Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct information about Ka’u High School’s 2017 valedictorians. Chloe Gan is the only valedictorian featured.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct information about Ka’u High School’s 2017 valedictorians. Chloe Gan is the only valedictorian featured.
Up to 41 students will graduate from Ka‘u High School on Friday (May 19). The commencement ceremony begins at 4:30 p.m. in the new Ka‘u gymnasium.
The following are profiles of two graduating public high school seniors selected by school administrators. This is the third of six articles featuring soon-to-be graduates within the Tribune-Herald’s coverage area.
Students in this series are recognized for either overcoming significant hardships and/or for their academic achievements.
Travis Taylor
Travis Taylor was about 12 or 13 when he started dabbling in video production. Using a small, hand-held camera, he’d take a stab at filming his twin brother’s ukulele performances.
The hobby stuck with him.
“It’s sort of become my passion,” Taylor, now 17, said. “It kind of became natural for me that I wanted to pursue video production.”
Taylor is graduating from Ka‘u High School on Friday with a 4.0 grade point average.
He also is senior class treasurer and has had leadership roles in Ka‘u High’s Youth and Government club, the Health Occupations Students of America club and National Honor Society.
He also was a member of Ka‘u High School’s bowling and volleyball teams.
Taylor plans to attend University of Hawaii at Hilo in the fall and wants to continue honing his interest in digital media. Eventually, he wants to launch a career in broadcasting and work at a news station or public television station.
As a freshman, Taylor participated in Hiki No, a statewide student news network that airs on PBS Hawaii.
This school year, he also helped create a 30-second public Service Announcement for HOSA about fire safety, an issue he said greatly impacts the community in Ka‘u. He and the other HOSA team members took first place at the HOSA regional competition for that fire safety PSA and attended the state competition.
Through the years, Taylor said his video skills gradually improved. He’s become versed in multiple editing programs: Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, Final Cut Pro and most recently Adobe Premiere, which he said is among the most advanced editing programs.
Taylor also now creates and uploads gaming videos on his own YouTube channel.
“(Video production) has sort of grown into me,” Taylor said. “I’ve gotten to experience new ways of filming and editing. I’ve realized I’m kind of a tech nerd.”
Taylor advises other students to find something they are passionate about and pursue it. He encourages students struggling in a particular subject to seek assistance.
“My secret is, whenever there’s a confusing topic, I try to get a lot of help from my teachers to make it more understandable,” he said. “Because (some topics) can be hard to understand right away.
“If you’re getting stuck on a confusing topic, get help from either a teacher or another student who probably understands it more. And once they give you help, you can look up more on the topic you’re stuck on and (figure out) how to fix it. Over time, it will grow in your mind and it will become natural. You’ll look at it and say, ‘Hey, that’s easy to do now.’”
Chloe Gan
When Chloe Gan was younger, people would tell her she was too small to run.
“They’d say because I was short, I wasn’t going to beat them, and I wasn’t fast enough compared to everyone else,” Gan, now 17, recalls.
Gan didn’t let that phase her — and she’s since proven them wrong. She’s now one of the fastest female runners at Ka‘u High and has competed at the state level for the cross-country and track and field teams.
And that determination and drive also led her to accomplish other feats.
On Friday, she graduates from Ka‘u High with straight A’s. She is one of the school’s valedictorians. She is planning to attend the University of Portland in the fall, where she will study mechanical engineering.
For several years, Gan has been one of the few female members on Ka‘u High School’s soccer team. The team became co-ed when there were too few girls interested in trying out, she said.
“It was pretty challenging, but I held my own against the boys, truly,” she said.
Gan said she strives to be a role model to other students, particularly young girls.
“Women are expected to play a certain role in society and may not really consider the different types of (science and math) jobs,” Gan said.
“Engineering is a male-dominated field, and nowadays a lot of women are being dissuaded from science at a young age. That’s one of the main reasons I want to go into engineering. One of my plans is to eventually come back to Ka‘u and help more girls try to get more into science.”
In college, Gan hopes to join the soccer club and participate in student government. She also wants to study abroad as a way of “building a more global awareness of technology” and to learn how “technology develops in other areas compared to the United States.”
She is eyeing a study-abroad program in London or Hong Kong.
She eventually hopes to find an engineering job that allows her “to build things and design innovations that would help transform the world.”
She encourages other students to get involved in sports. She said running and playing soccer at Ka‘u High has helped her build confidence and taught her how to be part of a team.
“Without sports, I couldn’t have gained the confidence of competing against others and working with others,” she said.
“It’s definitely shown me I can hold my own against other people, even when I thought it wasn’t possible.”
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.