Thousands of Hawai’i students received their diplomas as graduation ceremonies took place across the state, but a record number of seven students on the Pineapple Isle received not one, but two degrees.
These high-achievers from Lānaʻi obtained both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree.
HPR had the opportunity to highlight one of these rising stars and his teacher — who also happens to be his mother.
Jake Ropa is a fresh graduate from Lānaʻi High & Elementary School, and Natalie Ropa is the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College Lānaʻi Education Center Satellite Manager.
The two spoke with HPR about navigating the dual credit program and what it took to pursue a high school and college education at the same time.
“It was very difficult the first year, my freshman year, when I started. But as the years went along, and I got more integrated into the whole system, it was like bread and butter,” Jake said.
He told HPR that it wasn’t just a practical way to alleviate the cost and course load of college. It was also an excellent experience for growth and learning.
“I always kind of knew there was more of me that could be asked, and this was a way to push myself outside of my comfort zone to figure out how I can be pushed to my limits,” Jake said.
For Natalie Ropa, watching her son excel was as rewarding to her as a mother as it was as an educator.
“It's been so awesome being able to do this program,” Natalie told HPR. “I had a dream that my child would get his AA degree, and so when I started, it really was a process, and you know, we're just becoming more successful as the years go on.”
Having just graduated high school, dreams of college and a potential law school education remain on the horizon for Jake and Natalie Ropa.
This story aired on The Conversation on May 26, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
