Errol Gorospe didn't exactly follow the traditional 4 year college plan. As a matter of fact, this Baldwin High School alum admitted to struggling through his college days before finding his niche in the professional world. The jiu jitsu and surfing sport fanatic is employed as the Lead Network Infrastructure Specialist for Akimeka, LLC, a fast growing Native Hawaiian company with several offices located in Hawaii and the mainland.
"You don't have to smart or top of your class," he says. "You just have to work hard and not lose sight of your goals. Anybody can do what we do.
Errol was one of several young high tech professionals who shared their wisdom and individual career stories with over 50 Maui County high school students at the eleventh annual "Tech Careers: I Am the Future" event on October 23-24 in Kihei, Maui.
Open to all high schools throughout Maui County, the popular two-day DOE-approved event are designed to introduce and motivate students toward careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Equal access is especially important for historically underrepresented groups such as females, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and disadvantaged students.
As the primary sponsor of Tech Careers Day, the Maui Economic Development Board's Women in Technology (WIT) Project partnered with prominent technology-based companies to put on the event. 2008 participants included Akimeka, Boeing, Maui High Performance Computing Center, Monsanto, Northrop Grumman, Oceanit, Pacific Disaster Center, Textron, University of Hawaii-Institute for Astronomy, and the U.S. Air Force.
"Exposing students to a whole range of STEM job opportunities during high school enable them make critical curricular and extracurricular choices that can eventually lead to tech career paths in the future," Jenilynne Salvador, WIT Project Manager said. "They are introduced to young, local role models thriving in these professions and it gets them thinking 'I can do that!'"
Day One began with a panel of professionals, many of them graduates of Maui high schools, talking about "How I Got My Start," followed by site visits to companies in the Tech Park, a team-based hands-on engineering game, and a cultural session on Polynesian Wayfinding and its connection to modern day astronomy and science.
Day Two allowed students a rare opportunity to visit the observatories atop Haleakala, including facilities managed by the UH Institute for Astronomy and the Maui Space Surveillance Center operated by the U.S. Air Force. King Kekaulike student, Jason Bascon, Jr. commented that the highlight of his tech careers experience was "...ooking at the telescopes and inside the facilities. I always wanted to know what was up here."
In addition to bus transportation to and from the activities for all, WIT provided overnight accommodations for Molokai and Lanai students. The program was funded by the U.S. Air Force Laboratory, County of Maui, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Photo: Tech Careers Professional Panel (L-R: Nathan Kimura, Errol Gorospe, Starla Cosme, Sarah Loney, Kawai Kuluhiwa, Jason Zhang, Glenda Ramos, Alisa Manangan.) These young professionals shared their experiences on the "How I Got My Start" panel portion of the program.
Three UH Manoa graduate level scientists came over last week from Oahu to support activities in classrooms at five different Maui County schools. The scientists are all Fellows of the National Science Foundation GK12 program who regularly support Oahu classrooms. The Women in Technology Project coordinated and funded their travel to support Maui schools. These "scientist in the classroom" activities are part of the ongoing, in-class support for teachers who participated in a scientific inquiry workshop this past summer. 
