At the Pahoa H.S. awards ceremony: (top left) Tiana-Marie Kahealani Araujo-Thornton, Lei Kyna Ganiron, and Kaleikini; (bottom left), Fuafetoimailelagi-FiaSalemeanai Valinda-Sue Wilson, Krissel, Anne Alcon Lagua, Denarose Fukushima and Rex Fiesta.

MEDIA RELEASE

Six college-bound Pahoa High School grads receive scholarships (June 8, 2009—Honolulu, HI)—Six seniors from Pahoa High School will attend college this fall with scholarships from Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) and Tropical Ponds Hawaii LLC, an exotic fish farm located on the PGV site.

“There is no better investment than the education of our Puna youth,” said Michael Kaleikini, PGV plant manager. “We are particularly proud of this year’s winners and look forward to following their progress.”

One of the students, Denarose Fukushima, worked as an intern at the PGV administrative office last summer.

This is the tenth year PGV has awarded scholarships in cooperation with Pahoa High School, which selects the recipients.

Fukushima and Lei Kyna Ganiron each received $1,000 to attend University of Hawai‘i-Hilo.

Krissel Anne Alcon Lagua, Fuafetoimailelagi-FiaSalemeanai Valinda-Sue Wilson, Tiana-Marie Kahealani Araujo-Thornton, and Rex Fiesta each received $500 to attend Hawai‘i Community College.

PGV is also a sponsor of this year’s annual “Salute to the Graduates Program” hosted by Pacific Radio Group, Inc. which recognizes outstanding seniors from 15 Big Island high schools.