Press club awards scholarships
The Big Island Press Club recently awarded scholarships totaling $5,600 to five students pursuing a higher education in journalism or a related field.
This year’s recipients were:
• Tianna Morimoto, a 2015 graduate of Konawaena High School and 2019 graduate of Chapman University with a degree in communication studies with a broadcast journalism minor. Morimoto, who interned at West Hawaii Today during the 2018-19 winter break, is pursuing a master’s degree in journalism at the University of Nevada at Reno. Morimoto, a two-time BIPC scholarship winner, is the recipient of the $1,500 Bill Arballo Scholarship.
• Jordan Virtue, a 2016 graduate of Hawaii Preparatory Academy and 2020 graduate of Harvard University, where she was on the editorial staff of The Harvard Crimson, the school’s student-run daily newspaper. Virtue, who has published a feature story in the Washington Post about shave ice, is entering University of Oxford, where she’ll pursue a master’s degree in history. A three-time BIPC scholarship winner, she is the recipient of the $1,000 Marcia Reynolds Scholarship.
• Danielle Brown, a 2017 graduate of Hilo High School, and junior English major at George Fox University, where she is also an intercollegiate tennis player. Brown is a two-time BIPC scholarship winner and the recipient of $1,000 from the combined Bob Miller and Jack Markey scholarships.
• Piper Haitsuka, a 2019 graduate of Makua Lani Christian Academy and sophomore journalism major at California State University-Sacramento. Haitsuka is, for the second consecutive year, the recipient of the $600 Yukino Fukabori Scholarship.
• Ku’uhiapo Jeong, a 2020 graduate of Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii Campus, will enter the University of Hawaii at Hilo this fall, and has announced his intentions to study communications and psychology. Jeong is the recipient of the $500 Hugh Clark Scholarship.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no scholarship dinner. Instead, the BIPC Scholarship awardees this year will be honored via a Zoom online ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 21. The featured speaker is the Honorable Mark E. Recktenwald, Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court. A 1978 Harvard University graduate, Recktenwald was a reporter for the United Press International Honolulu Bureau prior to pursing a law degree, which he received in 1986 from the University of Chicago.
The public can view the scholarship ceremony live via the Big Island Press Club’s public Facebook Page. https://www.facebook.com/TheBigIslandPressClub/. The ceremony will be archived on the page for later access, as well.
For more information, visit www.bigislandpressclub.org.