{"id":81235,"date":"2018-06-19T16:45:17","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T02:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=81235"},"modified":"2019-03-27T17:00:57","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T03:00:57","slug":"tmts-think-fund-college-scholarships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2018\/06\/19\/tmts-think-fund-college-scholarships\/","title":{"rendered":"TMT<\/abbr>\u2019s THINK<\/abbr> Fund awards more than $1M in college scholarships to Native Hawaiian and Hawai\u2018i Island students"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Maunakea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island New Knowledge (THINK<\/abbr>) Fund<\/a> has awarded college scholarships totaling $1,050,000 to 116 Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island students over the past 4 years and an additional $2 plus million to STEM<\/abbr> (science, technology, engineering and math) pursuits.<\/p>\n

The Thirty Meter Telescope<\/a> (TMT<\/abbr>) initiated the THINK<\/abbr> Fund prior to the start of construction with a commitment of $1 million per year for Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island STEM<\/abbr> endeavors. The Hawaiʻi<\/span> Community Foundation<\/a> (HCF<\/abbr>) and the Pauahi Foundation<\/a> administer the THINK<\/abbr> Fund with scholarship, classroom, student and STEM<\/abbr> programming initiatives. The THINK<\/abbr> Fund at Pauahi Foundation focuses its scholarship programs on Native Hawaiian recipients.<\/p>\n

The THINK<\/abbr> Fund also supports STEM<\/abbr> Learning Grants to programs that demonstrate success in recruiting and addressing the needs of groups underrepresented in STEM<\/abbr> fields, including students in rural communities, Native Hawaiians and those disengaged in school. The THINK<\/abbr> Fund also supports classroom grants through DonorsChoose.org<\/a>. Thirty nine of the 55 public and public charter schools on Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island have received grants, with high need students receiving 78 percent of the funding.<\/p>\n

Said Lydia K. Clements, Hawaiʻi<\/span> Community Foundation vice president of foundation and corporate partnerships, “With growing opportunities for our local students with STEM<\/abbr> skills to move into meaningful careers, the significant commitment by TMT<\/abbr> over the past 4 years is timely. TMT<\/abbr>\u2019s leadership and Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island volunteers have been extraordinary community partners in providing scholarships, classroom supplies and hands-on learning for over 17,000 Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island students and 900 of their teachers.”<\/p>\n

To date, TMT<\/abbr> has funded $4 million to the THINK<\/abbr> Fund benefiting Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island students and teachers with $900,000 in an endowment to fund STEM<\/abbr> education on Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island far into the future.<\/p>\n

“Scholarship support allowed me to focus on studying and commit more time to academics—especially in grad school,” said Steven Nozaki, a Wai\u0101kea High School graduate and THINK<\/abbr> Fund scholarship recipient in 2015 and 2016. “I had opportunities to pursue supplementary activities related to my studies, such as workshops, national conferences and travel. I can honestly say that the generosity and philanthropic support that I received really helped me to accomplish my educational goals.”<\/p>\n

Nozaki\u2019s long-term goal is to return to Hawaiʻi<\/span>. “Because of the support from organizations like HCF<\/abbr> and TMT<\/abbr>‘s THINK<\/abbr> Fund, I have been able to achieve many of my goals, and am in a better place to one day be able to help others in Hawaiʻi<\/span>.”<\/p>\n

Read the full story at the TMT<\/abbr> website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island New Knowledge Fund has awarded college scholarships totaling $1,050,000 to 116 Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island students over the past 4 years and an additional $2 plus million to STEM<\/abbr> pursuits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[659,572,1053],"class_list":["post-81235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-maunakea","tag-scholarship","tag-tmt","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t