, I'm just an outsider speaking in. I never went to high school here so I don't know what it's like to go to a school here but from what people have told me, it isn't the best education system. So when the education system is not good, it's harder for kids to go to school. So I just want to be that person who can help them to teach like, hey, you might not have came from the best situation but you can still consider your education if you want to. Yeah, really important. And let me add that some people say and I think it's probably true there's a sort of local anti-intellectual strain where people think, oh, I don't need that. I don't want to be a smart guy. I'd rather do work that doesn't require college than a lot of them do and it works for them. So the question, the larger sense is you say, let's dwell on this, you say that everybody should go to college. There are people out there that don't agree with you. They think that not everybody should go to college. Why do you feel everybody should go to college? Well, for those people that's great and they're entitled to their opinion. I don't want to shun those people and say that they're wrong. Everybody has their own values and their own opinions when it comes to certain things but like I said before, you know, if you want to go to school, you have some type of desire but you're scared to go to school because you're like, okay, like, you know, my parents didn't go or I feel like I didn't see the best education. You shouldn't let that be the thing that's going to hold you back. I believe that everybody should go to college because I feel like everybody is capable. You know, even if you come from, like even let's just say you like, you know, you have some type of mental disorder and you're like, you're not able to like completely grab the college like work. Personally, like I have friends who do have disabilities and they still went to school. So I think that everybody should just, you know, let's just try to be the best person they can be and if you really want to go, you just shouldn't let anything be excuse you. So you just still try your education. So yeah, so one of the things that strikes me is that college takes you into areas of theoretical knowledge, literature, poetry, logic. I can't name all the courses but are those courses really necessary or should I just study things that will get me a job? I think it all depends on the person. Some people are like, you know, I only want to study things that are going to give me the job. Some people are like, no, I want to study everything. When it comes to me specifically, like I said, I'm a business student. My major is international business. So when it comes to me, I prefer to actually don't only study stuff that I'm going to use within my career field but there are those people that are like different like, no, I want to learn everything. I want to learn, you know, poetry. I want to learn about different philosophies. I want to learn about different times in history. It's up to, you know, that person and what they want to do. You know, and here we have private schools. In some ways, they dominate the group of, you know, the organization of private schools is, I think it's H-I-A-S, H-A-I-S, whatever. They're very important. And if you have the books, you like to go there. And they're different than the public schools. Now, I know that where you went to school in Virginia, right, there were a lot of private schools, right? In my area, not that I'm sure there were, not to my knowledge. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'm sure there probably were a lot of private schools around me just to take all the time really to look because I went to a public school. So now that you're here, you see, I'm sure you've seen, and you're going around consulting and talking and meeting people and all that in education. You've seen the difference between the public and the private schools. Yes. What do you think of that? What do you think of that system? Is that a good system? Do you endorse that? Yes and no. Because usually if you're paying money for school, you know, and it's not college, I like to think about paying around $10,000 to $15,000 a year for my child to go to the 10th grade that the education should be phenomenal because that's money out of my pocket. So I do endorse it, but then again, there are always, there's always going to be those students who can't afford to go to a private school and it's unfair to them because it's not, it's not their fault that they can't afford it and they should still have the access to a great education. Like me, I didn't go to a private school. I went to a public school and I went to an amazing school. My parents, they couldn't afford to send me to some private school that cost like $50,000 a year. So I do think, you know, yes and no, like if you're, if I'm paying a lot of money to send my child to school, I should make sure that they're getting their money's worth and they're getting a great education. But if you can't afford a senior child to a private school, they should still have access to an amazing education in a public school. Okay, so the question then, this is the big question for the discussion today with you, is what's the relationship of having a good education in both high school and college with not necessarily the quality of your life and you know, the scope of your income over your lifetime, but the economy of the state, the