Tang, Parker School among honorees of 18th annual HMSA Kaimana Awards scholarship program

Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
June 10, 2023, 6:51pm

Parker School's Rebecca Tang (center) poses for a photo with HMSA President and CEO Dr. Mark Mugiishi (right) and Jenn Diesman, senior vice president of Government Policy and Advocacy at HMSA. Michael Lasquero | SL

Parker School's Rebecca Tang poses for a photo with mother Zhongsen Zhang and brother Charles Tang. Michael Lasquero | SL

Stephen Dunn, Parker's Head of School, shakes hands with HMSA President and CEO Dr. Mark Mugiishi as Dunn receives the school's eighth consecutive Kaimana Award in the BIIF Small School category. Michael Lasquero | SL

The Kaimana Awardees in attendance gives a shaka in a group photo after the 18th annual HMSA Kaimana Awards and Scholarship luncheon Saturday at the Hawaii Convention Center. Michael Lasquero | SL

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 41 of 41

ALA MOANA — National Honor Society president. Human rights advocate. Tennis player.

Rebecca Tang kept herself busy during her high school days at Parker School in Waimea on Hawaii Island, where she graduated from last month.

Tang, along with 14 other recent high school graduates were recognized for their all-around contributions to their communities at the 18th annual HMSA Kaimana Awards and Scholarship luncheon Saturday at the Hawaii Convention Center.

HMSA honored 15 outstanding individuals, along with nine high schools, for excellence in academics, athletic achievement, community service, healthy activities and sportsmanship. Each student-athletes received a scholarship in the amount of $5,000, while each winning school will also receive a cash award.

"It's a fantastic program," said HMSA President and CEO Dr. Mark Mugiishi.

"Our philosophy is that people are probably the greatest asset for Hawaii, so we want to invest in the young people as they're growing up so they can come back and give back to our state," he said.

In the case of Tang, as it is for all of the 15 scholarship recipients, she has already given back to her community. Tang, the daughter of immigrants, has undertaken a large number of altruistic endeavors as a teenager. She founded Parker School's Amnesty International Club, which serves to protect human rights. Tang has advocated for women's and other gender minorities' rights, she served as president of the National Honor Society at her school and led toy drives, voter registration efforts and even created 3-D personal protective equipment in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It was an initiative that was started by the club where we knew that we had the material to do so, we had advisors who would be willing to show us how to get involved in 3-D printing," Tang explained.

It was a brand new experience for Tang and most of her club mates.

"We weren't medical experts, we weren't 3-D printing experts, we just wanted to help in any way that we can and especially during a pandemic, it can feel like there are a lot of things that are out of your control and so when we were presented that opportunity, we really just jumped at it and so it was a lot of learning in the process, obviously, but I think it was very rewarding," she said.

Parker School's Rebecca Tang poses for a photo with mother Zhongsen Zhang and brother Charles Tang. Michael Lasquero | SL Purchase image

Tang led her school's speech and debate team to a state championship and captained the first team from Hawaii to make it to the elimination round at nationals. She also volunteered on the campaign trail for a young, progressive congressional candidate out of the state of Michigan a few years back.

"I think a lot of advocacy work is what I'm drawn to and I initially got into it because of debate, that's how I started to kind of get to know a lot of what the policy things that were happening in America, so after doing that kind of research I wanted to get more involved and being able to contact voters first-hand and hear about what they think about what direction our country should be going in was very influential and that pushed me to kind of work closer within my community," said Tang, who hopes to become a lawyer one day.

In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade last year that Tang led an effort to write letters to lawmakers across the country.

"It was up to 12 members of our community and we got together and we wrote letters to every single governor in the country that did not support reproductive rights for women and we pleaded with them to listen to the medical professionals and also the personal stories of women and people who can get pregnant, to really hear them out and hear what makes abortion so important," Tang expressed.

Tang is grateful for the opportunities for growth that Parker and its faculty and staff have provided for her and her classmates. The 20-acre campus located about 2,500 above sea level lists an enrollment of 332 total students from grades K-12 for the 2022-'23 school year, including 126 in grades 9 through 12.

"It's a very small school. We often say it's like an ohana because everyone knows each other, we call our teachers by their first names often times, everyone is our class is super close, so I think that's really conductive to fostering a tight-knit community that really supports each other," Tang said.

Part of being a Parker Bull means being well-rounded, Tang explained. Much of the student body is involved in numerous clubs, organizations and sports teams.

"In order to support all the different programs that we have, everyone really needs to have skin in the game in a lot of different areas and not just being an athlete, not just being an actor, not just being a student, or a debater, or any one of these things — you really have to support your community and other people with endeavors by pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and so we have people that are involved in lots of different things and that's what I found myself doing," said Tang, who played tennis through all four years of high school.

