The P.I.A. project blog surpasses 10,000 visits

Along with the much more important milestone of helping an underrepresented minority scholarship change its policy towards Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (from ineligible to apply to eligible), the Pacific Islander Access project struck another marker: our blog surpassed 10,000 visits.

Now, 10,000 visits isn't much for a the digital version of a newspaper, a big company's website, or many of the first-tier blogs run by pro bloggers. But for us, it's something we're very proud of.  Let me tell you why:

As you know from my own story, my journey towards founding the PIA project started at nineteen-years-old, when I applied to an underrepresented minority program, and was told that Native Hawaiians weren't recognized as underrepresented. More importantly, I was told that no Native Hawaiian, and no Pacific Islander, could apply for the seats reserved for underrepresented minorities. I decided to challenge the program, starting by doing my own research.  I was aided by what was then an emerging search engine called Google. (Yes, yes, everyone's heard of Google, but back then it was the new thing.)

Google made it easier, but it took a long time for me to put together a source-based explanation showing that Pacific Islanders deserve to be eligible to apply alongside other underrepresented minorities.

When we established the PIA project, one of my goals was to create the online equivalent of an one-stop-shop on this topic.  A place where students in my situation could easily find 20-years-worth of Census data showing Pacific Islander underrepresentation. Where well-intentioned scholarships could learn why they should choose to include Pacific Islanders. And where people could learn more about America's growing Pacific Islander community.

We're still working on our other goals, but we've accomplished our objectives with this blog. 10,000-plus visits, 115 posts, and several years later, I'm grateful for our opportunities, and proud of what this little all-volunteer nonprofit has done.

Kawika