Josh and Souk Jerman Foundation awards six academic scholarships

Six Maui County high school seniors have been awarded $1,000 each by the Josh and Souk Jerman Foundation Scholarship program. Now in its 21st consecutive year, the Josh and Souk Jerman Foundation Scholarship program provides academic scholarships to local high school seniors who will attend an accredited four-year college or university. To date, the program has awarded more than $81,000 in scholarships to Maui, Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i students who have displayed a passion for returning to Maui County after college to contribute to the community.

This year’s recipients are Gigi Cabanting of Seabury Hall, Crystal Hoffman of Moloka‘i High School, Kaili McMillin of Seabury Hall, Joshua Mori of Maui High School, Maya Phillips of Seabury Hall, and Chaysen Tanaka of Kamehameha Schools Maui. 

This fall, Cabanting will be attending Gonzaga University, where she plans to study humanities on a pre-law track. “I would like to express my deepest gratitude for this scholarship,” she said. “It will alleviate financial concerns, allowing me to more greatly concentrate on my studies and explore opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable to me.”

Tanaka will be attending California Polytechnic State University, where he plans to study computer science. “Thanks to this scholarship, getting a hands-on technical education is available to me and will give me the understanding to pursue cybersecurity and big tech companies,” he said. “I truly appreciate Josh and Souk Jerman for their consideration and selection of this scholarship and their support of my higher education endeavors.”

With her sights set on a career in real estate law, Phillips will be studying business administration at San Diego State University this fall. “This scholarship will help me achieve my academic goals by allowing me to pursue a higher education at an amazing school with less stress on how I will pay for it, since I will be paying with little to no help from my parents,” she said. “Additionally, it will aid in achieving my career goals by giving me a connection to the Josh and Souk Jerman Foundation, which relates to the career field I want to enter into.”

Hoffman will be attending Weber State University, where she will pursue a degree in radiological sciences to prepare her for a diagnostic medical sonography program. To Josh and Souk Jerman, Hoffman said, “I am honored and forever thankful for your support. It brought my family and I so much joy to know that I was being recognized. Coming from a lower-income family, I knew that I would need scholarships and aid to assist me in achieving my goals. Mahalo nui for providing such a generous reward to help me further my goals of becoming a sonographer and coming back to Molokaʻi to work. Not only are you helping me, but you are also helping my community have access to better healthcare.”

Mori will be pursuing a double major in earth and atmospheric science and electrical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. “With this scholarship, I will receive much-needed financial backing to pursue my interests in renewable energy research on the mainland. My long-term goal is to one day return to Maui to help progress our island to a more sustainable future,” he explained. “Thank you, Josh and Souk Jerman, for your endless support of students on Maui. Not only granting financial support that low-income students like me crucially need, but also the confidence to pursue previously unattainable opportunities, truly means a lot. With your generosity, I am inspired to one day give back to the Maui community as well.”

For more information about the Souk Jerman Foundation Scholarship program, visit http://jermanfoundation.org.