b'2008 State of Washington Scholarship RecipientScholarship FoundationWhere isPaul Iona Now?by Kathy Michaelis,WPMA ScholarshipCoordinatorHAWAII 2008 SFwas Paul Iona of Ewa Beach, Hawaii. In 2008, the WPMA Scholarship recipient from the Aloha StateSCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT Paul applied for the WPMA Scholarship through Aloha Pe-troleum in Honolulu, where his father worked as a manager.Paul IonaPaul graduated in the top three percent of his class at Kamehameha-Kapalama High School in Honolulu, a private school for children of Native Hawaiian ancestry. There he took classes on Native Hawaiian history and literature and. and Paul in 2021 had the opportunity to sail on the Hawaiian voyaging canoes Hokulea and Makalii, using sailing methods that were used by ancient Hawaiian navigators. He also served as a steers-man and captain of the JV Canoe Paddling team and led his team to a division championship. In his free time Paul also enjoyed body surfing on Hawaiis great beaches!Great leadership abilities earned Paul the honor to represent his high school at the College Horizons Workshop for Native American Students in Washington, D.C., and he was chosen to serve in the Kapalama Presidents Ambassador Program, where he helped host various dignitaries and guests visiting the high school. He also served on the school newspaper board and as historian for his senior class.Talented musically, Paul volunteered as the first student musical director for a school production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. As a junior, he was elected to lead his class in the Kamehameha Schools Song Contest, a state-wide televised event where freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior classes compete against each other in singing native Hawaiian choral music. Paul participated in the schools Video Production program, and his training as one of the anchors of the school video news program gave him a good background in video produc-tion. He also worked at Honolulus Diamond Head Studios as an intern on the ABC series LOST, where he shadowed the crewmembers and learned what it takes to produce a pri-metime television show. This experience piqued his interest for a career in the broadcast media/film industry.54 www.wpma.com / Autumn 2021'