Rebecca Marsh was in foster care but was determined to get her degree, even if it meant endless loans and several jobs.

All three became part of a landmark education initiative sponsored by Bank of Hawaii to "adopt" 100 Hawai'i high school freshmen from low- to moderate-income backgrounds, prepare them for college through leadership training and mentoring, and provide scholarships of up to $40,000 to the college or university of their choice.

Eight years later, 70 of the original 100 students have graduated from college or are on track to complete their degree work, thanks to the 2nd Century Scholars program.

The students will be honored today in a ceremony marking the culmination of the program, which the bank launched in 1997 to mark its centennial. In all, Bank of Hawaii invested $5 million in what it hails as the largest Hawai'i education initiative ever funded by a private organization.

The students come from every county in Hawai'i. Most are the first members of their families to graduate from college. All are grateful for what the program did for them and their families.

"What I think is wonderful is these students might never have had an opportunity to go to school," said Nancy Ellis, vice president of student services at Hawai'i Pacific University, who worked closely with 2nd Century Scholars at her school.

Doing the impossible

Genia Linear

She didn't foresee many possibilities once her days at Iolani were over. "It was kind of disappointing to me, because everyone here was trying to go to UCLA and Princeton and I'm over here, can't even afford to get off the island," Linear said.

Shortly into Linear's freshman year, she was given hope. "I saw an ad in the paper for this new scholarship from Bank of Hawaii," she said. She applied and got it.

Without the scholarship, Linear said, she would have ended up at a community college. But after word came that she would receive $10,000 a year for four years, her options grew. "I started to consider Boston, NYU, Emerson and Howard," she said.

Linear eventually settled on Howard, a historically black college in the nation's capital. Linear is half black, half Puerto Rican. "For so long, I learned about the Hawaiian culture, but I knew nothing about my own," she said.

Linear's mother, Gale, saw the scholarship as a blessing. "I didn't have the money to send her to college, but she had money sitting there," she said from her home in Kalihi.

More than money

Komoda, of Mililani, is pursuing a degree in architecture at Woodbury University in California and credits the scholarship for allowing him to go there.

"It really helped relieve the stress. It would have put a lot of strain on my mom," Komoda said.

His mother, Robbie Lum, agrees. "There's no way I could afford to send him to where he is at," said Lum.

For the students, the scholarship program was more than just money. "All of the preparation they put us through — mock interviews, SAT prep — really tried to prepare us for college and life," said Komoda.

Throughout high school, he and the rest of the scholars were given opportunities many students go without.

The bank provided each scholar with a mentor to keep track of his or her progress. The program was intended to prepare students to enter college and ensure they would be accepted by the school of their choice, said Al Landon, chairman and chief executive of the Bank of Hawaii.

"We wanted to reduce the barriers that finances may have presented," Landon added.

Lots of support

Rebecca Marsh

While the money was a big part of the program, Marsh said, the support she was given meant much more.

"You had friends keeping up with you and seeing what you are up to and motivating you," she said.

When the students entered college, the program shifted to career preparation. Students learned interview skills, went through mock job interviews and career days.

The program also provided them with opportunities to build relationships with one another.

Linear, Komoda and Marsh said those relationships will continue, especially the bond with Grace Kawano, manager of the 2nd Century Scholar program.

"Grace is the mother of all 100 of us. She's the one you go to for everything," Linear said. She recalled calling Kawano after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "There was a time when I wanted to come back home. She listened. I decided to stay," she said.

Kawano said she began to develop a relationship with many of the scholars.

"I remember that phone call (from Linear)," she said. "It was really important to lend that kind of support. I considered some of these students my own kids."

As for Marsh, she said she's walking away with more than a degree.

"They talk about the Bank 'Ohana, and they really were like a family to us," she said.