Born in Manila, Raised in Kauaʻi, Bound for Ilocos Norte: Angela Querubin Is Carrying Both Worlds With Her This March
One of 42 public high school students selected for the 2026 Hawaiʻi Sister-State Study Tours.
Student Snapshot
Name: Angela Querubin
School: Kauaʻi High School
Grade: 11th
Home Community: Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi
Delegation: Ilocos Norte/Sur
Travel Dates: March 14–26, 2026
Focus Interests / Extracurriculars: Student Government (3 years) — Student Body Head Representative, HSSC Representative, former Freshman Class President, former Corresponding Secretary; Filipino Club President (co-leading effort to implement Filipino History curriculum); Founder and Head of KHS Talent (music performance committee); JV Girls Tennis; Varsity Girls Air Riflery (top shooter); Pledge to Our Keiki Student Ambassador; HSSC Communications Committee Secretary; singer and rhythm guitarist in pop/rock band Asian Invasion; gel-X nail technician (small business); photographer; fluent Tagalog speaker; tours new Filipino students and J-1 teachers around campus
Aspirations: Leadership, community advocacy, and global engagement — she frames her goals around being a bridge between Hawaiʻi and the wider world; specific career path not yet named
Why They Were Selected
Angela doesn't wait for community to happen around her — she builds it. From founding a music performance club to leading efforts to bring Filipino history into her school's curriculum, she consistently turns personal experience into programs other students can benefit from. Born in Manila and raised in Kauaʻi, she carries both worlds with her, and she understands Ilocos Norte and Sur not as a destination but as the place her family comes from.
What They're Excited About
Returning to "the motherland" and reconnecting with her culture; meeting fellow travelers and forming lifelong connections; using the trip as a step toward her future goals as a global leader and advocate
She Arrived in Kauaʻi Knowing One Song in English. It Was Beyoncé. Then a Ukulele Changed Everything.
When Angela Querubin stepped into her first classroom in Kauaʻi as a nervous eight-year-old from Manila, her entire English vocabulary fit inside one Beyoncé song she'd memorized from Philippines Got Talent. She found a seat next to another Filipina student, and then her Kumu handed her a ukulele — and something shifted. "Who knew a tiny 4-stringed instrument could change my life?" she says now. This March, she'll travel to Ilocos Norte as a PAAC Sister-State Student Ambassador, returning to the same region where her parents grew up.
Angela is a junior at Kauaʻi High School and one of the most community-invested students in her school's recent history. She's served in Student Government for three years, currently as Student Body Head Representative. She founded KHS Talent, a music performance committee giving students a stage to perform for their community. She's President of the Filipino Club, where she's leading a push to bring a Filipino History class into the school's curriculum. She plays guitar and sings in a pop/rock band called Asian Invasion, shoots competitively on the Varsity Air Riflery team, runs a small nail technician business, and tours new Filipino students and J-1 teachers around campus in Tagalog to make them feel at home — because she remembers exactly what it felt like not to be.
Angela was selected because her entire story is about turning personal experience into something her community can use. She knows what it means to arrive somewhere as an outsider and build belonging from scratch. She also knows Ilocos Norte and Sur — not as a destination on a map but as the place her parents are from, the region she traveled through as a child on long bus rides to visit family. This trip is a homecoming and an ambassadorship at the same time.
"I didn't know a lot of English, aside from Beyoncé's song 'Listen,' which I memorized because I saw it on TV on Philippines Got Talent." — Angela Querubin, Kauaʻi High School, Class of 2027
When Angela comes home to Līhuʻe, she'll bring back more than memories — she'll bring a stronger bridge between Kauaʻi and the Philippines, built from the connections she makes and the stories she carries home. For a school where Filipino students are still fighting to see their history reflected in the curriculum, that matters. Angela has already started that work. This trip will give her more tools to finish it.
Angela is a constituent of House District [#] and Senate District [#], represented by [Legislator Name] in the Hawaiʻi State Legislature. ([VERIFY WITH DISTRICT LOOKUP])
