I served as a co-leader for Kids Voting Hawai‘i (KVH), a nonpartisan initiative that promotes civic participation by giving K–12 students the opportunity to vote in mock state and federal elections. KVH’s mission is to address Hawai‘i’s historically low voter turnout by fostering lifelong voting habits early, encouraging keiki to explore candidates and issues, and sparking dialogue between peers, educators, and parents.

With our leadership, more than 35,000 students cast ballots, the highest youth participation since 1998. In the presidential race, President-Elect Donald Trump won the youth vote with 47.5%, followed by Vice President Kamala Harris with 44.85%. While those results reflected the national trend, Hawai‘i’s adult voters favored Harris (60%) over Trump (37%). In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Mazie Hirono received 32.81% of the student vote, while Bob McDermott and Shelby Pikachu Billionaire followed with 25.07% and 24.35%, respectively—results that differed significantly from the actual election, where Hirono won by a much larger margin.

Beyond candidate races, students in grades 6–12 weighed in on ballot questions that tackled timely issues. Results showed that most students opposed banning AI in schools (72.12% “No”), supported instituting a green fee on tourists to address climate change (75.88% “Yes”), and opposed carrying guns for self-defense (59.82% “No”). These responses revealed both generational differences and viewpoints. 

Our work with KVH was featured in the New York Times Kids Edition, Hawai‘i Public Radio, and UH Ka Leo. For me, co-leading KVH has been an opportunity to help shape how Hawai‘i’s next generation engages with democracy. 

I co-founded Punahou’s first tennis club, Play It Forward, as an avenue for service and community bonding. Through the club, we hosted equipment collection drives to make tennis more accessible to communities, volunteered with the USTA, and organized cleanups at local tennis parks. What began as a small effort to share my love of tennis quickly became a platform for engaging my peers in meaningful service.

Through this work, I learned about After-School All-Stars (ASAS), one of the country’s largest nonprofits dedicated to closing the opportunity gap for low-income youth. ASAS provides free after-school and summer programs that give students a safe space during the “danger zone” hours of 3–6 pm, when risks of crime, drug use, and other delinquent behaviors are highest. Their programs not only support academic achievement and healthy lifestyles but also prepare students for future careers. 

For the past two summers, I have organized Play It Forward members to volunteer with ASAS at Jarrett Middle School (Title 1), where we taught tennis to students. Many of these students had never picked up a racket before, and seeing their enthusiasm revealed the inequity in access to extracurricular opportunities that many of us take for granted. My work with ASAS showed me the importance of federal funding for programs that give low-income students opportunities to grow, proving how essential these investments are for leveling the playing field.

As an intern for the Democratic Party of Hawaii, I wrote press releases and reviewed legislation. I worked with their legislative team to track bills that aligned with the party's mission, values, and stances. After reviewing legislation, I focused my attention specifically on bills that dealt with education. Whether it is through providing voting experience for youth in the state with KVH or teaching tennis to students who have never played before, I have seen the power that education has to transform lives and responsibilities. For this reason, I submitted written and oral testimony for a bill that would provide free public preschool education. The bill passed, giving me hope in the notion that young people can make an impact in the issues facing our state. 

This research began when I joined a protest after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision in 2022. Soon after, I read The Fall of Roe, a book I recommend to anyone seeking to understand the history and consequences of reproductive rights in America. Both experiences inspired me to study how Dobbs is affecting women today.

My paper, Addressing Access to Reproductive Health Services in the Wake of Dobbs for Black and Income-Restricted Women, examines the decision’s impact on two groups: Black women, who already face high maternal mortality rates, and women living in poverty, who often cannot access or afford reproductive health services. I apply theories of oppression, intersectionality, and reproductive justice to show how Dobbs has deepened existing inequities. My paper got published in the National High School Journal of Science in March 2025. As of today, 910 people have viewed my article online. This was extracurricular research. 

I reached a better understanding of how civic issues shapes people's lives and the importance of research in the fight for justice.