By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Albert Faapue says he wants to go to law school. He jokes that he wants to study criminal law because "that's what I know best."

The articulate, charming 17-year-old had his share of trouble with the law, and says, "I was in ninth grade for four years."

But his life took a turn when he came to the Honolulu Community Action

Program. Last Friday night, Faapue was class graduation speaker as he and 33 other students who "never thought they'd make it" got their high school diplomas.

"This program helped me to realize many things," Faapue told the audience of family and friends, "and one of them was that I have a brain."

This was the second class to graduate from the community group's Out-of-School Youth Program. Coordinator Olivia Kennell got a grant for the competency-based diploma program through the Department of Labor Workforce Investment Act.

"I started the program as just an employment program," Kennell said. "And then I realized they had more chance of being self-reliant if they knew their capabilities and knew that they had some choices, and I think education gives them the choices."

Students are referred by high school counselors when it looks as if they'll never graduate because they just don't have enough credits. Some are ex-gang members working with Adult Friends for Youth. Others hear of the program from a friend, which is often the strongest endorsement.

By the time they find the program, their self-esteem has been battered. As graduate Stasia Worrell put it,

"Before I came to this program, I thought of myself as a lost cause. I basically felt like there was nothing in my life worth living for."

It's a six-month crash course in high school and life skills, and it isn't easy, particularly for students who never figured out how to be students.

"It's like they don't know how to hold a pencil in their hand," said Kennell. "They don't know how to study. But they learn. And by the third and fourth unit, they are really determined they're going to do this."

Even though these students didn't do well in a traditional high school setting, they all want very much to have a traditional cap-and-gown graduation ceremony.

"It's the biggest thing," Kennell said. "That's one of the first questions they ask: It's, 'Are we gonna walk?' They want to walk."

The graduation ceremony was held at Honolulu Hale. City Hall never looked so grand. Hundreds of proud parents, siblings and friends came with cameras, balloons and lei. Speaker after speaker took to the stage to say the words the students thought they'd never hear: "I'm so proud of you."

"I'd like the community to see that these kids can be successful." Kennell said. "They've been told for years that they're failures because they don't go to school. They come to us, they have their problems, but they do the hours, they come to class."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.