UH Hilo geology major Lichen Forster receives scholarship from Big Island Press Club
Sophomore Lichen Forster is editor-in-chief at the UH Hilo student newspaper, Ka Kalahea, and plans to be a science journalist.
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
Lichen Forster, a sophomore geology major at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, has received this year’s $1,000 Bill Arballo Scholarship from the Big Island Press Club.
Forster serves as editor-in-chief of the UH Hilo student newspaper, Ka Kalahea, and plans to be a science journalist. This is her second award.
Forster, who hails from Mountain View and is a 2021 graduate of Waiākea High School, says on her LinkedIn page that as a college student she is focusing on finding her niche where she can be the most valuable. In addition to pursuing her bachelor of science in geology, she also is participating in “journalism extracurriculars.”
She lists as her current title, “Future science journalist.”
“This goal started when I was a sophomore in high school, a year before I started a student newspaper there and joined the digital media team,” she writes. “I placed in two of the Hiki Nō (a PBS Hawaiʻi program) seasonal challenges and was honored as their 2021 graduate of the year when I left high school.”
She also placed first in the 2021 Student Television Network Convention and became a part of STNʻs honor society.
“Halfway through my first year of university, I became the student newspaperʻs editor-in-chief, a title I still hold,” she adds.
At Ke Kalahea, Forster oversees a 12-person team, writes, is a photographer, and does web design and layout duties when necessary.
The scholarship Forester received is named for Bill Arballo, a founding member of the Big Island Press Club in 1967 and its first president. A former United Press International reporter, he is honored through the scholarship, which is funded by an annual donation of $1,000 from his daughter, Teresa Barth, and her husband, Bill. Arballo passed away in 2016 at the age of 92.
Story by Susan Enright, public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
