"Many Beautiful Differences Within the Culture and People That I Can Bring Back Home" — A Hilo Student Leader Is Headed to Ilocos Norte With No Assumptions
One of 42 public high school students selected for the 2026 Hawaiʻi Sister-State Study Tours.
Student Snapshot
Name: Cade Goya
Preferred Name: Cade
School: Waiākea High School
Grade: 10th
Home Community: Hilo, Hawaiʻi Island (Big Island)
Delegation: Ilocos Norte/Ilocos Sur
Travel Dates: March 14–25/26, 2026
Focus Interests / Extracurriculars: Student Government (SGA) — volunteered for 5+ events this year; Waiākea High HSSC Alternate (Hawaiʻi State Student Council); Japan Club executive board; Kajukenbo (Hawaiʻi-founded martial art, twice weekly); piano — 11 years of lessons, accompanied middle school choir for 2 performances; Ka Leo Wai; Pickleball Club; Leo Club; swim team pre-season; cooking and baking — makes loco moco, crème brûlée, flan, stuffed bell peppers, hosts dinner parties; drawing; has traveled to Japan 3 times (2015, 2023 twice)
Career Aspirations: Leadership and international relations — he frames his vision explicitly around student government, global awareness, and connecting with others across cultures; no specific career named but direction is clear
Why They Were Selected
Cade is a tenth grader from Hilo who has been paying close attention to how communities work since he was old enough to help wash dishes at his grandparents' house. His essay is full of specific, observed details — elementary school students bowing at a temple, children navigating the Tokyo bullet train alone — and he connects each one to a question: what can Hawaiʻi learn from this? He's been to Japan three times. He's never been to the Philippines. That gap is part of why this trip matters.
What They're Excited About
The overjoyed-and-relieved feeling when the email arrived — the relief of putting so much in and finding out it paid off; the genuine excitement of going somewhere he has no background with; the beautiful differences he expects to find; bringing something home to share
He's Been to Japan Three Times. He's Never Been to the Philippines. That's Exactly Why He Applied.
Cade Goya has traveled to Japan three times — seen the temples, the bullet trains, the elementary school students who bow before entering and know exactly where to go. He's been paying attention on every trip, asking the kind of questions most tourists don't: why are these kids so organized? What does that say about the education system? What could Hilo learn from it? Then he applied to go to the Philippines, a place he describes simply as somewhere he has "no background with whatsoever" — and he put everything he had into the application. When the email arrived, he felt overjoyed and relieved in equal measure.
Cade is a tenth grader at Waiākea High School in Hilo, where he's on the SGA, serves as the school's HSSC Alternate, sits on the Japan Club executive board, practices Kajukenbo (a martial art founded right here in Hawaiʻi), has been playing piano for eleven years, and hosts dinner parties where he spends the day making crème brûlée and loco moco for his guests. He is, as his essay makes clear, someone who has been learning to take care of people since he was old enough to wash dishes at his grandparents' house.
Cade was selected because his curiosity is disciplined — he doesn't just observe things, he asks why, and then he asks what Hawaiʻi could do differently. He noticed organized Japanese children on a temple field trip and immediately wondered what educational practices produced them. He's going to Ilocos Norte with the same instinct: find the things that connect, name the beautiful differences, and figure out what's worth bringing home. For a student who already knows Japan well, going somewhere entirely new is a deliberate choice — and it shows.
"I've never been to the Philippines and have no background with it whatsoever. Of course, I imagine there are many things that will connect us there, but also many beautiful differences within the culture and people that I can bring with me back home to share." — Cade Goya, Waiākea High School, Class of 2028
When Cade returns to Hilo from Ilocos Norte, he'll arrive with something he didn't have before: a firsthand understanding of a culture he approached with no assumptions and complete openness. For a student headed toward leadership and public life, that kind of intellectual honesty is its own preparation.
