Scholarships

The KOKUA Program oversees 3 scholarships that are available to Mānoa students with disabilities.

Walter Serikawa Scholarship

It was the goal of the late Walter Serikawa to financially support students with documented disabilities to provide access to quality post-secondary education programs in Hawaiʻi. He established the Walter Serikawa Scholarship to encourage persons who are Deaf or hard of hearing and/or legally blind to pursue higher education opportunities at UH Manoa. He honored hard work and integrity and wanted other persons with disabilities to have the educational opportunities that he himself did not have.

To qualify for the Walter Serikawa Scholarship, a recipient must: be legally blind and/or Deaf or hard of hearing, demonstrate a minimum GPA of 2.0 (undergraduate) and 3.0 (Graduate), and be enrolled in a minimum of six credit hours per semester as a classified student at UH Mānoa.

Michiko Okasako Scholarship

In 2005, Mrs. Michiko Okasako established the Masao and Michiko Okasako scholarship in memory of her husband Masao, and her son, Neal Hajime Okasako who lived with significant disability. Mrs. Okasako, a teacher, and her husband, a Principal, were strong proponents of public education. She established this scholarship to encourage persons with disabilities to pursue higher education.

To qualify for the Michiko Okasako Scholarship, a recipient must: be degree seeking, live with a documented disability, deemed to be in good academic standing, and be enrolled in a minimum of six credit hours per semester as an Undergraduate student at UH Mānoa.

Kal Warrington Silvert Scholarship

Kal Warrington Silvert was diagnosed at an early age with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type II and while he had physical limitations requiring the use of a motorized wheelchair from the age of 4, Kal never let this get in his way.

He grew up in Kailua, attended ʻAikahi Elementary School and Kailua Intermediate School and graduated from ʻIolani School. An imaginative writer, Kal then went on to study English at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where he was asked to be an opinion editor for the student newspaper.

Kal experienced many challenges during his life, but he was determined to succeed until his untimely passing in 2012 at the age of 23.

He was a wonderful, friend, excellent gamer, and prolific reader and writer, who showed great determination and love of life.

To qualify for the Kal Warrington Silvert Scholarship, a recipient must: be a wheelchair user because of a permanent disability, demonstrate a minimum GPA of 2.5, and be enrolled in a minimum of six credit hours per semester as an Undergraduate student at UH Mānoa.