LIHU‘E — The Grove Farm Foundation presented three public high school graduates with awards totaling $20,000 each during its traditional meeting at the ‘Iliahi Estate, July 8.
Two graduates from Kaua‘i High School — Julia Safford and Alaysia Navor — were joined by Waimea High School graduate Leslie Uri in being awarded $20,000 scholarships during the evening where face masks and social distancing were the norm.
Navor, who excelled in the sciences with awards from multiple science fairs during her high school career, will be attending Yale University with aspirations of studying neuroscience.
Navor, who graduated top of her class, held multiple leadership roles in the school’s Key Club, Science National Honor Society, Health Occupations Students of America, Chess Club, and Filipino Club while also volunteering on a regular basis at the Regency at Puakea to help the elderly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Safford has her sights on studying Civil/Environmental Engineering when she attends St. Mary’s College in South Bend, Indiana.
A talented athlete with multiple Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation swimming championships during her high school career, Safford’s passion for sustainable food on the island drove her to establish the Freight Farmers of Kaua‘i Club that implemented a climate-controlled farm within a donated shipping container. Drawing from various technologies, the club monitored and grew crops sustainably to reduce the island’s reliance on imported food.
Uri will be heading to Washington State University to pursue a degree in Nursing.
Emigrating from the Philippines when she was 10 years old, Uri overcame numerous challenges to become a talented tennis player for the Menehune Tennis program, and heavily involved with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, Health Occupations Students of America, and volunteering with the Kaua‘i Veterans Memorial Hospital’s kupuna beach outings at Salt Pond Beach Park.
Each of the Grove Farm scholarships is distributed over four years with the requirement that the recipients contribute a minimum of 30 hours of community service hours annually.
Since its inception in 2010, the Grove Farm Foundation has awarded $660,000 to Kaua‘i public high school students.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
