The recently crowned Miss Kona Coffee 2016 and Miss Aloha Hawai‘i 2016 are both students at UH Hilo

Miss Kona Coffee 2016, budding performing artist and anthropologist Polani Kahakalau, entered the competition to earn scholarship money to complete her UH Hilo degree. Miss Aloha Hawaiʻi 2016 and Study Abroad Advisor Kirstie Naone’s platform is global learning.

Two students studying at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo were recently crowned Miss Kona Coffee 2016 and Miss Aloha Hawaiʻi 2016.

First-time pageant contestant Pōlanimakamae Kahakalau, 20, won the Miss Kona Coffee 2016 scholarship pageant held last month. A 2013 graduate of Kanu o ka ʻĀina New Century Public Charter School in Waimea, she entered the competition to earn scholarship money to complete her undergraduate studies at UH Hilo, where she is majoring in performing arts with a minor in anthropology. She received $2,500 in scholarships among other prizes.

Kahakalau graduated last spring with honors from Hawaiʻi Community College with an associate in arts in Hawaiian studies with an emphasis on hula. She spent most of her first 20 years in Waipio Valley, growing taro, living off the land, and learning how to perpetuate Hawaiian language, culture and traditions.

Also crowned at the same event was Kirstie Naone, 21, who took top honors as Miss Aloha Hawaiʻi 2016. Naone is a Mililani High School graduate and current UH Hilo student majoring in kinesiology. She also is a Study Abroad advisor at the university and her upcoming campaign platform as she readies for the Miss Hawaiʻi competition is “EAGLE: Encouraging A Global Learning Experience.”

“Education is very important to me, and I plan to make the most of it here at UH Hilo,” says Naone. “I believe that everyone should make the most of any educational opportunity that they come across and studying abroad is definitely one of them.”

On June 10, 2016, Kahakalau and Naone will both compete in the Miss Hawaiʻi 2016 Scholarship Pageant.