community, if you will. What's the relationship? Have you thought about that? I actually haven't thought about it, but if I could just give you like the best answer, I guess, thinking of now, like my parents said, education is the only way out of poverty. It's so nobody can ever take your education away from you. When you're educated, you're not going to make the same mistake twice. You're going to know how to do things. You're going to learn from your mistakes and not necessarily education as much as going to college, getting a degree, but just even just learning from your mistakes and making wise decisions. When you're educated, you're going to know right from wrong. You're going to know what to do and what not to do. You're going to learn how to move forward from the past. And that's just the whole ideal when it comes to education in general. You should always be constantly trying to educate yourself. You should never be like, okay, graduate in high school and I'm done. You should always be trying to get more knowledge and get more knowledge. Go to more school. Yes, definitely. I mean, you know, a lot of people, they stop. They see, well, I guess the degree, I'm all finished. I don't think you're going to do that. You're going to get the degree. There'll be more. Definitely. You contemplate a graduate degree and international business. I don't have a choice. My dream company is the World Bank Group. I don't have much of a choice to work at the World Bank Group. Usually at the very least, you need a master's degree, depending on the job. But for the job that I want, you need a master's degree. So, yeah, I'm going straight into gadgets. Okay, more work for you. Yeah. On the other hand, you know, you're probably not going to take that additional degree here. You're probably not going to be working for the World Bank Group here. It isn't here, actually. And so what we are doing, you're preparing you. We're giving you, let's say, a great education. I mean, I think you might be getting a great education. I'm getting the amazing education. Okay? So then you'll leave. So what is the relationship of that, you know, the brain drain on our economy and our community here in Hawaii? That's something I actually thought about because not even when I graduate, I'm going to be leaving after this semester because I'm going to a whole different country. I definitely, with the organizations that I started, I would like to leave it with somebody. I do have a treasurer. Her name is Kate. She is the treasurer of my organization. She does sort of co-help me run it. So, you know, if I could leave the organization with her, that would be great. If not, that's also great. In your organizations, you're working with? Yes. For the Young Minorities Professional Association, she's a treasurer. Okay, great. The other one, I actually don't have another person to lead it to yet. But you're looking. Yeah, but I'm looking. But I definitely don't want it to be like, okay, once I leave, that's it. These organizations aren't here. I'm not going to help anybody. I want to leave it to somebody so we can continue it. And not even leaving, if my organizations unfortunately don't, aren't here next semester, you know, that's unfortunate. But you know, sometimes that's just the way life is. The fact that if I was, if like, you know, when I go to the high schools and if I was able to talk to a student, I was able to encourage them. You know what, I had, somebody came here and they talked to me and because of her, I'm going to continue my education, whether that be trade school, whether that be going to like, certain classes, whether that be college, I'm going to continue my education. That means a lot to me. The fact that I helped out one person, even though my organization might not be here, that one person could help the next person. Sure, it's your contribution, your legacy in the community. Exactly. So let's go one step further. One step further. And that is, you're out there. You have your advanced degree, master's, maybe PhD. Who knows, whatever the World Bank Group wants you to have. Yeah. After all, it is your dream company. Yeah. And you're, you know, out there, anywhere in the world, who knows where you might be. What are the chances that you'll come back? Will you be focusing on that? Or when you leave, is that going to be it for Hawaii? I don't know. It just depends on where life takes me. If you were to ask me when I was 14, where I was going to college, I would have never said, Hawaii, and then look, I'm here now. So it just depends on where life takes me. You know, I could leave and never come back. I could leave and come back two months in two months, you know, that I left. So it just depends on where life takes me. I'm completely fine with coming back here. That's just where my life takes me. That's where the World Bank Group takes me. I'm completely fine. Wouldn't that be something, huh? It would definitely be something. They would not be making a mistake, because Hawaii is me. No, they wouldn't. So that would definitely be something, yeah. Well, I hope you do come back. Thank you. I hope I do, too. I know you go. I know that, but I hope you do come back, because I think you'd be a great addition to our business community, and maybe you could bring the World Bank Group here somehow. Maybe I could. Thank you, Shatara. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for appearing on our show. Thank you.