Meera Garud and Tariya Mukai, both students specializing in school librarianship, received $500 scholarships from the Hawaii Association of School Librarians (HASL) to continue their graduate studies in LIS. The official announcements were made at the HASL conference on March 7, 2015, by scholarship chair Imelda Corpuz Amano.
Meera has been an energetic leader among LIS students serving as the previous president and current treasurer of the American Library Association-Hawaii Student Chapter, and as a student representative for the Hawaii Library Association. She also finds volunteers at the Manoa Elementary School Library. An outstanding student, Meera has a graduate assistantship with the Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education. She strongly advocates for libraries “where children and young adults can use technology and information resources to create and share ideas.”
Tariya worked as an English teacher at Hawaii Baptist Academy before pursuing her MLISc degree on the Manoa campus. She is currently a stay-at-home mom tending to her two young children while managing to achieve a stellar academic record in the LIS Program. Tariya’s vision is to bring the latest and best in emerging technologies into the library and to create a rigorous program of research skills. She is passionate about building a “culture of reading” in her future library where students get involved in building the collections as well as enjoying exposure to a wide range of materials.