Grace Liava'a had a dream for her son. She wanted him to play football for Kahuku High School. She was a senior at Kahuku when she had Ian, so young to be a mother, but she wanted her little boy to go to college someday and she figured a football scholarship would be his ticket.

Ian's dream for himself, though, was an academic scholarship to an Ivy League school. When he got a full-ride four-year scholarship to Dartmouth, she consoled him because it wasn't Harvard. An uncle had to explain that Dartmouth was a pretty good school, too.

Ian Tapu will graduate from Dartmouth next month, and he already has a resume that would fill several pages. He was elected Dartmouth student body vice president and served as interim president over the summer. He works in admissions outreach for students from underrepresented communities. He has gone on study trips to Lithuania and Poland and worked as a volunteer at the Cheyenne River Youth Project. He is the Men's Project intern under the Center for Women and Gender Studies, putting together programs and events that focus on gender issues. Through the end of the year, he will be a Humanity in Action fellow, studying and attending lectures on human and minority rights in New York City. After that, he will be working in Berlin, and he is applying to another program in South Africa.

And that's a greatly shortened version of his curriculum vitae.

He says it is all because of his mother, because of the sacrifices she made and the example she set.

"I've learned that while there are few geniuses out there, there are even fewer geniuses at hard work — and that's definitely my mom," Tapu wrote in an e-mail.

All through high school, Tapu kept up an extracurricular schedule as full as his current collegiate undertakings. There was an academic trip to Yale one summer and Japan the next. He attended the Presidential Classroom Scholars program at Georgetown University, studied international relations at Stanford, represented Hawai'i in the National Forensic League debate tournament and at the National History Day competition. He was student body president and became an Eagle Scout.

All that traveling required money, but Ian's mother made sure her son took advantage of each opportunity that came his way. She uses the word "hustle" to describe how she got the funds for Ian's school trips; but she means "hustle," like in sports when the coach yells at you to work harder even if you're already working hard. She worked harder for her son, as hard as was needed. She held car washes, she sold plate lunches, she made 150 laulaus.

Since Ian has been in college, life has changed dramatically for his family. His father died two years ago from pneumonia related to leukemia. Liava'a is only 40 years old and she is a widow. When she lost her husband, she also lost their masonry business. She and her younger daughter moved in with her mother, who recently suffered a debilitating stroke.

Tapu says after all the hard work his mother has done on her family's behalf, she's had to begin again.

"I've been proud of my mom because she recently got a job. Sure, it's at 7-Eleven, but it's a start for her," Tapu said.

"She is the reason why I even push myself so far in everything I do."

Next month, Tapu will graduate from Dartmouth with a degree in Native American studies along with a minor in public policy. Twenty-five family members will be there to see him get his diploma. He will also serve as a class marshal to lead fellow graduates into the ceremony. His mother will be there, and he hopes to get tickets to take her to a Boston Celtics game since she's a sports fan.

"It would be a nice treat for her," Tapu said, and a brief respite because now her boy wants to go to law school.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.