WAIMEA — Four graduating high school seniors and a Kauai Community College student were recipients of Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital scholarships presented Thursday night at the Plantations BBQ and Bar at Waimea Plantation Cottages.
“This is just a way of KVMH giving back to the community,” said Steve Kline, representing the KVMH Auxiliary. “We have two seniors from Kauai High School and two from Waimea High School who plan on studying health sciences following their graduations.”
Virginia Beck presented the Patricia Beck Memorial Scholarship, given to a KCC student studying health sciences.
“This is the 10th year we are doing the Patricia Beck scholarship,” Beck said. “My mother was a paramedic with the ambulance corps during the Blitz where it was 9/11 every day. The reason we started the scholarship is because people don’t know how hard the health-care profession can be.”
The $1,000 scholarship went to Cara Kruse, a second-year nursing student.
“This is just a small way, through the help of the KVMH Auxiliary, that we invest for the future,” said Lance Segawa, the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. Kauai Region CEO.
High school graduates receiving $1,000 scholarships were:
• Daneica Muraoka, a Waimea High School graduate who plans to study health science at Pacific University.
• Leilani Higashi, also a Waimea graduate, received an award dedicated to the late Kiko Tanita for the countless hours of dedication to the KVMH Auxiliary. Higashi is heading to Chaminade University where she plans on pursuing a nursing degree.
• Jacob Herr, a graduate of Kauai High School who will study biology.
• Callie Parsons, also a Kauai High graduate, is already is on the Mainland at her college for orientation. Her award was accepted by her father, Steve Parsons.
