Press club awards scholarships
The Big Island Press Club is awarding scholarships totaling $3,000 to four students pursuing a higher education in journalism or a related field.
Lichen Forster will receive the $1,000 Bill Arballo Scholarship. A 2021 graduate of Waiakea High School, she will attend University of Hawaii at Hilo in the fall. Arballo was a founding a member of Big Island Press Club in 1967 and its first president. A former United Press International reporter, he is honored through a scholarship funded by an annual donation of $1,000 from Bill’s daughter, Teresa Barth, and her husband, Bill. Arballo died in 2016.
Lauren Okinaka will receive the Robert Miller/Jack Markey Scholarship of $1,000. Okinaka is a University of Hawaii at Hilo communication major. Miller was a UPI reporter whose 1968 speech to BIPC inspired Ouida Hill, wife of state Sen. W.H. “Doc” Hill, to donate $1,000 to start the Miller Scholarship. Miller died in 2004. Markey was a fixture on Hilo’s streets. Unable to drive because of poor vision, Markey, a senior citizen, walked and hitchhiked around town to sell radio advertising, He recruited new members for BIPC and was instrumental in building the BIPC scholarship endowment.
Alianna West-Rodrigues will receive the $500 Hugh Clark Scholarship. A 2021 graduate of Hawaii Preparatory Academy, she will attend Emerson College in Boston. Hugh Clark was a “newspaperman’s newspaperman.” He wrote about crime, politics, sports and volcanic eruptions for the Honolulu Advertiser and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald. He was a charter member of the Big Island Press Club. Clark died in 2015.
Emmy Okinaka will receive the $500 Yukino Fukabori Scholarship. A 2021 graduate of Waiakea High School, she will attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa and major in creative media. Noteworthy for reporting “hard news” for the Hawaii Tribune-Herald as early as the 1930s when women reporters were generally on the society page, Fukabori, who later taught news writing at Hilo High School, funded a scholarship in 1993. She died in 1995.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the BIPC Scholarship awardees this year will be honored via a Zoom online ceremony at 6 p.m. June 18. The featured speaker is Mitchell Byars. A two-time BIPC scholarship recipient and Kona native, Byars, a breaking news and courts reporter for the Boulder Daily Camera, wrote the initial accounts of the March 22 mass shooting in a Boulder supermarket.
The ceremony will be livestreamed at facebook.com/TheBigIslandPressClub.
Hawaii Island studets
net $44k in scholarships
The Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation Inc. recently awarded scholarships to 11 Hawaii Island seniors in its annual Legacy Scholarship program.
Hana-Lei Ji of Parker School received the $10,000 Mamoru Takitani Outstanding Student Award. Ji, the daughter of Etsuko and Bryan Ji, will be attending Northwestern University in Illinois.
District Finalist scholarship awards of $5,000 were given to Sandy Galvez of Kea‘au High School, the daughter of Sammy and Thelma Galvez, who will be attending University of Hawaii at Hilo, and Tayson Hirayama of Hawaii Preparatory Academy, the son of Jennifer and Stennis Hirayama, who will attend the University of Washington.
Hawaii District $3,000 scholarship awards were awarded to Caileen Teramoto of Konawaena High School, the daughter of Deana and Lance Teramoto, who will be attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa; Mahina Kaiawe-Rivera of Pahoa High &Intermediate School, the daughter of Jacqueline Kaiawe, who will be attending the University of Hawaii at Hilo; Kacie Tagawa of Waiakea High School, the daughter of Heather and Jason Tagawa, who will be attending the University of Oregon; Kylie Kalauli of Hilo High School, the daughter of Pauliane and Keli‘i Kalauoka‘ae‘a-Kahele, who will be attending Lynn University in Florida; Sheilyn Subia of Honoka’a High School, the daughter of Marvin and Nelly Subia, who will be attending Baylor University in Texas; Melakai Keohuloa of Ka’u High School, the son of Melody Espejo and Eugene Keohuloa Jr., who will be attending the University of Hawaii at Hilo; and Pilila’i Kaai of Kohala High School, the daughter of Anthony and Florene Kaai, who will be attending Grand Canyon University.
The Hawaii Association of Independent Schools $3,000 scholarship award was given to Sophia Perry of Kamehameha Schools Hawaii, the daughter of Malia and Shaun Perry, who will be attending Northwestern University.
The students were among 61 recipients, one from each qualifying public and independent school in the state, who received scholarships based on academic achievement, community service and financial need. In total, the Foundation awarded $225,000 to students throughout the state in its Legacy Scholarship Program this year.
Mamoru and Aiko Takitani founded Hawaiian Host, manufacturer of Hawaiian Host chocolates, and established the Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation to give back to the community by providing the gift of education to the young people of Hawaii. Since 1993, the foundation has awarded over $6 million to scholarship and academic enrichment programs throughout the state.
