Letters 11-28-13

College campus inadequate; planned new one isn’t much better

My name is Megan Schlich. I have raised two children in West Hawaii. My youngest is a senior at Konawaena High School, graduating in June 2014. I decided to go back to school since my children were near adulthood. I am presently attending Hawaii Community College in West Hawaii, where the teachers are hidden treasures holding great wealth. They represent the best of truth, beauty and goodness that education should be.

I am writing to call attention to our situation, the smaller fish in the sea. The West Hawaii community has been begging for a four-year university for almost 20 years. Our West Hawaii campus currently has inadequate college infrastructure and plans for the new Palamanui campus are for a two-year college, not a four-year university and who knows when it will be ready for occupancy. Its square footage replicates the space currently occupied in leased facilities, which are inadequate. When Palamanui is built, plans are to close the existing campus, leaving the South Kona communities so in need of higher education. I question why we are treated as undeserving. Our existing situation certainly speaks to this treatment.

On our existing campus, there are no water fountains and nowhere to purchase bottled water or food without leaving the campus; nor does the college provide cups for the bathroom sinks.

The septic system that services building two of the campus is deplorable. It must be illegal. The smell speaks for itself; you cannot ignore it. Since the rooms are not air conditioned, we need to leave the windows open. You have to hold your breath to get through class if you are meeting in one of the building’s classrooms.

There is no childcare facility on campus; nor is one in the plan for the current phase of the Palamanui campus. Hawaii Island has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the state. These young mothers desperately need access to higher education when they graduate from high school. However, without available child care, the door for a better life through education is all but locked.

The current student center on campus is two small rooms that seat six at most. The current phase of the Palamanui campus has no student center. We need a place to gather. Studies show that students who connect with their campus are more likely to stay in school and graduate.

Hawaii Community College administration says that the Palamanui campus will be based on community need, space availability and funding development. They act as if we are not here. Inclusion is what we need. Someone listening to us, standing up for us is what we need. The only thing that keeps us going are our teachers. Unfortunately, we’re the only ones who seem to listen to them. Inclusion is what we need: right here, right now. Please help us be treated with respect and equity. Come visit us and see where we stand.

Megan Schlich

Kona