Hiatt College Scholarships awarded to two HPA seniors

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Hawaii Preparatory Academy seniors Eliana Kaplan and Davy Ragland are the recipients of the Hiatt College Scholarships for Community Service and Academic Creativity and Initiative. HPA parents Jerry and Mahilani Hiatt were on hand for the presentation at the Upper School assembly on Nov. 17.

Hawaii Preparatory Academy seniors Eliana Kaplan and Davy Ragland are the recipients of the Hiatt College Scholarships for Community Service and Academic Creativity and Initiative. HPA parents Jerry and Mahilani Hiatt were on hand for the presentation at the Upper School assembly on Nov. 17.

Kaplan received the Community Service Award and a $1,000 scholarship for embodying the spirit of servant leadership. Kaplan serves as student council president and has been involved with student council for the past four years. She is active with the school’s Service Learning Advisory Council (SLAC), student ambassadors, and also has volunteered in the community as a legal intern and as an usher at Kahilu Theatre. She is very involved in theater and dance at HPA and in the community.

Ragland received the Academic Creativity and Initiative Award and a $1,000 scholarship for his numerous research projects at the school’s Energy Lab, which range from brainwave research and experimenting with human-machine interfaces to prototyping a CO2 sensory instrumentation device for predicting sleep apnea and designing and 3D printing a medical cast for his sister.

He recently was one of six student presenters at the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools’ Schools of the Future 2014 Conference and is part of a student team that represented HPA at the Project Green Challenge Finals over the weekend in San Francisco. The Hiatt College Scholarships were established in 2004, when Jerry and Mahilani Kellett Hiatt established the Mahilani Kellett Hiatt Endowment Fund.

The Service Award recognizes a student who provides extensive andmeaningful local service to the community, while the Academic Creativity and Initiative Award recognizes a student for scholarly work above and beyond the regular academic curriculum.

Award recipients are selected based on nominations from their classmates and faculty. These nominees then are reviewed by an independent school committee.