The Pearl City Community Association (PCCA) Board of Directors awarded four Pearl City High School seniors with $1000 cash scholarships each during an awards ceremony dinner held in the Pearl City Highlands Elementary School Library on Monday, May 20, 2013. The scholarship winners were joined by their families, PCHS Counselor Mr. Mark Oda, and the presenting PCCA Board of Directors.
2013 PCCA Scholarship Recipients:
Liana Benedicto-Pauole, Sean Fukunaga, Layla Fidel and Reece Teramoto
“I’m pretty thankful that I got this scholarship. It will help me get my foot in the door at least to start somewhere. I’m planning on attending Leeward Community College for my pre-requisites and then try and get into the Air Force to go into the medical field. If I can’t get into the Air Force, I will still continue in the medical field but end up going back to LCC to get a degree. I would like to thank Mr. Oda because he was there when I needed help. He was the one that reminded me to turn in my scholarship stuff and helped me fix whatever needed to be fixed. I would also like to thank my parents for pushing me in the right direction to get where I am now."
Liana Benedicto-Pauole – Leeward Community College
“Thank you so much to the Pearl City Community Association. I appreciate this award. I know that college is very expensive nowadays and this award really helps to make it possible for me to go to a mainland college. A thousand dollars can help pay for books and tuition. I will be attending Loyola Marymount University and I will be majoring in electrical engineering. I would like to thank my parents for all of their support and helping me throughout high school. I would also like to thank my brother for always being there for me and also my friends for supporting me along the way.”
Sean Fukunaga – Loyola Marymount University
“I’m very grateful for the scholarship from the Pearl City Community Association. It will help with my expenses going to college at the University of Portland. I plan on majoring in computer science. I would like to say thank you to my parents and family and all of the friends who have continued to support me for all these years."
Reece Teramoto – University of Portland
“I would like to thank the Pearl City Community Association for funding my scholarship because it will really help because Seattle University is about $50,000 a year. I really appreciate the scholarship. I will be double majoring at Seattle University in International Business and Marketing. After that I would like to come back home to Hawaii to help and give back to my community the same way that the Pearl City Community Association gave back to me. I would like to thank my college counselor Mr. Oda as well as all of the Pearl City High School teachers and staff for helping me go through the journey as well as my family, my parents, my siblings, and all my friends who have always been there for me.”
Layla Fidel – Seattle University
“I’m really proud of these students. Besides getting a lot of scholarships, they did a lot for our school and our community. We’re going to miss them a lot because of their impact that they had on the school and community.”
Mr. Mark Oda – PCHS Counselor
The PCCA Board of Directors would like to congratulate Liana, Sean, Layla and Reece and wish you all a very bright future!
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Sean, Liana, Layla and Reece are pictured with PCCA Board members (from left to right) Jits Fujimura,
Liz Ishimatsu, Molina Gomez and PCCA President Warren Hiromoto in the Pearl City Highlands
Elementary School Library.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
2013 PCCA Scholarship recipients from the Pearl City High School Class of 2013 are pictured with
PCHS Counselor Mr. Mark Oda after receiving the $4000 check from the PCCA Board of Directors.
Pearl City Community Association (PCCA) Scholarship Program
Over $100,000 in scholarships have been given to Pearl City High School seniors during the past 51 years. Currently, $4,000 in scholarships are awarded annually to four deserving Pearl City High School seniors.
The PCCA also supports the activities of the ten schools in the Pearl City District Complex with monetary donations and manpower. Thousands of dollars annually are given to our Pearl City Complex elementary schools.
Scholarship funds and monetary donations are raised each year through our annual PCCA Membership Drive and community fundraising events.
Donations also support our programs and are accepted on our PCCA website at: www.pccahawaii.org. Each donation is greatly appreciated and goes directly to support our scholarship and school donation programs.