Kauai Filipino Chamber awards $8,500 in scholarships to seven seniors

The Kauai Filipino Chamber of Commerce Foundation Scholarship Committee handed out $8,500 to seven graduating seniors at Puakea Grill in Līhue, a modest pool of money that still lands at a crucial moment for families facing college, trade school, and other post-high school costs.

The recipients were set to graduate on May 22 from three public high schools across the county: one student from Kapaa High School, two from Kauai High School and four from Waimea High School. Broc Candido was identified as the lone Waimea High School warrior among the awardees, while a group photo captured recipients alongside chamber leaders Cyndi Ayonon, Marites Yano, Angel Acorda and Dennis Fujimoto.

The chamber’s scholarship program has become one of the ways a private volunteer organization can step into a public gap. The Kauai Filipino Chamber of Commerce says it was established in 2000 and describes itself as a 100% volunteer group focused on leadership, personal development, volunteerism and community service. For its 2026 scholarship cycle, applicants had to be Kauai County residents of Filipino ancestry, with applications due by postmark on March 31.

The chamber’s awards are split into separate categories for four-year college and university students and for junior college and community college students, a structure that suggests the fund is trying to meet students wherever their next step leads. On an island where tuition, books, housing, transportation and interisland moves can quickly strain a family budget, even smaller awards can help a senior stay on track for enrollment or training.

The May 7 distribution also fit a longer pattern. In 2025, the chamber recognized eight of nine scholarship recipients at an annual dinner at Puakea Grill. In 2023, it distributed $8,000 among 12 recipients, including four $1,000 scholarships and eight $500 awards. In 2021, scholarships were mailed to 11 recipients after a gathering was canceled because of a COVID-19 case increase on Kauai.

Funding for the awards has historically been tied to the chamber’s annual scholarship golf tournament. The organization said its 23rd tournament was scheduled for Labor Day 2025 at Wailua Golf Course, with an awards luncheon at Lydgate Beach Pavilion, and a 2024 account said the major portion of chamber scholarships comes from that fundraiser. That makes the program more than a ceremonial gesture: it is a community-backed pipeline from local fundraising to the island’s next crop of workers, students and professionals.