Born and raised on the island of Maui, Keali‘i Ballao’s journey to his current position of Just-in-Time Student Support Specialist at UH Maui College is a story of self-discovery.
Keali‘i admitted he “barely graduated from high school.” Still, he managed to get accepted to a mainland college, but didn’t have the dollars to go. In addition, he had no background in planning for college and his parents had divorced. Bitter at first, he continued working part-time at Foodland in Kihei for about a year.
In 1999, he enrolled at Maui Community College (MCC) only to quit after the first semester.
“I didn’t see the point of college,” he said in hindsight. “I aced all four classes. But I didn’t see how college could help me get to where I wanted to be.”
In truth, Keali‘i said he didn’t know where he wanted to go. Restless, he moved to O‘ahu and worked as a full-time baker for a year. He saw a lot of waste; making food that people didn’t want. In his next job, he sold cell phones and pagers. While his employers wanted to focus on pagers, he saw the future was in cell phones.
He quit after two years.
“When I was younger, I always wanted to leave and go away,” he recalled. “But when I was away [on O‘ahu] I felt I hadn’t given it [Maui] a chance.” On his return to Maui, he was even more determined to make it work.
Keali‘i became a framer’s apprentice on Maui, and shortly thereafter, he worked at Kinko’s as a copy person, a tedious job that required pushing buttons. He moved to selling books at Border’s Bookstore in the Maui Marketplace. He said he disliked the inauthenticity of being in sales, being told to promote books that didn’t sell or meet the customer’s needs. Compared to his peers, Keali’i said he felt unfulfilled. “They accepted their situation,” he explained. “They seemed to be content. I didn’t feel any certainty about the future, [but] in the back of my mind, school was still an option.”
In 2005, MCC announced the availability of distance learning, which meant it was now possible to stay on Maui and get a degree beyond the associate’s. With these new options available to him, Keali‘i decided to give college another shot. This time, he had federal work study and financial aid (not loans) to support his studies. Halfway into his associate’s degree, his Japanese language instructor, Hiroko Deleon, noticed that he seemed to enjoy helping other students, so she encouraged Keali‘i to apply for a student tutor position at The Learning Center (TLC). She also invited him to join the Japanese Club.
In his new position at TLC, Keali‘i not only learned how to teach but also gained teaching experience while tutoring students in Japanese, English and computer usage. “I felt comfortable in that environment,” he said. “I could see myself doing this for the rest of my life.”
Once he knew that education was what he wanted, Keali‘i set himself a goal of getting his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. While it took him four years to get his AA, he was able to obtain his BA in Social Sciences from UH West Oahu in 2011 and Master of Education degree in Educational Technology from UH Manoa in 2013 through distance education arranged at the University Center. “Once I had set my goals, I could see the path to get me there,” he said. “I wasted no time.”
This is not to say that the seven to eight years he job-hopped were in vain. He gained experience in customer service and sales. He discovered what he disliked and did not want. Most importantly, he became more certain of what he wanted: a home base and a future in education.
Today, at TLC, Keali‘i provides instructional and student support for distance learning course development, as well as campus administrative support for Starfish Retention Solution. He also works with faculty to create online Just-in-Time mini-workshops that focus on college study skills. However, his major focus is in tutoring and mentoring student assistants at TLC with weekly skill-building workshops in tutorial services.
Keali‘i Ballao is the first guest speaker to appear on the new WiTTs TV series. WiTTs stands for “What it takes to succeed” and encompasses the various non-academic skills that will be introduced in 30-minute episodes. Each episode will be aired simultaneously on Oceanic Time Warner channels 354 and 27.55 and MCTV at 5, 5:30, 10 and 10:30 p.m. each weekend from March 14 until further notice. In the first episode, Keali‘i tells his story. In the second episode, he explains the difference between tutoring and mentoring.
