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 Bishop Gorman High School graduate and scholarship recipient, Daniella Ranario is a junior at the University of Michigan, studying Computer Science. Here is a word from Daniella:

“Hi everyone!! I am Daniella Ranario, a current junior at the University of Michigan studying Computer Science with a minor in Statistics. I am so grateful to be a recipient this year to help me finish my last two years of college strong. Thank you to everyone involved with the decision-making and I am very excited to connect with others in this community.

Some background about me: I grew up in Las Vegas, NV (the “ninth island”) but all of my family is from Oahu. My dad is Native Hawaiian and my mom is Filipino. I am very grateful that I was able to go back to Oahu every summer and holidays to visit all of my extended family throughout my childhood. In Vegas, I graduated from Bishop Gorman High School where I discovered my interest for coding, leading to me major in Computer Science in college!

During my junior year of high school, I took my first programming class which made me realize my interest due to its problem solving nature and the sheer amount of possibilities I could go in with coding.

From that experience, I joined the University of Nevada in Las Vegas in their Artificial Intelligence Lab to research AI development within healthcare. I took part of this research for two years till I graduated high school, presenting work on The Integration of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Medical Engineering and The Ability of Machine Learning Algorithms to Aid the Visually Impaired. I also shared my interests with others through being a Technology Teaching Assistant at the Down Syndrome Organization of Southern Nevada.

I got to further explore my interests through programs with UIUC, Girls Who Code, Google, UT Austin and MIT. The summer before college started I also got to visit LinkedIn and Jane Street to see how an actual tech career could look like for me, motivating me to stay in CS throughout college.

Once I started college, I met numerous people who have shaped my college journey for the better through my dorm, classes, and most notably my clubs. For my freshman year, I joined a project team called NASA CLAWS working on a NASA student challenge to build an assistive device for astronauts going to Mars. I worked on the AI sub-team making a voice assistant. My team actually got to go to NASA’s site in Houston to test out our device in their simulation.

Some of my best friends came from my other club, Michigan Engineering Consulting Group. Admittedly, I did not know what consulting was at the time but my knowledge grew alongside some of my now strongest friendships. Throughout my years there, I served as DEI Chair and Project Manager. I also became active in University of Michigan’s ColorStack chapter, an organization focused on supporting Hispanic, Natives, and Black Computer Science students to a tech career. I later became their Corporate Relations for my sophomore and junior year.

However, my most influential club on my STEM journey was hands-down the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). I started my experience with them as a freshman who knew nobody in engineering and over the years I am proud of all the relationships I gained with some of the smartest engineers on campus.

When I first joined, I was an Advocacy Intern where I helped plan workshops on important issues in our social climate and even got to travel to Washington D.C to talk to Nevada legislators on supporting the STEM Restart Act. That same semester I traveled to Chicago for my spring break to teach coding concepts at middle and elementary schools. My sophomore year I became a Technical Development Officer, hosting software development workshops for undergraduate and graduate students.

That year, I was one of many chosen to represent the University of Michigan at the National Society of Women Engineers conference in New Orleans!

Yet, my hands-down favorite experience with SWE was traveling to India last May to host an engineering summer camp at a local school and visiting Southern Indian cities. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. It made me so happy to see how much the students enjoyed our activities and to hear them talk about a career in STEM for themselves.

Besides my clubs, I have gotten such a great college experience through attending sport games, eating at local restaurants, and seeing what nature has to offer in Ann Arbor.

My last summer was spent in New York as a Software Engineering Fellow for Jane Street. I got to engage everyday with the quantitative finance field while working alongside traders and software developers on their everyday task. It was such an influential summer for me in relation to my school path and career journey, proving to me that I have what it takes to become a Software Engineer post-grad.

Today is actually my first day of junior year and I can not wait to see where this semester of classes, football games, and very cold Michigan weather takes me. Next semester, I am going abroad to Prague and hopefully I spend next summer in a big city as a Software Engineering Intern in big tech/fintech.

Thank you again to everyone in this community and the committee for the support. Congratulations to all the other current and past recipients. Feel free to reach out to me whenever for whatever!”

Read more: Paubox Kahikina Scholarship Recipient Reflection | Daniella Ranario