LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i Federal Credit Union presented its scholarships on Friday to a group of students — high school graduates, vocational and college returnees — who shared $10,000 in funds.
“We have to do this early,” said Cyndi Ayonon of the KFCU Scholarship Committee. “A lot of the students already have plans to leave the island for school.”
The early presentation caused two of the recipients — Kamehameha Schools-Kapalama graduate Brayden Heu-Greenbaum and New York University journalism senior Derek Soong, a Kamehameha Schools graduate — to miss the presentation because they were still in school.
The total scholarship package was broken down into eight presentations to high school graduates, and eight presentations for students in vocational scholarships, or Kaua‘i Community College, and college returnees, or students continuing education in college.
Accepting the high school graduates scholarships were Serena Bryan of Kapa‘a High School, ranked No. 1 in her class of 197 students; Emma Burgess of Kaua‘i High School, also ranked No. 1 in her class of 267 graduates; Emeli Rubel of Kapa‘a High School, tied with Bryan for the No. 1 ranking in the class of 197; and Jadelyn Reynolds of Kaua‘i High School, ranked No. 37 out of 267 students.
The other high school students were Kamehameha Schools graduate Heu-Greenbaum, who is heading to Oregon State University to study mechanical and electrical engineering; Waimea High’s Areck Yamamoto, bound for the University of Las Vegas to major in engineering; fellow Menehune Kale Kakuda, who is bound for the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa with a biology major; and Marissa Matsushige of Kaua‘i High School, bound for Worcester Polytechnic.
Single parent Mohammed Fareez of Kaua‘i Community College earned a vocational scholarship toward his electrician goal, and Smaria Kelly of Waimea is using her vocational scholarship toward completing the KCC nursing program.
Linda Ka‘auwai-Iwamoto of Kapa‘a will use her college returnee award at the Pacific School of Religion, where she is aiming for a master’s degree in divinity. Uakea Jose, a Kamehameha graduate, will use his college returnee award at Loyola Marymont University, where he is working on a master’s degree in social work.
Tyler Tanaka, graduating from Kapa‘a High last year, is at Pacific Lutheran University working toward a nursing degree. Ethan Yamamoto is at the UNLV studying electrical engineering. And John Steinhorst is at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, working toward a master’s degree in science.
“We have the widest range of scholarships available on Kaua‘i,” said Jamilee Jimenez of the KFCU Scholarship Committee. “When I was in school, I applied for one of these and was rejected. I told myself that if I become involved in this, I would work toward having these returning students scholarships because it’s so hard to find any on this island.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
