"In Just 10 Days, I Had Become a New Person" — A Kailua-Kona Junior Who Found Herself at Nalukai Is Now Headed to Her Family's Philippines.
One of 42 public high school students selected for the 2026 Hawaiʻi Sister-State Study Tours.
Student Snapshot
Name: Julia Cassandra Bowman
Preferred Name: Julia
School: Kealakehe High School
Grade: 11th
Home Community: Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi Island (Big Island) — she names it explicitly as her wahi pana, the place that carries her memories and values
Delegation: Ilocos Norte/Ilocos Sur
Travel Dates: March 14–25/26, 2026
Focus Interests / Extracurriculars: Student Government Treasurer (9th–present); Digital Video Technology (9th–present); SkillsUSA School Officer/Treasurer; KumuKonnect Co-Founder (student-led organization focused on teacher retention and educator wellbeing in Hawaiʻi — weekly meetings, research, policy solutions); Starbucks barista (August 2025–present); Nalukai startup camp alumna (10-day program, summer 2025); attended film screening and panel for "Keeper of the Bay" documentary; photography and videography; graphic design; self-studying Filipino (Ilocano, low proficiency)
Career Aspirations: Not explicitly named — but her essay's civic framing (teacher retention, environmental stewardship, community wellbeing), her media background, and her KumuKonnect founding suggest education policy, communications, or community advocacy
Why They Were Selected
Julia spent years trying to fit into the American norm, refusing to take home lunches to school, ashamed of what made her different — and then, piece by piece, let that go. She went to Nalukai last summer and became, in her words, a new person grounded in what she believes in. She co-founded an organization to fix teacher retention in Hawaiʻi. She is half Ilocano and has already been to Ilocos Norte. She ran to tell her mom when she got in. She is going back.
What They're Excited About
Counting down the days with anxiety after submitting; the relief and excitement when the email came; meeting people from across the islands and countries; her first time out of state without family; the growth that scares her and excites her in equal measure; coming home with fresh perspectives and stories
She Refused to Bring Home Lunches to School Because She Was Ashamed. Now She's Going Back to Ilocos Norte — Where Her Family Is From.
For years, Julia Bowman did everything she could to disappear. She refused to take home lunches to school. She dressed the way she thought would help her fit in. Growing up in Kailua-Kona as a half-Ilocano kid in an American norm she didn't quite match, she carried a shame that, as she later understood, stopped her from connecting more deeply with who she actually was. Then she started letting it go. Then last summer she went to Nalukai, a ten-day startup camp, and became — in her words — a new person grounded in what she believes in. Then she got accepted to go to Ilocos Norte, the region in the Philippines where her family is from. She ran to tell her mom.
Julia is an 11th grader at Kealakehe High School in Kailua-Kona who has been building things for the past two years. She's a Student Government Treasurer, a SkillsUSA officer, a Digital Video Technology student, a Starbucks barista, and the co-founder of KumuKonnect — a student-led organization she and her peers started to address teacher retention and educator wellbeing in Hawaiʻi. They meet weekly, conduct research, and work toward real policy solutions. She already went to Ilocos Norte in summer 2024 and loved it. She is teaching herself Ilocano.
Julia was selected because she has been doing the exact work this trip is designed to deepen: learning where she comes from, building bridges between cultures, and turning personal identity into civic purpose. She didn't arrive at this application already polished. She arrived at it through a specific and honest journey — from shame to curiosity, from fitting in to founding things — and that journey is exactly what makes her a compelling ambassador.
"For a long time I did everything I could to fit into something I just wasn't. I refused to take home lunches to school... the shame I carried stopped me from connecting more deeply with who I am." — Julia Cassandra Bowman, Kealakehe High School, Class of 2027
When Julia returns to Kailua-Kona from Ilocos Norte, she'll arrive as someone who went back to her family's region of the Philippines as a representative of Hawaiʻi — not hiding, not fitting in, but carrying her values openly. Like Aunty Cindy in the documentary that shaped her kuleana, she is already asking what kind of Hawaiʻi she wants to leave behind.
