She Taught Herself Saxophone in Five Months, Golf on Her Own, and Korean in Class. Now the Moanalua High Student Is Taking It All to Jeju.
One of 42 public high school students selected for the 2026 Hawaiʻi Sister-State Study Tours.
Student Snapshot
Name: Cassie Nakaoka
Preferred Name: Cassie
School: Moanalua High School
Grade: 10th
Home Community: Moanalua/Hālawa, Oʻahu
Delegation: Jeju Island
Travel Dates: March 14–25/26, 2026
Focus Interests / Extracurriculars: Moanalua High School Symphony Orchestra (Viola, 4 years); Nā Menehune Marching Band (alto saxophone, self-taught in 5 months, praised by technicians); HOSA — competing in ILC nutrition division; Leo Club (32+ community service hours freshman year); pre-medical club led by Dr. Dean J. Mikami (limited spots, teacher recommendation required); Class Council Secretary; Korean language study (can read, write, and understand some Korean); golf (self-taught, shoots bogey golf); deep interest in nutrition science
Career Aspirations: Dietician specializing in eating disorders — she names this with striking specificity, explains the counseling component, and explicitly connects it to what she hopes to develop on this trip
Why They Were Selected
Cassie is a tenth grader at Moanalua who taught herself saxophone in five months well enough to be called impressive, taught herself golf well enough to shoot bogey, and chose a career path — eating disorder dietician — that requires the kind of empathy and rapid human connection she is actively building right now. She wants to go to Jeju not just for the experience but because she studies Korean, has been wanting to go for a while, and sees this trip as the version of the journey that will mean something. That self-awareness, at fifteen, is the thing.
What They're Excited About
The relief of finding out after the anxiety of not knowing; having wanted to go to Korea for a while and this being the version that will be meaningful; improving responsibility, social skills, and her understanding of the world beyond Hawaiʻi
She Wants to Counsel Young Adults Through Eating Disorders. Going to Jeju Is How She Practices Connecting With Someone Fast.
Cassie Nakaoka knows exactly what she wants to do with her life: become a dietician who specializes in eating disorders, a condition she describes plainly as a deadly mental disease that requires a lot of counseling. She also knows that the most important clinical skill in that work — connecting with someone quickly, across whatever gap exists between you — is not something you can learn from a textbook. So when her Korean teacher told her about PAAC, and she found out she could apply to go to Jeju Island, she applied. And when the email came back with good news, the anxiety she'd been carrying finally dissolved into relief. The Moanalua High sophomore is going to Korea.
Cassie is the kind of student who fills gaps with curiosity rather than anxiety — at least, she tries. She plays viola in the Moanalua Symphony Orchestra, taught herself alto saxophone in five months well enough to impress her marching band technicians, taught herself golf well enough to shoot bogey, and is competing in the HOSA ILC in the nutrition division. She's the Class Council Secretary, a Leo Club volunteer, and a member of a selective pre-medical club that required a teacher recommendation to join. She studies Korean. She has been wanting to go to Korea for a while. This trip, she says, will make the journey meaningful in a way it wouldn't be otherwise.
Cassie was selected because the trip directly serves the person she is working to become. She needs to learn how to build trust quickly with someone she doesn't know, across a cultural or experiential gap, in a context that matters. That is exactly what a week on Jeju Island with strangers will require — and exactly what a career counseling young adults through a life-threatening illness will demand. She made the connection herself. That's the point.
"I want to be a Dietician that specializes in Eating Disorders... Especially since this disorder is common in young adults, it is important to know how to connect with someone in a short amount of time." — Cassie Nakaoka, Moanalua High School, Class of 2028
When Cassie comes home to Moanalua from Jeju, she'll bring back Korean she practiced in person, connections she built across a real cultural gap, and a clearer sense of the kind of clinician she wants to be. For a student who has already named her life's work, this trip isn't a detour — it's the next step.
