The Paubox Kahikina Scholarship helps Native Hawaiian students pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and Tech in general. Its purpose is to offer financial support and create a strong network for these students. The scholarship makes education more affordable and connects students with professionals, giving them valuable opportunities to learn and grow in their chosen STEM or Tech fields. This scholarship is about more than just money; it's about building a community and empowering Native Hawaiian students to succeed in STEM or Tech careers.
See also: The big ideas behind the Paubox Kahikina Scholarship
As a recent Mililani High School graduate and scholarship recipient, Brandon Diggs is a freshman at the University of Hawaiʻi, majoring in computer engineering. Here is a word from Brendon:
“Aloha! My name is Brandon Diggs, and I am so grateful and proud to be a Paubox Kahikina Scholarship recipient. I was born and raised in Mililani and graduated from Mililani High School in 2025. I am currently a freshman attending The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and majoring in Computer Engineering.
I first found interest in STEM in middle school, through a club called CyberPatriot. It introduced me to different operating systems like Linux Windows, and Windows Server. I continued this pathway and joined the high school club where Cisco was introduced, which became my favorite one. In the club we were put on teams and had to compete to try and fix different computer scenarios with the goal of making them more secure. For the Cisco portion we were tasked with fixing a network, making sure connections between devices were working and packets could be transported throughout the topology.
I still don’t know specifically what I want to do, but I know I want it to be something with computer networking. I enjoy seeing and understanding how devices are able to communicate with each other. I also like the aspect of keeping communication secure and safe, being able to send information locally and globally. I first had my major set in Computer Science, but as I thought about it more I wanted to work hands on with hardware in a network so that helped direct me towards Computer Engineering.
I have made it through midterms for most of my classes and am taking a programming class for engineering that I find interesting. I did not know what to expect going into Computer Engineering, but I have been able to enjoy the class and learning programming as I had leaned more towards cyber security while in high school.
Some goals I have is to learn more about programming and computer networking, and having grown a solid foundation of knowledge built, I would like to look to get hands on experience with internship opportunities in my later years of college. The Paubox Kahikina Scholarship would not only help me work towards accomplishing this financially, but socially as well. I was able to attend the Honolulu Tech Week Paubox social mixer and meet new people, from the company or people from the advisor network. I was able to learn a little bit of what people look for when hiring engineers, and will use this information through my college years.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to be a recipient of the Paubox Kahikina Scholarship. I am thankful for everyone that was a part of the selection process and able to create these opportunities for myself and others. I am grateful for what I have already been able to accomplish being part of this, as well as excited for what is to come.
Mahalo.”
Read more: Paubox Kahikina Scholarship Recipient Reflection | Brendon Diggs