When I was a teenager, I had that big unreachable dream of Hawai’i, and now, a decade later, my courage, will-power, and positive destiny have brought me to HPU to precede my goal in oceanography. My motto of life is “never give up and never lose your spiritual freedom-do what you wish to do!”

After several years of educational experience in Germany, I crossed the Atlantic Ocean to get my AA degree of General Sciences in Florida at Valencia Community college.

A high GPA and a membership in an honor society allowed me to receive the Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship at HPU. And here I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and my dream to become an oceanographer is coming true.

Currently, I am a treasurer of National Biological (Tri-Beta) Honor Society. HPU’s professors are supporting my goals, interests, and projects.

I would like to note that my life as a student at HPU is not just four walls of a classroom or a library. In my spare time, I am a passionate canoe paddler of Koa Kai Canoe Club and a surfer whose dream is to ride the biggest wave possible.

I would like to encourage everyone who is planning to enroll in HPU by saying:  “Where there is a will, there’s always s a way”. 
Mahalo to my family, and HPU Ohana!

Laura Birse

BS in Oceanography

Germany