Spring Advising: Wherever You Are, We Are With You
Spring has always been a season of transition, and this season is no exception. Some of you are sitting with exciting news. Others are experiencing uncertainty, disappointment, or exhaustion. IRT holds space for all of this. However this application season landed for you, know that you are still seen, still supported, and still very much a part of this community.
Congratulations to Our Admitted Scholars
We know that several of you have been admitted into your graduate programs of choice. Congratulations! We are so incredibly proud of you. This is the result of your own hard work, your courage to keep going, and the knowledge and vision you have been carrying all along. We cannot wait to see where this next chapter takes you.
For Those Still Finding Their Path
We are also aware that some of you have been waitlisted, or did not receive the acceptances or funding you were hoping for. Please know that these outcomes reflect far less on your abilities, your knowledge, and your dedication than they do on the rapid and widespread changes happening across colleges and universities right now. The landscape of higher education is shifting in real and difficult ways, and none of that is a measure of who you are or what you are capable of.
IRT believes wholeheartedly in your readiness for graduate school. As we shared in December, our doors remain open if you decide to reapply this coming fall. We also recognize that some of you may need a well-deserved break from this process and may choose to sit out the next cycle. That is completely understandable. Rest is not a step backward. It is part of the work.
IRT Spring Advising is in Progress
Spring advising is a time to reflect on where you have been, think through what comes next, and figure out what kind of support actually serves you right now. That might look like revisiting your school list, strengthening your Statement of Purpose, processing a difficult outcome, or simply talking through your options with advisors and alums who are genuinely invested in your path.
There is no single right answer for what this season should look like. What matters is that you do not have to figure it out alone.
As you navigate this season, we wanted to leave you with something a little gentler. Not a checklist, not next steps. Just a few questions to sit with when you have a quiet moment:
- What has advising taught you about yourself, not just as a scholar, but as a whole person?
- What kind of support has felt most meaningful, and who showed up for you in ways that still matter?
- What would it mean to care for yourself this spring in a way that actually feels authentic, not just resting when you are depleted, but something that genuinely restores you?
No right answers. No need to respond out loud. Just reflections worth returning to more than once.
Your Voice, Their Path
And to our broader IRT community: you know something no handbook can teach. The late nights, the self-doubt, the breakthroughs, and the moments when the right words from the right person changed everything.
Whether you are an alumnus, educator, advisor, or longtime supporter, your story has the power to light the way for aspiring graduate scholars. Take a moment to reflect:
- What do you wish someone had told you at the start? What would you want an aspiring grad scholar to hear today?
- What kind of support made the biggest difference, and who showed up for you in ways that still matter?
- What wisdom has been passed down to you that you’d like to pass forward?
Your answers do not have to be polished. They just have to be true. Share this with someone whose voice deserves to be heard. The next generation of scholars is listening.
A Closing Note
To our IRT community of alumni, funders, friends, and partners,
Spring has a way of asking us to pay attention. To notice what is still growing. To feel the weight of what we are holding and to trust that it is worth holding. For me, this season always brings me back to the heart of why IRT exists.
Each year, I watch our scholars move through one of the most demanding passages of their academic lives. And each year, without fail, they show up with more courage, more clarity, and more genuine care for one another than I could have anticipated. They remind me, again and again, that this community is unique and special.
On the value of presence: In Hawaii, we speak of kuleana, the idea that privilege and responsibility are inseparable. To be part of this community is a kuleana. And every person reading these words is living it.
To our alumni
You are not just former scholars. You are the living evidence of what becomes possible when young people are seen, supported, and believed in. The scholars we walk alongside today look to your paths and find proof that the work ahead of them is worth it. Your mentorship, your generosity, your willingness to stay connected across the years; all of it shapes what IRT is and what it can become.
To our funders, friends, and partners
The outcomes of this application season are unfolding against a landscape of real disruption across higher education. Your steady investment does not just move scholars forward, it holds the line when the ground is shifting. The scholars you support are not simply entering graduate school. They are reimagining what graduate study can look like, who it belongs to, and what it can produce.
On what we carry forward: In the spirit of malama; to care for, to tend, to protect, the 2026 Summer Workshop will carry forward everything this community has built. This next cohort will be both its beneficiaries and its new contributors. They will add their voices to a chorus that keeps growing.
As summer draws near, joy flickers across our community; a gentle reminder that walking this path together has always been, and remains, the very heart of IRT.
Mahalo nui loa. Mālama pono.
Thank you very much. Take good care of one another.
Institute for Recruitment of Teachers 