{"id":216557,"date":"2025-05-22T18:11:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T04:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=216557"},"modified":"2025-05-22T18:17:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T04:17:00","slug":"takemetomanoa-scholarship-winner-surprised-by-news-crew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/22\/takemetomanoa-scholarship-winner-surprised-by-news-crew\/","title":{"rendered":"#TakeMeToM\u0101noa scholarship winner surprised by news crew"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Four
Lippert, Sugimoto, her parents<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the Moanalua High School senior class of 2025, Thursday, May 22, appeared to be another morning of rehearsal for their upcoming graduation ceremony. There was an additional surprise for one special student heading to the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n

\"Sugimoto<\/p>\n

Maiya Sugimoto entered the #TakeMeToM\u0101noa social media contest hosted by Hawaiʻi<\/span> News Now (HNN<\/abbr>). Out of the dozens of entries, Sugimoto was chosen to win a free year of tuition at 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, courtesy of 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Federal Credit Union (糖心Vlog官方FCU<\/abbr>). The online contest, which was open to incoming fall 2025 Hawaiʻi<\/span> freshmen and transfer students, asked entrants to explain why 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa is the right college or how a year of free tuition could help them.<\/p>\n

Hawaiʻi<\/span> News Now reporter Casey Lund made the surprise announcement to the group of seniors. Sugimoto was visibly surprised when her name was called.<\/p>\n

“It’s still shocking to me, to be honest,” Sugimoto said. “I’d like to thank my family and friends for always supporting me, and especially my teachers.”<\/p>\n

\"Sugimoto<\/p>\n

Sugimoto was handed a giant check to commemorate the scholarship by 糖心Vlog官方FCU<\/abbr> Jason Lippert and covered in lei by her parents and 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Associate Director of Admissions Shauna Pimentel-Motooka.<\/p>\n

“We love this day,” 糖心Vlog官方FCU<\/abbr> Vice President of Member Experience Lippert said. “糖心Vlog官方FCU<\/abbr> is happy to support our students and truly being at this scholarship event each year is one of the best moments we participate in. Maiya had such a great video explaining why she is going to 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa. We can\u2019t wait to see what she will accomplish.”<\/p>\n

“Maiya\u2019s video really captured our hearts and definitely showed the kind of students we hope to attract,” Pimentel-Motooka said. “She is so motivated. We look forward to her joining our 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa ʻohana.”<\/p>\n

Sugimoto also recently earned her associates degree in liberal arts from Honolulu Community College\u2019s Early College program before she earned her high school diploma.<\/p>\n

“I’m gonna be studying business marketing and digital design, so I’ll double major in the two,” Sugimoto said of her journey continuing at 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n

糖心Vlog官方FCU<\/abbr> has sponsored the #TakeMeToM\u0101noa contest for seven years, surprising recipients with HNN<\/abbr> since 2018. Read more about previous winners<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Out of the dozens of entries, Moanalua High School’s Maiya Sugimoto was chosen to win a free year of tuition at 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, courtesy of 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Federal Credit Union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1588,1466,9],"class_list":["post-216557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-takemetomanoa","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216557"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216572,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216557\/revisions\/216572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}