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Annual Regents & Presidential Scholars Dinner

July 30, 2014
  • Annual Regents & Presidential Scholars Dinner
The Regents Scholarship Program, established by the Board of Regents in 1986, was created to help Hawai‘i's most promising students pursue their higher education ambitions right here at home.

Regents Scholars receive a full tuition scholarship for four years of undergraduate study, $4,000 a year and a $2,000, one-time, travel grant.

Another wave of Hawaiʻi’s best and brightest can now be found on University of Hawaiʻi campuses. Twenty local high school graduates who excelled in the classroom and on the college entrance exams were awarded UH Board of Regents Scholarships and ten incoming UH juniors were named Presidential Scholars for their academic achievement.

These outstanding students and their families were honored at a special dinner at Hālau O Haumea, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, at UH Mānoa.

“These are students of both great achievement, great potential and great promise,” said UH Board of Regents Chair Randy Moore.

View more photos from the Annual Regents & Presidential Scholars Dinner.

Growing The Regents Scholarship Program

AkakaIn order to grow the impact of the Regents Scholarship Program, we are partnering with our community to expand private support for Hawaiʻi’s most promising students.

“The Senator Daniel K. Akaka Regents Scholarship Endowment will help create the next generation of Native Hawaiian leaders who can carry on the Senator's legacy of selfless service and commitment to his community.”

Walter Dods
Co-Chair, Senator Daniel K. Akaka Regents Scholarship Endowment Committee

Friends of Senator Daniel Akaka are commemorating the senator's outstanding accomplishments by establishing the Senator Daniel K. Akaka Regents Scholarship Endowment. This prestigious scholarship will support outstanding students selected as UH Regents Scholars. The co-chairs of the Senator Daniel K. Akaka Regents Scholarship Endowment Committee are Walter A. Dods, Jr., Bert A. Kobayashi, Sr., Lawrence S. Okinaga and Joan M. Ohashi.

“We are all proud to support and honor the Senator with this effort and legacy, and look forward to garnering additional support for this important scholarship endowment,” said Bert A. Kobayashi, Sr.

“I one day hope to become a doctor so I am majoring in biology to go to medical school,” said Regent Scholar and Honokaʻa High graduate Malia Andrade Stout. “And I am just really looking forward to learning as much as I possibly can.”

Joan M. Ohashi added, “Senator Akaka did so much for so many people during his career. Wherever he went, and in all his capacities, he was a true educator, and ambassador of aloha for Hawai‘i.”

Lawrence S. Okinaga shared, “The scholarship honors the Senator’s passionate commitment to growing Native Hawaiian and Hawai‘i’s scholars and leaders. Throughout his career from public school teacher and administrator to public office, Senator Akaka was intent on finding solutions and strengthening the futures of America’s native peoples through vehicles including education, access to opportunity, and financial literacy.”

Thanks to generous lead gifts of $300,000 from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and $250,000 from Kamehameha Schools, along with individual gifts from other donors, pledges and gifts totaling more than $1,142,000 have been raised.

Senator Daniel Akaka shared, “Since the 1930s when members of my family first started attending UH, it has played a pivotal role in our lives. This scholarship will help many of Hawai‘i’s most promising students access the transformational opportunities UH provides, and empower them to be leaders rooted in the spirit of aloha. These are the leaders our world needs.”


If you would like to learn how you can support UH students and programs like this, please contact us at 808 376-7800 or send us a message.