In 2000, the Kealakehe High School Community Council established four scholarships supporting Kealakehe’s vision and mission of providing students not only with a quality education but also providing the community with young adults who are well-rounded, skilled, hard-working and willing to give back to their families, their community and the world.
In 2005, the scholarships were renamed the Kealakehe High SCC Sarah Rosenberg Memorial Foundation Scholarships. Sarah Rosenberg was a successful student athlete at Kealakehe High School. Midway through her senior year in December of 2004, she was killed in a traffic accident. Over the course of her high school career, Rosenberg came to embody the highest qualities of a Kealakehe High School Waverider: A student who builds and cherishes strong relationships, earns and shows respect towards all people and willingly fulfills all of their responsibilities.
The Kealakehe High SCC Sarah Rosenberg Memorial Foundation Scholarship is separated into two categories. One category is the Kupono Most Outstanding Waverider Award for which student applicants are evaluated on their academic achievements as well as school and community involvement. The other category is the Lokomaikai Most Charitable Waverider Award, wherein school and community involvement are the main criteria.
The 2016-17 scholarship award recipients are:
Most Outstanding (Kupono) Waverider first place: Ian Denzer, $3,000; second place, Charlotte Taylor, $2,500. Most Charitable (Lokomaikai) Waverider first place: James Caudell, $3,000; second place, Lydia Robbins, $2,500.
Based on their first place finish, Denzer and Taylor were chosen to give speeches at the 2017 Kealakehe High School graduation. As far as their future plans go, Denzer will attend Yale University to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering while Taylor will major in molecular biology at the United States Air Force Academy. Caudell will pursue a degree in the field of philosophy, neuroscience and psychology from Washington University in Saint Louis and Robbins will attend Barnard College at Columbia University to major in biology and education.