{"id":10081,"date":"2012-08-08T00:00:57","date_gmt":"2012-08-08T10:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/?p=10081"},"modified":"2012-08-07T17:04:01","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T03:04:01","slug":"area-firm-funds-lcc-scholarships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/area-firm-funds-lcc-scholarships\/","title":{"rendered":"Area Firm Funds LCC Scholarships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>By CHRISTINA O\u2019CONNOR<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div title=\"Page 1\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Kapolei-based company North Star Scientific Corporation donated $75,000 to Leeward Community College last month to fund scholarships for full- time and part-time students who are pursuing a degree in the science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) fields, or a teaching degree in those fields.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe North Star Scientific Scholarship will significantly help Leeward CC recruit and retain students by reducing their overall costs of attendance, such as tuition and fees, and making higher education possible for students who may not have otherwise been able to afford college,\u201d said Aileen Lum-Akana of LCC\u2019s financial aid office.<\/p>\n<p>North Star Scientific designs, develops and tests high-performance electronics for land-based, ship- based and airborne Department of Defense applications.<\/p>\n<p>With LCC located near North Star Scientific, the college\u2019s STEM students are the company\u2019s potential future employees. And LCC also is where two of the three North Star Scientific co-founders, Robert and Sharmaine Swisher, got their start.<\/p>\n<div title=\"Page 1\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>North Star vice president and COO Robert Swisher and CFO Sharmaine Swisher met while attending LCC. Both were first-generation, non-traditional students who had taken some time off before returning to school. They both attribute LCC \u2015 with its small classes and dedicated professors \u2015 to their academic successes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe finally decided to take that leap and try college, and Leeward was such a nurturing environ- ment for us, and we kind of needed that,\u201d said Robert. \u201cWe were just giving it a shot for the first couple of semesters, and we really just excelled in that environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were eating pizza out in the parking lot one day, and we said \u2018hey, one day if we ever \u2018make it,\u2019 let\u2019s think about giving back to this institution,\u2019\u201d explained Sharmaine.<\/p>\n<p>Sharmaine later earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in mathematics at UH Manoa, and Robert went on to graduate with a bachelor\u2019s in physics, fol- lowed by a master\u2019s degree in electrical engineering from UH Manoa. In 2001, the two created North Star Scientific with co- founder Dr. James Stamm, who serves as the com- pany\u2019s president and CEO.<\/p>\n<div title=\"Page 1\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>The company established the North Star Scientific Scholarship in 2009 with a $30,000 dona- tion. Since then, the scholarship has benefited 26 students, many of whom were graduates of area high schools including Aiea, Campbell, Pearl City and Waipahu. Last month\u2019s donation will build upon this fund.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were hoping to just touch some of the lives in these communities,\u201d Sharmaine said.<\/p>\n<p>Students applying for the scholarship must be a Hawaii resident and maintain a minimum of a 3.0 GPA. Financial need also is taken into consideration. Preference is given to first-generation college students and to those pursuing a STEM degree over those pursuing a STEM teaching degree. Applicants also must submit a personal statement of their career goals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is something that will help (students) out to go ahead and transition into the four-year degree,\u201d Robert said. \u201cIt makes good business sense, too, because I like to say that we are sort of seeding our backyard,\u201d he added. \u201cWe are focusing on stu- dents who are in our community on the West side. And most of our employee force lives around the Kapolei area.\u201d<\/p>\n<div title=\"Page 1\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cWe were non-traditional students ourselves, so we wanted to make sure those part-time students had the opportunity to find a scholarship that they could qualify for,\u201d Sharmaine added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe service that (LCC) gives to the community is really just an incredible thing. It makes such a difference with people,\u201d Robert said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are trying to help along these STEM students,\u201d he added. \u201cWe really are trying to give &#8230; students who have never pursued (academics) an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LCC hopes to award at least 10 students with a $1000 scholarship each year. The application deadline for this school year has closed. Scholarship deadlines for the 2013- 2014 school year have not yet been determined. Stay tuned for updates by visiting <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaii.edu\/finaid\/scholarships\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">hawaii.edu\/finaid\/scholarships\/index.php<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By CHRISTINA O\u2019CONNOR Kapolei-based company North Star Scientific Corporation donated $75,000 to Leeward Community College last month to fund scholarships..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":10087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-west","category-west-oahu-coverstory"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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