LIHU‘E — Safina Sandblom of Waimea High School, Emma Burgess of Kaua‘i High School and Laulea Miike of Kapa‘a High School — all graduating from their respective schools on May 19 — were part of a special day on May 18 at Hawai‘i Family Dental center in the Dynasty Court building.
“Everyone took off for a couple of hours to get things ready,” said Dr. Chris Yamada, a pediatric dentist at Hawai‘i Family Dental. “This is the first time we’ve provided scholarships in the Pono Scholarship program to the Kaua‘i community. We have Pono Scholarships on Maui and the Hawai‘i Island programs.”
Hawai‘i Family Dental CEO Melanie Baji made a special trip from Honolulu to present $1,000 schoolarships to each of the three outstanding graduates.
“This is just one of the ways we give back to the community,” Baji said. “Each scholarship recipient will be provided with a certificate and scholarship provided by Hawai‘i Dental to honor their hard work and dedication. They, along with their families, will also get a healthy lunch.”
Each student had to submit a scholarship application accompanied with an essay or personal statement on what they will major in and how the scholarship will help them.
Sandblom, who was celebrating her younger brother’s birthday, will be pursuing kinesiology in college. Burgess, a strong runner in the school’s cross-country and track and field programs, will be pursuing nursing toward the goal of becoming a nurse practitioner. And Miike, a Girl Scout as well as Player of the Year in Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls soccer, is pursuing environmental science with the goal of becoming a conservation officer.
Hawai‘i Family Dental Kaua‘i offers emergency, pediatric, preventative, orthodontic and cosmetic dental care under the leadership of dentists that include Yamada, Dr. Todd Stone, Dr. Parker Johnson, Dr. Daniel Shin and Dr. Antolin Apalla Jr., according to its website.
•••
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
