UHNews.org posted nearly 1,500 stories in the very eventful 2024. Here are the top 10 UH News stories of the year:
Miss Aloha Hula 2024 is UH Mānoa grad student
Kaʻōnohikaumakaakeawe Kananiokeakua Holokai Lopes, who is pursuing a master’s degree in communications at UH Mānoa, earned the Miss Aloha Hula title and Hawaiian language award at the 61st annual Merrie Monarch Festival.
Child actor to UH professor: Marcia Brady’s date teaches computer science
Scott Robertson, chair and professor of the UH Mānoa Information and Computer Sciences Department, began acting before the age of 3 and continues to act in films and on stage to this day.
UH Maui College grad gets two-chair turn on The Voice
Kamalei Kawaʻa got judges Reba McIntyre and Chance the Rapper to turn their chairs during the blind auditions on season 25 of the hit singing competition The Voice on NBC.
U.S. record: UH grad Cole Brauer makes history with solo nonstop world sail
Cole Brauer finished second out of 16 competitors in the Global Solo Challenge, a race that started and ended in A Coruña, Spain. The marathon 30,000 mile journey took 130 days, and she crossed the finish line on March 7.
12 UH athletes to compete in Paris Olympics
The olympians include: kiteboarder Daniela Moroz, men’s volleyball player Taylor Averill, men’s basketball player Akira Jacobs, women’s volleyball assistant coach Alfee Reft, water polo players Ema Vernoux and Camille Radosavljevic.
Hilo native returns home to build statewide engineering pipeline
Trevor Shimokusu completed his PhD in mechanical engineering as a NASA Space Technologies Graduate Research Opportunity fellow and returned to Hawaiʻi to join UH Mānoa’s College of Engineering.
Trailblazer: Mānoa law alumna rises to U.S. Senator’s chief of staff
Coti Haia, the first Native Hawaiian woman to serve as chief of staff for a U.S. Senator is a graduate of the William S. Richardson School of Law and has served in her current role for Sen. Mazie Hirono since 2022.
From meth addict to substance abuse counselor: UH provides a pathway, support
Through an apprenticeship program by the UH Mānoa Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health, Department of Social Work and Leeward CC, Edmond Pulu Jr. is on track to become a certified substance abuse counselor.
Ulep named inaugural director of UH Filipino advocacy task force
Marnelli Joy B. Ulep has been named director of Pamantasan, a UH task force dedicated to increasing the success of Filipino students, faculty and staff.
UH educators dance in Merrie Monarch opening ceremony
On March 31, more than 350 dancers from Hawaiʻi CC hālau Unukupukupu, which includes the Kūkūʻena cohort, graced Merrie Monarch’s opening ceremony inside Hilo’s Civic Auditorium. Among the dancers were Hawaiʻi CC Chancellor Susan Kazama and Kapiʻolani CC Chancellor Misaki Takabayashi.
