2017 Scholarship Recipients

The goal of the HCCNC Scholarship Program is to support student leaders as role models for the Hawai‘i community. The Scholarship Program is aimed at strengthening the pipeline of Bay Area college-bound students and ensuring retention so that more students obtain their degrees. We seek to support qualified kama‘āina, and assist them in making the transition from high school to college, and from Hawai‘i to the mainland.

This year we are pleased to support three outstanding students! Congratulations to Jonathan Murata, Kaitlyn Shikada, and Carly Kajiwara, recipients of 2017 HCCNC Scholarships!

Jonathan murata

Jonathan Murata is a second-year majoring in Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley. He was born and raised in Aiea, Hawaii, and graduated from Punahou School in 2015. Outside of classes, Jonathan works in the Poly-PEDAL lab to create a rod-running cockroach robot and is currently training to be a new student orientation leader. After graduation, Jonathan hopes to pursue a graduate degree in the Electrical side of Mechanical Engineering and work in the consumer electronics or product design industry. Jonathan is passionate about helping other people on his path to becoming an engineer, and one day he wants to share his knowledge and experience with the keiki in Hawaii that don’t have exposure to this kind of field.

kaitlyn shikada

Kaitlyn Shikada, a 2011 ‘Iolani School alumna from Hawaii Kai, is currently in her 2nd year of graduate school at Life Chiropractic College West in Hayward, CA. While majoring in Biology and minoring in Exercise Science at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, she was a 4-year starter on the softball team and led various clubs around campus.  Immediately after graduating in May 2015, she moved to The Bay to pursue her career in Chiropractic. She is actively involved in the Life West community as a Student Champion Ambassador, Adjusting Ninjas Facilitator and member of the co-ed softball team.  She will graduate as a Doctor of Chiropractic in June 2018. Her vision is to eventually return to Hawaii and open a chiropractic practice with the goal to improve the health and well being of Hawaii’s people. Kaitlyn is passionate about connection and service and hopes to give back to the community that has raised her into the woman she is today.

carly kajiwara

Carly Kajiwara is a native of Honolulu, Hawaiʻi and a graduate of Kamehameha Schools Kapālama, Class of 2017. In the fall, she will enter the School of Letters and Science at the University of California Berkeley. Her love of people and interest in understanding the human psyche led her to seek a degree in Psychology. Her experience with people is diverse, spending four years as a dedicated volunteer at Kuakini Hospital and fourteen years as a youth volunteer at Honolulu City Lights. Being involved in Student Government since the fourth grade has really defined her entire life. She has also been involved in her school’s National Honors Society, Kuʻi club, National History Day, and International Relations Club. She also enjoys training and riding horses at a ranch in Waimanalo. As a young Native Hawaiian, Carly endeavors to be a Hawaiian helping other Hawaiians thrive. Her long-term aim is to fight for Hawaiian rights and perpetuate the culture. She feels that it is her kuleana to give back to the place and people who have given her so much, and thanks HCCNC for all of the amazing opportunities.