Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year! All of us here at University of Hawaii Maui College look forward to 2017 with a great deal of excitement. I embark on the third year of my tenure as chancellor with an energetic administration, faculty, staff and student body.

Our top priority this year is to continue on the path of making our college a student-centered institution. These model, successful schools are driven by the educational needs and personal welfare of students, rather than by institutional habit or convenience.

All the principles guiding us are geared toward student success. We need to instill and nurture personal validation, self-efficacy, and personal meaning in all our students.

A new degree audit program called STAR Graduation Pathway System, or STAR GPS, is now in place. It is being used throughout the University of Hawaii system and is designed to allow all degree-seeking students to track their progress and make adjustments to their degree paths, if necessary. We think this is an important new tool that instills self-determination and self-confidence. In Fall 2017, all students will also register for their courses via STAR GPS.

MySuccess is another new online tool being used throughout the UH system. MySuccess is a student tracking and support system to provide a comprehensive network built for student success. It is designed to assist students when they need it. For example: An instructor can use MySuccess to recommend tutoring to a student, that flag is also picked up by our Learning Center; center staff will reach out to the student to let them know they are available to assist them. Center staff will also close the assistance loop by letting the faculty know the student has come by for tutoring. Instructors can also raise “kudos” to congratulate students on their success. Currently, our usage at UH-MC is 70 percent; our goal is 100 percent participation.

Our new FYE (First Year Experience) program makes sure that our newest students are aware of and can take advantage of all we offer — new student orientation, prearranged class schedules, supplemental instruction, career counseling, assistance with using the STAR system and peer and faculty mentors.

This is the high-technology/human assistance part of our story. The rest of the way, for us, is expressed in cultural terms and is, in our eyes, as important.

Current research indicates that freshman year is critical to overall college success. National studies show that students who persevere through their first years of college are 50 percent more likely to earn a degree. Based on this data, we intend to deploy a comprehensive student support program that is based on the story of the demigod Maui.

Just as Maui needed to find his reason to transform, we will ask our students to clearly define why they are at college and what they expect to get from a college degree. Before Maui embarked on his famous deed of capturing the sun, he prepared himself meticulously for the journey. Likewise, we hope to instruct our students in the most comprehensive way about the tools they will need on their educational journeys and how to access those tools.

During Maui’s feat he was taunted by his distractors. In the case of our students, the modern world presents both important outside commitments as well, frankly, as numerous distractions. We will teach our students how to balance their challenges and remind them of each of their individual “whys” so that they can continue — as unrestrained and as freely as possible — on their educational journey.

The last sequence of Maui’s journey was to ho’i, or to return; in this instance, it was returning to his community. I want to insure that no matter where the careers of our graduates take them that they remember the uniqueness of our beautiful island home and the effort it takes to sustain our environment and our values — we need their assistance to maintain Maui. We need each and every one of them to find their inner Maui. And we are here to help guide them.

To learn more about the University of Hawaii Maui College and all we offer to students and the community, please visit maui.hawaii.edu.

* Lui K. Hokoana is chancellor of the University of Hawaii Maui College. “Ka’ana Mana’o,” which means “sharing thoughts,” appears on the fourth Sunday of each month. It is prepared with assistance from UH-Maui College staff and is intended to provide the community of Maui County information about opportunities available through the college at its Kahului campus and its education centers.