Terror attacks sharpen college students' focus

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

Spurred by the urgency they've seen around them since Sept. 11, Hawai'i's college students are beginning to choose majors earlier than ever, selecting fast-track programs that will lead to stable employment.

Cory Nakano, left, and Danielle Ceribo, freshmen majoring in biology at the University of Hawai'i, discuss career options with counselor Melanie Takahashi. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"I've been wanting to get my start early, but it pushed me more," said Danielle Ceribo, a 17-year-old UH freshman from Guam, who said the terrorist attacks supplied a sense of urgency.

"You realize you take things for granted, and you want to get on track," she said, glancing through a catalog of course offerings under different majors, including pre-med.

Freshmen and sophomores have been coming into the UH-Manoa Student Services Center office in unusually high numbers, ready to focus on their majors and looking for clearer career answers in an uneasy time.

"They see that they can't dilly-dally or procrastinate. Decision-making has become a more critical priority," said Pat Nishimoto, director of career services at the university's main campus.

Cory Nakano is part of the trend. When she enrolled as a freshman at UH this fall, her interest in biology was pushing her toward a career in medicine, even though the eight long years it takes to get there sounded daunting.

Now, with the devastation of Sept. 11 causing uncertainty, Nakano is looking at streamlining her goals.

"With anthrax, it has made me interested in microbiology," said the Pearl City High School graduate. "I'm trying to find out what jobs are needed, and what jobs will be stable. It's not out of fear, but out of curiosity and a determination to stop all this."

Finding career options in an economic crisis is suddenly a big part of the game. Melanie Takahashi, a counselor with the career services office, met with a group of students recently to talk about how the job search has become harder.

Tina Ng is among the 10 percent of students who have chosen to major in computer science at the University of Hawai‘i-Manoa. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Fast-tracking is also becoming a bigger part of the overall picture. As people are losing jobs, especially in the tourist services sector, community colleges are rushing to provide opportunities to retool.

"In the past couple of weeks we've been getting calls from those who are more interested in the short-term things," said Marilyn Walsh, public information officer for the office of the Chancellor of the Community Colleges. "So instead of just taking a two-year degree program, we offer certificates of achievement for six months, one year. Some are 16 weeks. We can turn around and set up a program within a month or two."

For example, she said, there are fast-track ways to get accounting certificates or home health aide certificates for those who may someday want to be nurses, where there is an acute shortage.

At Chaminade University, the career counseling office is discovering that some students are doing a full-blown overhaul.

"Some students are re-evaluating everything," said spokesman Peter Wolf. "What they're majoring in, how long they're going to be in school."

At Hawai'i Pacific University's downtown Honolulu campus, Nancy Ellis, vice president and dean of the Student Support Center, is finding that high school recruits are suddenly showing an interest in international relations and international studies.

"That may have an impact in years ahead," Ellis said. "That has come to us from our Mainland recruiters who are hearing it from students there, and locally, as well. There's been an increased interest in this. And we have an academic division and a major in international studies."

For many students, flexibility is the key, as they create majors and personalized programs. The UH-Manoa Liberal Studies program, under the direction of Peter Manicas, offers ultimate flexibility, with students creating individual programs in everything from criminology to gerontology. Manicas is already preparing a new course of study called "Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance."

At the same time, many students remain with the tried and true. Computer science is still the hottest major. On the Manoa campus, 10 percent of students have wedded themselves to careers in computers, with 855 intending to graduate as software engineers and another 450 dabbling in computer courses as they try to make a decision.

"Ours is the only major that has the word computer in it," says Lei Wakayama, educational specialist for computer science. "So it was the answer — to all the people who like surfing the Web."

Anything to do with technology is drawing students, Wakayama said, including electrical engineering, computer science and information technology management.

Along with computer sciences, health professions and social service programs, criminal justice and forensic science are drawing students in droves.

At Chaminade, criminal justice tops the popularity charts, but the fastest-growing field of study is forensic science, said David Cooke, chair of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division.

The reasons: popular TV shows romanticizing the role of forensic scientists, and the explosion of new jobs because of the latest technology such as tracking through DNA analysis.

"There's a booming market in job openings for forensic scientists," said Cooke, who notes that Chaminade is one of only seven institutions nationwide offering this program. "And far more women than men are going into it."

Cooke said it had traditionally been difficult for women to have a family and devote years of research to the study of physics or chemistry "but here's a valid area of science where you can be involved and get the fulfillment in something worthwhile."

Fulfillment is what it's about for Tom DeGroote, a 40-year-old senior who returned to school and put his years of experience in construction toward a degree in civil engineering. In May, he'll graduate in a position to do work that's been important since Sept. 11 — designing structural systems for buildings, among other things.

"Civil engineering makes this world work," says a positive DeGroote. "There are just so many opportunities. I'm hoping they're going to want a lot of Engineer 1s."