Zonta Club of Kauai awards $26,000 in scholarships to eight students

Eight Kaua‘i students split $26,000 in scholarships, giving the island’s graduating class a direct boost for campuses from Reno to Oregon and Mānoa. The Zonta Club of Kaua‘i handed out the awards Wednesday, May 6, at Puakea Grill, where longtime Scholarship Committee Chair MaBel Fujiuchi was also honored for years of leadership as she prepares to retire from Kaua‘i Economic Opportunity in June.

For Kaua‘i High School senior Venice Anuada, the scholarship support helps open a path to Roger Williams School of Business. Kaua‘i High’s Chloe Waipa is headed to the University of Oregon, while Maile Miyazaki will attend the University of California, Irvine. Island School’s Chloe Ayonon is bound for the University of Nevada, Reno. The rest of the recipients include Kyssja Strickland of Kapa‘a High School, who is going to the University of Arizona, and Waimea High School students Isabella Martinez and Camille Miguel, both headed to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, along with Jayna Sams of Waimea High, who will attend Boise State University.

The spread of campuses shows how far Kaua‘i students travel for college and how quickly scholarship support matters once airfare, housing and other costs are added. For island families, these awards can make the difference between leaving Kaua‘i for school on time and putting off enrollment because the bill is too high.

The funding behind the program came from a mix of community support, including an endowment from the late Betty J. Bell, the County of Kaua‘i, the Hawai‘i Hotel Industry Foundation, Blue Dolphin Charters, Ltd., and Anaina Hou Community Park. Bell was Kaua‘i’s first licensed pharmacist and a former chief executive of Wilcox Hospital. She created the Betty J. Bell Scholarship for Kaua‘i Women, aimed especially at working mothers and women returning to school after time away.

Zonta says its scholarship program began in 1986 with four seniors and $250 awards. Since then, the club says it has distributed about $253,500 to more than 224 students. This year’s $26,000 total topped the club’s 2025 awards, when four recipients shared $16,000, and reflected a larger pipeline of local students reaching for degrees that could eventually bring skills back to Kaua‘i. The club’s program awards at least $1,000 scholarships to young women from Kaua‘i pursuing higher education, and it also supports women returning to the workforce and, in some cases, Kaua‘i Community College students.