"I'd Be the First Person in My Family to Travel Outside of Hawaiʻi and Pohnpei" — A Kapaʻa Junior Is Taking Her Family's First International Journey to Ilocos Norte
One of 42 public high school students selected for the 2026 Hawaiʻi Sister-State Study Tours.
Student Snapshot
Name: Hailey Hadley
Preferred Name: Hailey
School: Kapaʻa High School
Grade: 11th
Home Community: Kapaʻa, Kauaʻi
Delegation: Ilocos Norte/Ilocos Sur
Travel Dates: March 14–25/26, 2026
Focus Interests / Extracurriculars: HOSA (second year); JROTC Drill Team and Color Guard; film/media crew for sports broadcasting; CPR/First Aid certified; film and digital video production skills; heard about the program through a PAAC alumni (Jasmine F.) who presented to JROTC; plans to start a PAAC club at Kapaʻa High School upon return
Career Aspirations: She aspires to be "a pillar for the people around me" — a community leader framing that connects to her HOSA healthcare path and her explicit plan to bring PAAC to Kapaʻa.
Why They Were Selected
Hailey is a junior from Kapaʻa who grew up on the slowest of the main islands and developed an insatiable hunger for knowing how the world works. Her essay describes her mother dodging questions about Pohnpei because the follow-ups are endless — that detail is both funny and telling. She has Ilocano friends who have already been talking about the food. She has never left Hawaiʻi or Pohnpei. She is going to be the first in her family to travel anywhere outside those two places. And when she gets back, she plans to start a PAAC club at a school that doesn't have one yet.
What They're Excited About
Jumping for joy when the notification popped up; immediately telling her parents; trying Ilocano food her friends have told her about; being the first in her family to travel beyond Hawaiʻi and Pohnpei; experiencing a new country "the right way" — her phrase; her whole family excited for her
Her Mom Stopped Answering Questions About Pohnpei Because the Follow-Ups Never Ended. Now Hailey Hadley Is Going to the Philippines.
Hailey Hadley has always wanted to know more than she's been told. Her mother used to stop mid-story about their home island of Pohnpei because the follow-up questions never stopped coming. That habit, as Hailey puts it, has been "severely mellowed down" — but the hunger hasn't. When the PAAC acceptance notification popped up on her phone, she literally jumped for joy and went straight to find her parents. The Kapaʻa High junior from Kauaʻi is headed to Ilocos Norte, and her whole family is excited.
Hailey is the kind of student who fills every hour deliberately. She's in her second year of HOSA, serves on the JROTC Drill and Color Guard teams, and works as part of the film and media crew for her school's sports broadcasting. She's CPR certified, trained in video production, and already has Ilocano friends who have been telling her about the food she's going to eat in the Philippines. She wants to be a pillar for the people around her — and she has already figured out one concrete way to start: Kapaʻa High doesn't have a PAAC club. When she gets home from Ilocos Norte, she plans to change that.
Hailey was selected because her curiosity is genuine and her follow-through is real. She heard about this program from a PAAC alumni who came back and presented to her JROTC team — and she listened. She applied. She's been asking about her Pohnpeian heritage her whole life, asking about the world her whole life, and now she has the chance to go somewhere completely new and ask her questions in person. For a student whose family has only ever traveled between Kauaʻi and Pohnpei, this trip is not a line on a résumé. It's a first.
"I'd also be taking on the privilege of being the first person in my family to travel anywhere outside of Hawaiʻi and Pohnpei, so they're pretty excited for me as well." — Hailey Hadley, Kapaʻa High School, Class of 2027
When Hailey comes home to Kapaʻa from Ilocos Norte, she'll bring back more than stories — she'll bring back a plan. A PAAC club at a school that doesn't have one yet means every future Kapaʻa student could have the same chance she did. For a small island community that already knows how to take care of each other, that kind of forward motion is exactly what leadership looks like.
