She Was at Her Grandma's House at 9:50pm, Refreshing Her Email Every Thirty Minutes. Then She Started Jumping Up and Down.
One of 42 public high school students selected for the 2026 Hawaiʻi Sister-State Study Tours.
Student Snapshot
Name: Julie Matsumoto
Preferred Name: Julie
School: Mililani High School
Grade: 12th (Senior)
Home Community: Mililani, Oʻahu
Delegation: Ilocos Norte/Ilocos Sur
Travel Dates: March 14–25/26, 2026
Focus Interests / Extracurriculars: ASMHS Recording Secretary (12th); Mililani High PAAC Club Founder and President (10th–12th); Math Club Secretary (11th–12th); Senate Representative (9th–11th); Student Alliance for Mental Health & Wellness Treasurer (11th); She's In Office Outreach Director (nonprofit — uplifts women to run for office); Project Anchor Hawaiʻi Representative (national mental health nonprofit); Mililani Mauka Veterinary Clinic weekly volunteer (200+ service hours — observes surgeries, x-rays, administers vaccines); Mililani High School Marching Band (nationally recognized, 10th–12th); National Honor Society; Japanese National Honor Society; Academic WorldQuest competitor; Washington Workshops D.C. trip (5th grade); PAAC 2024 Freeman Summer Study Tour to Japan (June 10–22, 2024)
Career Aspirations: Medicine, psychology, or global/foreign affairs — she names all three and explicitly mentions considering a PAAC internship; her essay commits to careers in service of community and international relationships
Why They Were Selected
Julie founded the PAAC Club at Mililani High School, went to Japan on the Summer Study Tour, and came back changed enough that her family noticed. Her father said, without being asked, "We always knew you were going to travel with them again, we just didn't know where or when. PAAC is like your second family." She has been refreshing her email every thirty minutes waiting for this result. She is a senior who leads the entire Mililani student body as ASMHS Recording Secretary, directs outreach for a women-in-government nonprofit, represents Hawaiʻi for a national mental health organization, and logs 200+ hours a year at a veterinary clinic. PAAC didn't discover Julie — Julie built a whole club around it.
What They're Excited About
Jumping up and down at her grandma's house at 9:50pm when the email came; knowing from Japan how the group transforms from quiet strangers to lifelong friends; learning the Philippines' history and architecture; her father's words; the possibility of applying to be a PAAC intern; knowing she'll be changed again
She Was at Her Grandma's House at 9:50pm, Refreshing Her Email Every Thirty Minutes. Then She Started Jumping Up and Down.
Julie Matsumoto knew the results were coming sometime this week — she'd just spoken with PAAC staff — so she had been refreshing her email every half hour all day. At 9:50pm, at her grandmother's house in Mililani, the acceptance email arrived. She started jumping up and down. She already knew, from the Japan trip, exactly what she'd just said yes to. This is the Mililani High senior who founded her school's PAAC Club, led it for three years, went to Japan, came back changed, and has been waiting ever since to do it again. This March, she's going to the Philippines.
Julie is one of the most deeply invested students in PAAC's statewide network — and in Mililani's community more broadly. She's the ASMHS Recording Secretary leading student government for the whole school, the Outreach Director for She's In Office (a nonprofit working to get more women into elected office), and the Hawaiʻi Representative for Project Anchor, a national mental health advocacy organization. She logs 200+ volunteer hours a year at the Mililani Mauka Veterinary Clinic — observing surgeries, administering vaccines, shadowing techs. She marches in a nationally recognized band. She's of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean descent, the granddaughter of plantation-era immigrants, raised in an extended family that also includes Filipino and Hawaiian heritage. She wants to work in medicine, psychology, or global affairs — and is already considering applying to be a PAAC intern after graduation.
Julie was selected because PAAC selected her once before and she built something out of it. She came home from Japan and founded a club. She came home and started doing more community service. Her father noticed. His words, unprompted, say everything:
"We always knew you were going to travel with them again, we just didn't know where or when. PAAC is like your second family — we couldn't tear you apart from them even if we tried." — Julie Matsumoto's father, as quoted by Julie Matsumoto, Mililani High School, Class of 2026
When Julie returns to Mililani from Ilocos Norte, she'll arrive as someone who has now represented Hawaiʻi internationally twice — once as a student discovering the world, and once as a senior who already knows what's possible. For a community shaped by the generations who came before her, that kind of return matters.
