While still finishing high school, Tiare Wong earned her associate’s degree at Chaminade—and discovered she was ready for college.
For most high school students, graduation means closing one chapter before beginning another.
For Tiare Wong, it meant earning two diplomas at once, something not all high school students are prepared to do.
This past spring, Wong graduated from Sacred Hearts Academy while simultaneously earning an Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts degree through Chaminade University of Honolulu’s Early College Program. Now, she is preparing to head to the University of Oregon—with enough college credits to enter as a third-year student.
She already has an early jump on college, but Wong’s journey was about more than getting ahead academically.
Chaminade’s Early College Program, she said, taught her how to manage her time, take responsibility for her own education, and navigate the expectations of college-level coursework—all while she was still balancing the busy life of a high school student.
“I thought it would be a great opportunity to get a head start on what being a college student feels like,” Wong said. “I wanted to learn what it was like to be responsible and to have good time management.”
That lesson happened to come at a busy time in her life.
At Sacred Hearts Academy, Wong played volleyball for three years before switching to cheerleading as a senior. She served as president of the school’s Life Team, danced hula, and stayed active in numerous other ways throughout her high school years.
Somehow, she still found time to earn a college degree.
Wong first learned about Chaminade’s Early College Program when Sacred Hearts announced the opportunity near the end of her sophomore year. The program allows eligible high school students to enroll in college courses and earn Chaminade credits while completing their high school requirements.
“Tiare is one of many success stories at Sacred Hearts,” said Kimberlee Baxter, Director of Chaminade’s Early College program. “She learned a lot even outside academics, such as time management and life skills. The idea of the program is to get ahead with college, earn college credit, and experience more.”
Kapaʻa High on Kauai was the first high school to partner with Chaminade’s Early College program in the fall of 2021. Since then, Sacred Hearts Academy and Saint Louis School joined, and several cohorts have already risen through the program, with 108 students between all three schools currently enrolled.
Students from any Hawaiʻi high school are eligible to participate. Enrolled high school students take a variety of general education courses, including English, communications, business, psychology, and religion.
For Wong, the program became an opportunity to experience the increased independence that comes with college and, in her case, earning a college degree.
“I feel like I got a little taste of what being a college student is like and what the expectations are, especially from my professors,” she said. “I had to learn how to be responsible for myself.”
Assistant Professor of English Justyn Wybele has been teaching for the Early College Program for two years. He said students in the program are adept at rising to the occasion, taking college level courses all while maintaining positive and joyful attitudes.
One of his courses involves reading “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyashi, “Night Watchmen” by Louise Erdrich, and “House of Many Gods” by Kiana Davenport, works selected because of their introspective storylines that intersect generations while drawing connections to students’ own journeys.
“They are eager for that kind of rigorous curriculum and they want to be treated like college students,” Wybele said of the Early College students. “They are ready to be mature students who can engage in advanced material.”
When a question arose in a course, Tiare learned she had to reach out. If an assignment was due, there was no one waiting to remind her repeatedly. She learned to be proactive in her own education.
“I really had to step up and grow up to learn how to do things myself,” she said, noting how she used study halls and breaks after school before heading to practices and then setting aside additional time to study at home.
The experience also challenged some of her assumptions about college.
Wong had heard stories about intimidating professors and demanding college classrooms. At Chaminade, she found something quite different. Her professors, she said, took the time to interact with their students and get to know them.
She admits to feeling some nerves about moving so far from home this fall–and she has never been to Oregon. But she is also excited about what comes next—and about continuing hula and joining the university’s Hawaiʻi Club.
Wong said her long-term goal is to start her own business and maybe become the CEO of a company, expanding her enterprise internationally.
For high school students considering Chaminade’s Early College Program, Wong has one simple piece of advice: Go for it.
“I think it’s so much more than the diploma,” she said. “It taught me so many life lessons that I will not only use in college, but in the future.”