Aloha! Born and raised in Hawaii, my hometown is absolutely awesome; however, it is also considered the highest cost of living place to live in the United States. The scholarship will help me with college tuition, books and housing. I'm the youngest of three children. Both my parents and older siblings are college graduates; therefore, achieving a college degree is not an option in my family. Me and my siblings have heard my mom say time and time again, that our educational intelligence is a great gift. Thus, I do believe my passion in the Sciences and secondary studies in Math will prepare me to be a good industrious citizen in our world. My intention is Computer Sciences and Engineering with a secondary focus in Math. I'm pretty good in Math. Those classes have been in my curriculum every year of my career, along with achieving good grades, and being accepted into an Advanced Placement Statistics course. I'm also fortunate to benefit from Computer Science college courses while in high school. It is amazing that my high school believes in my value and the importance of a college education, that they allow high school and college courses concurrently. Since a young boy, I've been passionate with aeronautics. I've imagined being a pilot. I played with remote control planes and helicopters which continued to peak my interest. I was also good with building game machines. My favorite was the claw machine that grabs gifts then drops it down the funnel. I'd build it with cardboard boxes and take it to my brothers' baseball tournaments, and have other little kids pay and play with my designed claw machine. As I grew more into the sciences and mechanics of the world around me, I've learnt how all of my favorite childhood past-times can become a sustainable pathway or adulting career. My focus has slightly shifted from cardboard and plastic toys to designing computer codes that benefit my community. My senior capstone is to create a mobile application that helps my houseless community find assistance and resources. It's no doubt that Hawaii is pretty, but the difficulties of being in the middle of the ocean constricts access to supplies most needed for survival. So, by identifying the community's problem and developing a possible solution to find assets and resources will be an advantage for people needed help. I sincerely hope that my educational pursuits will continue to help my tribe and our society; as I do hope your scholarship assistance may help me be the best version of myself, too. Thank you very much.

Born and raised in Hawaii, it's a beautiful place to call home. I am Hawaiian with a strong familial and cultural foundation, as well as attend a private school named after a King of the Hawaiian Nation. I've grown to learn that knowing my heritage, culture and where I come from makes me who I am. A proud and humbled Kanaka Maoli. It is only with knowing my cultural lifestyle, its language and its reason to preserve its purpose, has it created my humble persona and grounded foundation. Purposeful knowledge is a power. As I've heard my mother mention to me and my older siblings; your educational intelligence is the greatest gift that I can give to you. Wicked reminds me of the adversity my nation has endured. The struggles for identity and the realization of the greater reason for being a part of this world. Even though my college years will be additional growth into real life, it may be challenging to fit into a new community thus needing to identify what serves my passion and purpose away from my home's foundation. Yet, in order to continue to be an industrious citizen inside of this crazy world, my courage and strength can only come from the growth and gifts shared by my family, my cultural lifestyle and personal perseverance to succeed more than a wicked fear itself. So why am I a fan of Wicked? I can relate to the beauty and adversity, but more beauty like Hawaii!

I'm a military kid since birth. My father is currently in the Branch of the Air Force, soon to retire from his lifetime of service. Born and raised in Hawaii, it's been known to have great honor in the Pacific Rim theatre. Hawaii is well known to be absolutely beautiful, as well strategically disconnected from CONUS in the middle of the ocean. I'm the youngest of three military children. We all grew with respect for our service members. My family and I visited the traveling, Wall That Heals. And numerous times to Hickam AFB and Pearl Harbor Joint Bases. I was intrigued with aerospace on display and huge mechanical machines. RF helicopters were my favorite Christmas toys, even before drones became popular. Then building toy machines was another phase of wonder. When Dad deployed, Mom was sure to keep us thriving with daily duties and activities until Dad returned. I was really happy when he came home. It is a blessing. We would play, create and build a bigger bond together. Hawaii has all climate forms. I can swim and shoreline fish in the Pacific Ocean during the morning with my family, travel through our east side rain forests, then past the vast desert lava lands up to the highest snowcapped mountains; merely to watch the sunshine setting down on the west coast atop a mountain. Geography, geology, or oceanography are amazing experiences while growing up on Hawaii Island. Obviously, airplane rides are our mode of travel. When the earth quakes, we hope to see another wonderful burst of volcanic activity. It would be the talk of the town! And the reason for tourists here, the white sands or nice beaches. It's almost taken for granted, until I'm needing to recall its natural charm. Thus, the sciences and all its wonder is my future focus. My intention is a career with computers. I'm also musically inclined and a sports athlete. Yet, mostly interested in a Computer Engineering/Computer Science career. I am aware of a west coast university offering both as one degree. That's amazing. It's cost of attendance is astounding, too. Hawaii has the highest cost of living in the nation, and the family COLA barely cover its purpose. The combination of both COA and COLA is my family's financial college challenge. I'd like to pursue my desire in computer diagnostic applications and/or its mechanics into this next artificial digital world; however, its takes time and discipline. I don't have enough military credits from my dad to attend college on his tenure. Therefore, I'd be humbly appreciative of the financial assistance offered to grow into the next chapter of life within this evolving world. Thank you for your time and consideration.

