UH Hilo Stories

ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi │ One learns from many sources │ A web publication from the Office of the Chancellor, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo

Posted on May 20, 2025by Staff

Overcoming immense odds, Renee Rivera blazes through her GED, gets an associates degree from Hawaiʻi CC, bachelors from UH Hilo, masters from UH Mānoa, co-founds a local nonprofit, and is about to start on her doctorate.

By Sophia Kim-O’Sullivan.

With her doctoral program set to start in the fall of 2026, UH Hilo alumna Renee Rivera reflects about when she came to Hawaiʻi Island a decade ago looking for a place to heal. Originally from Kauaʻi, she had spent years wandering from state to state.

“I was searching for a place to recover from trauma,” she says. The trauma was considerable, stemming from a history of homelessness, sexual assault, domestic violence, substance addiction, drug trafficking, and incarceration.

While at a Head Start meeting for her son, Rivera learned about the Paneʻe Mua Project, a General Education Development or GED high school diploma equivalent program, based in Native Hawaiian practices. Rivera had been unable to complete high school, spending her teens mothering her three other children. She had tried four other times to earn her GED, but had never been able to complete the program. She decided to enroll, interested in the cultural aspect of Paneʻe Mua Project’s curriculum.

She emerged from Paneʻe Mua with all A’s and received a two-year scholarship from the program to attend Hawaiʻi Community College. “They made me feel comfortable, made me believe that I was smart and important. They actually inspired me,” says Rivera. When she graduated from the community college with an associate in arts degree in 2017, she was ready to transfer to a four-year university. She chose UH Hilo.

While at Hawaiʻi CC, Rivera continued building her confidence as she aced her courses. She first connected with UH Hilo faculty at a Hawaiʻi CC event on addiction recovery where Rivera was a guest speaker. UH Hilo sociology professors Marilyn Brown and Alton Okinaka told Rivera to consider UH Hilo’s sociology program.

Rivera already felt comfortable with Brown after being interviewed for Brown’s research on reentry after incarceration.

“I already felt comfortable before I even enrolled because of my connection with them. I was going to do my B.A. in social work but I had a good rapport with them. They made me feel valuable,” says Rivera.

In 2020, Rivera received her UH Hilo bachelor of arts in sociology with a focus on island and Indigenous sociology, once again interested in keeping her studies culturally grounded.

Prof. Okinaka was an important mentor to Rivera when it came time to decide what to do after graduation from UH Hilo.

“It was COVID times when I graduated in 2020 so we didn’t have a ceremony,” she explains. “That set me back. I didn’t feel that real sense of accomplishment walking across the stage with my bachelor’s degree. My morale was down at the time but Dr. Okinaka encouraged me to keep going.”

Okinaka specifically encouraged Rivera to consider a masters in social work. He recognized that she was very community minded, which suited social work. “I didn’t see that I was a natural helper. I just grew up helping people. But he saw that,” she says.

Okinaka guided Rivera through the UH Mānoa application process, helping her break down the different deadlines and requirements into simple steps. Rivera struggled to write her personal statement, anxious about sharing her past with incarceration and addiction. Rivera remembers his encouragement, “Never be fearful of your story and who you are.”

After being admitted, Rivera felt like her social work studies came naturally. She graduated with a masters of social work from UH Mānoa in 2023.

All the way through graduate school, she continued to be supported by her UH Hilo sociology network; she reached out to professors Brown and Okinaka when she had questions or struggles related to her master’s coursework.

“I could always go back. Even now I could go back to UH Hilo and I know I’ll be supported by faculty and staff there,” she says.

In her second year of her master’s program, Rivera began reflecting on some of her own recovery experiences. When she first came to Hawaiʻi Island she had searched for a support group for women who just like her had been traumatized by drug trafficking, assault, incarceration, homelessness, and addiction.

“When I came to seek help there wasn’t any besides general mental health support through one-on-one therapy — which I was already doing — and substance abuse [support]. I had so many more challenges, so many other fears,” she says.

While pursuing her academic degrees, Rivera continued to explore and question the gap of women support groups. She worked with different organizations throughout her studies and asked about what programs they provided. “They often had court ordered groups, but nothing voluntary. No groups for women that were just community based,” she says.

She also publicly advocated for women in need, speaking to the press in 2022 about a Hawaiʻi advisory commission’s discussions on ways to improve drug abuse recovery services for incarcerated individuals and those who are released. Rivera says more education and resources are needed.

“When you come out (from incarceration), you feel ugly because you are clean and sober, you gained all that weight, you have dental problems, you have health problems, you have mental health problems, so it’s a lot,” she says in the Island News interview. She also advocates for peer mentors: “You can because I can.” Watch the clip:

Rivera received a unique opportunity when one of her friends with whom she had been incarcerated 20 years prior reached out to her. “She wanted to do something on the Big Island, which is where she went through her struggles,” says Rivera.

Initially, the friend wanted to do something to help house vulnerable women in need. Rivera, who was working to house women through Hope Services at the time, encouraged her to consider another avenue. “I told her we need to mentor them. You can provide the house but if you don’t provide the aftercare and support, there’s no ensuring they’ll stay housed.”

Rivera wanted to create peer-to-peer support groups to help women heal and stay stable. The two friends figured out finances and secured a three-year lease of an office. In six months, Rivera had the articles of incorporation ready. Two months later the new non-profit, He Hoʻomaka Hou Ana O Puna, was granted 501(c)(3) status.

Rivera received help from her community contacts to structure the organization’s policies and procedures. Often, people willingly lent their time regardless of what she was able to pay them. Later on, she was able to procure several grants, allowing more and more women to attend the support groups.

Today the organization provides peer mentorship, voluntary support groups, one-on-one counseling, and also has an affiliated psychologist available. Rivera continues to find her UH Hilo education useful in helping her see the women she helps holistically.

“Dr. Okinaka once told me if you don’t look at the whole self of a person you’re only allowing them to heal bits and pieces of themselves,” she says. “I carry that from UH Hilo into my agency.”

“In my past, I haven’t had anyone in my life that fought for me so my passion is to fight for other people who are less likely to have that,” she adds. “I think that’s the thing missing for a lot of people with addiction or mental health issues like me. They want to feel loved, supported, and believed in.”

In addition to co-running the nonprofit, Rivera also is teaching human services, sociology, and psychology at her alma mater Hawaiʻi CC. She was recently accepted for the doctorate in sociology program at Purdue Global starting in fall 2026.

She says she’s thankful for the opportunity UH Hilo gave her to build her confidence.

“The faculty at UH Hilo helped me ignite myself so I could ignite my community,” she says.

“The most important thing was just believing in myself, that I could do it. Because most of my academic journey I didn’t really believe in myself. UH Hilo and its faculty really set that foundation for me to be like let’s try it, let’s do it.”

Story by Sophia Kim-O’Sullivan, a graduate student in library science and information at UH Mānoa.