Hilo High School’s graduation ceremonies took place May 18 at Edith Kanaka‘ole Multi-Purpose Stadium
Waiakea High School’s graduation ceremonies took place May 19 at Edith Kanaka‘ole Multi-Purpose Stadium
Graduation dates
Keaau High: 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 25, at in the school stadium
Ka’u High: 5 p.m. Friday, May 25, at the Ka‘u District Gym
Honokaa: 10 a.m. Saturday, May 26, at Honokaa Sports Complex
Pahoa: 5:30 p.m. Sunday, May 27, at the Hilo Civic Auditorium
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Katelyn “Katie” Lee, 17
Hometown: Hilo
GPA: 4.3
Plans after high school? In the fall, I’m planning to attend Boston University. I’m hoping to major in biology; it’s been a personal favorite subject of mine since freshman year. I especially like plants — botany and gardening.
As far as a career, I’ve tossed around a few different ideas. I’m pretty interested in bioengineering, I think it’s a really interesting science that could become prevalent in the future. But I also like science editing. Not writing science articles but editing them for consumption by the general public. I first came across (science editing) just from reading science articles and thinking about it. I’m an OK writer but a better editor. So I feel that combining that with my science knowledge, I could be a decent science editor.
Extracurricular activities/hobbies? Well, I just finished out my last season of judo and I’m also in Mathletes, that season also just finished. Additionally, not related to school extracurriculars, I like to garden and crochet. I have a garden just outside my house where I grow some ornamental stuff and succulents. When I have the time I like to grow tomatoes, strawberries and (plants) that have crops.
What advice would you give to entering high school freshmen? I would say be careful your freshman year because if you just slack off thinking it doesn’t matter, it’s not going to be good for you. And choose courses that interest you. You never know what you might like. One of my favorite courses turned out to be ceramics and who would have thought? I just took it as a space filler initially. So I’d say just try your best and do what you like.
Thoughts on graduating? As it gets closer I’m very ready to wrap it up. It’s definitely been a busy year. So I’m pretty ready to have a summer break and jump into the chaos again in college. I’m pretty excited (to attend school far away) because I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ll get to experience living in a city. I think I’ll definitely think fondly of high school but I won’t miss it.
Ten years from now where do you hope to be? I will be 27 so I’d hope to definitely have completed my bachelor’s degree by then. I don’t know if I will have followed a grad school path or potentially a professional school path. If I went to professional school I’d just be finishing that up. There are a lot of options that I am interested in and I’m hoping to just explore them.
Waiakea High’s remaining valedictorians this year are:
Angel Ai-Perreira, Daezon Arruda, Chantel Balberde, Jazmine Early, Daisy Ho, Jacob Igawa, Jaycee Iwasaki, Cecilia Jeschke, Arren Leung, Anne Nakamoto, Deylen Nekoba, Naya Nguyen, Craig Okahara-Olsen, Emmalani Reynolds, Kaley Saludares, Kiani Marie Serrao, Aubree Silva, Jeanette Tajiri, Tara Marie Takafuji, Trayden Tamiya, Kolton Xie and Nathan Yoshida.