By her own admission, however, she wasn't near the caliber of a league or state champion. Yet, Tang lists one of her proudest achievements as receiving the team's most improved player award.

"I'm definitely not the best tennis player. I play really for the camaraderie and for the fun of it and so I think what is really important is even if you're not the best at something to try to keep pushing, keep improving, keep learning, stay humble and that's a huge part of who I am as an athlete," Tang said.

She went on, "I value growth, maybe even more so over concrete successes and so to be presented that, for me what it meant was that I felt validated in the fact that even if you're not the best, you can be recognized for your effort and I hope that's something that Parker continues to foster, is to encourage people who never even played a sport before to just try it out and to see where it can take them."

In the second semester of her senior year, Tang helped organized a student walkout to bring awareness to the rising tide of gun violence in schools nationwide.

"People were in tears because that's something that's a very huge possibility that could happen to anybody at any time and especially in schools, but I think no one person can make a big enough change on their own. I don't think I can, I don't think anyone can really, but at that walkout what I saw was people who maybe didn't know much about the issue before, they were asking questions, or they were reposting information on their social media, or they were doing more research and I think that's what motivates me really, is seeing that we're never alone in anything that we do, but especially with these difficult topics that need to be addressed, there's always a wave of people who are there to support and that also care," she said.

Stephen Dunn, Parker's Head of School, shakes hands with HMSA President and CEO Dr. Mark Mugiishi as Dunn receives the school's eighth consecutive Kaimana Award in the BIIF Small School category. Michael Lasquero | SL Purchase image

Among those who stood in support of his students was Stephen Dunn, Parker's Head of School.

"What I witnessed in our students is that they're really disturbed with what they're seeing around the country and they want to do something and they want to feel safe at school," said Dunn, who was on-hand at Saturday's luncheon in support of Tang, but also to receive the school's eighth consecutive Kaimana Award in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation Small School category.

Dunn noted that a false alarm was recently triggered at the school that indicated an intruder was on campus.

"It really stirred up a lot of emotions for our students, so I love that our students want to advocate for these things and we want to provide them the space to do that and we quietly made space in our schedule for that to happen because there's also some power in students saying, ‘We're going to do this whether the school wants us to do it or not,' " Dunn said.

Dunn expressed his pride and adoration of Tang, who is headed to Columbia University in New York City.

"Rebecca, we're absolutely so proud of her. She's the first (Kaimana Award) recipient from our school in a really long time and her contributions throughout campus as a student-leader, as a student-athlete, as a competitor in lots of ways, I think characterizes what we hope for all of our kids to demonstrate," he said.

Dunn also conveyed his appreciation for HMSA and the Kaimana Awards program, which has awarded 326 scholarships valued at more than $1.2 million since its inception in 2005.

"It means so much to us. We're dedicated to being part of our local community in Waimea, so it's great to see that that is recognized by HMSA — it's something we're really proud of accomplishing — and I appreciate HMSA even creating this event to recognize the well-roundedness of school programs," Dunn said.

Mugiishi, a former boys basketball coach with seven state championships to his name, calls the Kaimana Awards his favorite program that HMSA runs.

"I like to say that what we celebrate with the Kaiamana Awards is the well-rounded individual who you would love to have as your neighbor, you would love to have them be dating your kid — they're just great people. They excel at academics and sports and athletics, but more importantly they embed themselves in the community and they give to the community and that's what we're looking for: good kids," Mugiishi said.

Other Kaimana Awards recipients honored at Saturday's luncheon were Emma Burgess (Kauai), Landon Choy (Kamehameha), Tayler Guerrero (Honokaa), David Kalili (Nanakuli), Kaimana Kau (Kamehameha), Chancen Law (Kamehameha), Andrew Lee (Kalani), Erin Nakamura (Roosevelt), Hope Newton (Waimea), Kristen Otsubo (Baldwin), Gabriella Pinheiro (Kamehameha-Maui, Jasmine Lianalyn Rocha (Maryknoll), Aimee Vierra (Kaiser) and Maverick Yasuda (Waipahu). They were chosen from more than 300 applicants by a six-person selection committee.

In addition to Parker, other schools that won Kaimana Awards were Kahuku, Kamehameha-Maui, Kapaa, Keaau, Maui Prep, Moanalua, Saint Louis and University Lab.

For more information on the HMSA Kaimana Awards, including biographies of all 15 scholarship recipients, visit the program website.

The Kaimana Awardees in attendance gives a shaka in a group photo after the 18th annual HMSA Kaimana Awards and Scholarship luncheon Saturday at the Hawaii Convention Center.

Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].

Show your support

Every contribution, no matter the size, will help ScoringLive continue its mission to provide the best and most comprehensive coverage of high school sports in the state of Hawaii and beyond.

Please consider making a contribution today.