‘Just call me Dr. Blount’ 

Photo courtesy Margaret Blount.

Community Contributed

By Margaret Blount

Margaret Blount, Social Worker for the Department of Education, received her Doctorate degree in Education from Argosy University in Honolulu.  Flanked by her two children, Henry Blount and Brandi Ballard Corpuz (pictured), she proudly represented the island of Molokai at the convention center ceremony in Oahu on June 21.  Margaret, an avid leader in the fight against high school dropouts, wrote her dissertation on the Molokai dropout problem specifically.

According to Margaret, her graduation was more than remarkable because just as she was finalizing the details of her dissertation, which she had been researching for six years already, she found out she had breast cancer.  She went to Maui Cancer Center for treatment and in December 2013, she had finished her treatments and her dissertation.  She missed the graduation ceremony in December due to her treatments, but found out she could walk in the June ceremony.  Two days before the June ceremony, she found out she was cancer free, so walking down that isle was a glorious day for her and her family for more reasons than just the academic achievement.

She said she knows God spared her for many reasons, but she firmly believes that she has been given a second chance to finish what she started 28 years ago when she was recruited to her island home, Molokai. That something is to help Molokai folks do whatever they need to do to be successful in school, community and life, itself!

Margaret’s goal for this upcoming school year is to have a zero dropout rate for Molokai, and with that in mind, please do not hesitate to call her if you know someone who is not attending school that should be, or someone that may be thinking of dropping out for whatever reason.  She knows she can help them and will.

Margaret also wants to assist anyone, any age, who wants to get their high school diploma.  Please call her at the Dept. of Education at 553-1723 or Molokai High School at 567-6950.