This story was originally posted on November 1 on UH News.
Two major efforts begin today tied to the University of Hawaiʻi Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs (RISE) project. Applications open for leasing at RISE, which is slated to open in fall 2023, and scholarships for 50 UH students interested in innovation and entrepreneurship through the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) PACE Leaders program.
The PACE Leaders program is open to students from all disciplines at all 10 UH System campuses. PACE Leaders will have the opportunity to shape and design programs offered by PACE and gain hands-on experience to develop their leadership skills and grow a community of innovative and entrepreneurial-minded students throughout the UH System. Students may apply for the program, and each will receive a scholarship ranging from $1,000 to $6,000.
“We are excited to launch the PACE Leaders program,” said PACE Executive Director Sandra Fujiyama. “These students will have the opportunity to gain transferable skills while enriching the education of their peers and receiving scholarship support. We’re proud to be using Scholar’s App to process the leadership applications. Scholar’s App was started by PACE alum Traven Watase and it’s a full circle moment to be able to partner with Scholar’s App as we begin taking application for this new leadership program.”
Scholarships totaling $600,000 from The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation, the Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation, Shidler College of Business alumni Kent and Jean Tsukamoto, and others were gifted to PACE to support the PACE Leaders program and to promote a student body that is diverse and representative of Hawaiʻi’s community.
Additional scholarships from Central Pacific Bank Foundation and Kamehameha Schools are also available. Kamehameha Schools is offering 25 scholarships to Native Hawaiian students who live at RISEthrough the Piʻi Aʻe Scholarships. Interested individuals are encouraged to reach out to PACE for more information on the Kamehameha Schools scholarships.
The new scholarships are intended to support students involved with PACE and/or living at RISE, an innovation-and-entrepreneurship center with about 374 beds for student housing across from the UHMānoa campus. The 219 fully furnished single and double rooms are available to lease now for fall 2023 on RISE’s website, and are open to students at any of the 10 UH campuses.
PACE and UH Foundation have raised more than $4 million, to date, in support of RISE.
Student residents who move into RISE in fall 2023 will enjoy not only a brand-new housing community with like-minded students, but proximity to the wealth of UH entrepreneurship programs offered by PACE that will be centered in the classroom, makerspaces, meeting rooms and co-working spaces on the floors right below.
University officials expect significant demand for the 374 beds in the $70 million live-learn-work RISEfacility on the site of the former Atherton YMCA at the corner of University Avenue and Metcalf Street.
RISE is fully funded with private, non-taxpayer money. UH, UH Foundation and Hunt Companies entered into a public-private partnership (P3) to design, build and finance the facility. Moss is the general contractor on the project. B.HOM Student Living will manage RISE, the university’s first externally managed student housing complex.