My community is important to me. As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. That is exactly how my mom's fellowship group has welcomed me. You see my mothers' fellowship group is called Malama Ka Pili Pa'a, it's a cancer support group. My entire family was in shock with my mom's diagnosis. We were afraid, cried, worried and all of our emotions in between. Yet with the help of the warriors, thrivers, survivors and 'caregivers' cancer support group; my family experienced hope. At the support group, all of the aunties and gentlemen shared unconditional Aloha with us and most of all Faith. We always begin our fellowship with a prayer for today and close with a prayer for another good tomorrow. My intention is to pursue an engineering career. Born and raised in Hawaii, it's the most expensive cost of living state in the nation. Hence, my family's financial circumstances with medical, survival and necessities are easily described as difficult; thus, the financial need to pursue an industrious career is not difficult to imagine as financially challenging. I would be humbly grateful with this financial assistance opportunity. The sciences and math are very intriguing to me. It balances an inquiry with facts. I also enjoy computer program tools, music arts and competitive sports. These activities promote a cohesive teamwork into one resolution. I feel that many people coordinating a function or sports event together to achieve one outcome, makes for a good successful association. I can relate this to volunteering in my hometown. Malama Ka Pili Pa`a greets the community with love and respect. I've already been involved with an online video promotion to support Hope Lodge of Honolulu. And have volunteered with many local support group events and civic activities. I would like to utilize my industrious resources to further help my town with at least one good outcome. As Hawaii being the 50th state, we don't want to be in 50th place in the digital sciences revolution. A capstone idea is to create a digital app of resources for groups in need. Propelling our small country community into the digital age will get everyone on the same page for assistance, unity and care. When my mom was diagnosed, she said the information was scatter and it took a long while to filter through its benefits. I have begun that pursuit in high school with college courses in computer applications. I've prepared myself with earned credits into an academy. I plan to manage my discipline with a college degree in order to be a trustworthy citizen and to take of my community who have absolutely cared for me. Overall, I believe that one person's hardship isn't the end of the story. And one person's success is everyone's cohesive glory. The space that I fill in this world will also carry my fellowship forward; because as I've learned humility and grace from home, I'll cultivate kindness and beneficial digital information forward in my community. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Aloha...hope all is well. I’m a little Asian Hawaiian in the 50th State. LeBron is a huge, amazing athlete from Ohio. How is Ohio and Hawaii similar? They both were territories and not a union until people wanted to celebrate its ‘land’ as theirs! Me from Hawaii, Lebron from Ohio… we've overcome obstacles from societal past. As with the States being different, they became united and great. And as Lebron is a cut above the rest in his game and life; I suspect I am a diamond in this world too. Why is LeBron James a great basketball player? It’s because he used his platform to become a great person in our lifetime. I’m humbly from a migrant farming heritage, a small town on a big island and maybe more sheltered than our crazy world to be. I believe I’ll be an amazing citizen in the community and will flourish in my educational pursuits, diligent in a hard-working career and support the public duty for fairness and care. With these similar attributes as LeBron James, I look forward to elevate my platform in Engineering and establish a healthy lifestyle in my community, too. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Aloha from Hawaii. Born and raised into my military family has been a standard my entire life. And it’s cool how the community respects my dad’s integrity. We aren’t famous, we merely regard all families with decency whom both experience happiness and troubles in their world. I’ve only known to grow with my military lifestyle. It was a daily routine to see my father going to work in his OCP uniform was normal. He coming home was without interruptions. My parents were sure to provide the safest home for all of us. As a young child when my father deployed overseas, I initially felt he would be home soon without a hiccup. Mom kept the home in order and busy, then days turned into weeks and into months. My mind wondered on when dad would be back to play on the weekends. Those days were lonely. I kept myself occupied with fishing days with my brother or shopping trips with my mother. It was all to do without dad home. I didn’t comprehend the gravity of dad not being home until, he came home! He hugged on us and made sure we were happy and secure again. He didn’t talk about his work much. I think he didn’t want to trouble us, or merely he couldn’t. An extension of his work upon us was visiting many memorials. In 2024, my town was fortunate for The Wall That Heals. We were sure to share our respects. My family traveled to visit the Mighty Mo, Arizona Memorial, saw bullet holes in Hickam AFB buildings, and many times to Ford Island for Aero exhibits. Mom made sure we understood all people’s sacrifices at their young ages. So now I ask myself, ‘how has the military impacted me and my family?’ High school is all about growing into my own person, get a good education, and to be an industrious citizen. Sports games, music concerts, and extracurricular events are important to me right now. These activities have opening ceremonies with the National Anthem and Hawai’i Pono’i. I began to notice a lot of fans stood in silence for the National Anthem yet harmonized loudly for the State song. Some people didn’t even remove their caps in respect. Do people not know our men and women's national sacrifices? Well, I’m fortunate to have a family home with dads Veterans Administration funds. I’m fortunate to have my military dad, who allows me to grow into my young adulthood with hope and dreams. I’m fortunate to experience military bases across the country that welcomed us no matter where we were from. And surely very fortunate to have my military family keep me in check and in respect for families who are without. I wouldn’t change who I am. I am a military kid from a proud military family. Thank you.