2025 Paubox Kahikina Scholarship winter networking event

On Saturday we held our sixth annual winter networking event for the Paubox Kahikina Scholarship.

It was our largest event yet.

What's happening: In 2020, we held our first winter networking event for the scholarship at The Pacific Club in Honolulu. It was attended by three people: recipients Nick Wong, Alyssa Lyman, and myself.

We've since expanded it to over 100 attendees.

What's new: Thanks to the help of a newly-formed volunteer planning committee, we did the following new things this year:

• Structured networking. For 30 minutes, scholarship recipients and advisors sat at the same tables and networked. For example, Table 1 focused on Technology & Software, while Table 2 targeted Computer Science & Mechanical Engineering majors.
• Recipient introductions. Recipients compiled a slide to introduce themselves.
• Bigger venue. We held the event under a white tent on the main lawn of The Pacific Club.

Who showed up: 23 of our 62 scholarship recipients attended, along with 80 other advisors, customers, prospective customers, family, and friends.

Recipients who attended:

• Alyssa Lyman (Purdue University, graduated)
• Austin Cataluna (University of Hawai'i at Mānoa)
• Brayden Morioka (University of Michigan)
• Bronson Morioka (University of Michigan)
• Bryan Pontanilla (Portland State University)
• Caleb Takiguchi (Cornell University)
• Chancen Law (Harvard University)
• Colton Mills (University of Hawai'i at Mānoa)
• Dustin Kealoha (Dartmouth College)
• Erika Kwee (MIT)
• Gabbie Nakamatsu (Santa Clara University)
• Grant Lau (Stanford University)
• Haliʻa Sniffen (University of California, Los Angeles)
• Jada Lee (UC Berkeley)
• Kalei Sproat (Brigham Young University)
• Koa Chang (Stanford University)
• Lauren Kwee (Harvard University, graduated)
• Logan Lau (Stanford University)
• Nick Wong (UC Berkeley, graduated)
• Taylor Moniz (Columbia University, graduated; now a PhD candidate in Neuroscience at New York University Langone Health Grossman School of Medicine)
• Taysia Morioka (University of Michigan, graduated; starting medical school in 2026)
• Travis Kuo (Washington University)
• Trust Tinai (Loyola Marymount University)

Companies and organizations who attended:

• Apple
• Blue Startups
• Bowers + Kubota
• Builders VC
• Finance Factors
• First Hawaiian Bank
• Hawaii Community Foundation
• Hawaii Dental Service
• Hawaii Technology Development Corporation
• Honolulu Tech Week
  
• Inkinen & Associates
• K Bay Capital
• Malama Ola Health
• Paragon

• Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard
• Punahou School
  
• Reef.ai
• Resource Innovations
• Salesforce
  
• Unitek Contracting Group
• Upena Systems
  

About the scholarship: The mission of the Paubox Kahikina Scholarship is to encourage Native Hawaiians to pursue careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) or tech in general.

The scholarship is recurring in nature. In other words, recipients receive $1,000 per year until they graduate.

The bottom line: We know connecting our recipients to our network will always be of interest. It's one of the big ideas behind the scholarship. We should therefore endeavor to achieve this.

See related: Honolulu Tech Week 2025: Paubox Kahikina Scholarship Panel

See also: 2024 Paubox Kahikina Scholarship winter networking event

Enjoy the pics!

Mountan Mitchell (Account Executive, Paubox) rockin' the Paubox Jordan 1s and bringing the choice lei for our scholarship recipients

My mom’s best friend, Aunty Rain Robinson, and Uncle Bruce Shimoda came out early again to support us

Michael Bennett (seated), founder of Honolulu Tech Week, came early to help out

Selfie with my friend, Paubox customer, and ardent supporter of our scholarship, Daryle Ann Ho (Co-founder, Malama Ola Health)

Alexi Drouin (Mentor, Blue Startups) and his wife, Dr. Kate Schmidle

Selfie with Trust Tinai (Mechanical Engineering, Loyola Marymount University)

Ben Ancheta III (Founding Engineer, Sorce) and Ben Ancheta, Jr (President, Inkinen)

Selfie with Haliʻa Sniffen (Psychology, UCLA) and Travis Kuo  (Electrical Engineering, Mathematics + Computer Science, Washington University)

Left to right: Dustin Kealoha (Economics, Dartmouth College) and Austin Cataluna (Mechanical Engineering, UH Mānoa)

Selfie with Kalei Sproat (Human Development, BYU Provo) and her boyfriend, Gabriel Paet

My view from the podium. Impressive turnout.

Selfie with Nick Wong (Sr. Product Manager, Paragon) and his Mom

Colton Mills (Mechanical Engineering, UH Mānoa) introducing himself  

Selfie with my McKinley High School classmate, Erik "Warren" Miyashiro. He was the first donor to our new non-profit entity.

Nick Wong wanted to meet Olin Lagon, so I connected them.

Selfie with Olin Lagon, someone who comes along once every hundred years.

Gabbie Nakamatsu (Biology, Santa Clara University) introducing herself to the audience 

Selfie with Chancen Law (Engineering Sciences - Bioengineering Track; Computer Science, Harvard University)

All smiles with Alyssa Lyman, Trung Lam and his wife

Eddie Fan (Director, Customer Systems, Apple) makes a point at Table 2 during structured networking. 

Taking a pic with Koa Changʻs dad, Ryan Chang. His favorite album of all-time is Hoʻala by The Brothers Cazimero.

Left to right: Olin Lagon, Alexi Drouin, and Bryan Pontanilla (Accounting, Portland State University)

Taking a pic with Chenoa Farnsworth (Managing Director, Blue Startups), my son Moʻokai, and Connie Lau (Board of Trustees, Punahou School)

Posing with Becky Hathaway (VP People, Paubox) and Charissa Wong (Director of IT & Security, Bowers + Kubota)