"Be Prepared for the Hāna Wave" — How One Student From the End of the Road Is Opening a Door for Everyone Behind Her
One of 42 public high school students selected for the 2026 Hawaiʻi Sister-State Study Tours.
Student Snapshot
Name: Anju Bekkum
Preferred Name: Anju
School: Hāna High & Elementary School
Grade: 11th
Home Community: Hāna, Maui
Travel Dates: March 14–25, 2026
Focus Interests / Extracurriculars: Student Government — HSSC and MDSCO representative (2 years); Class Council VP (2 years), now Secretary; President of Malama na Kahakai beach cleanup club (3 years); TA for middle school sewing class; kitchen assistant and shopkeeper; photography trainee; experienced in art, sewing, embroidery, marksmanship, cooking, baking, roller skating
Aspirations: Anju has a passion for history, politics, and community advocacy
Why They Were Selected
Anju is the first student from Hāna High to ever go on a PAAC trip — and she got there by being exactly the kind of person Hāna produces: someone who respects the dirt she walks on, fights for her community, and understands that identity is something you build, not something you inherit. Her essay is one of the most distinctively voiced pieces in this cohort, moving between Makahiki games and petitions against Walmart with the ease of someone who has thought carefully about what it means to live in a place that chooses itself on purpose.
What They're Excited About
Being near Japan for the first time since childhood, even without a family reunion; learning about Okinawan history and the Ryukyu people as their own distinct culture; being an example to Hāna's younger students; making lifelong bonds with her cohort; her mom is already playing Okinawan music at home
She Ran to Her Mom's Car, and They Both Started Crying. Anju Bekkum Is the First Hāna Student Ever to Go on a PAAC Trip.
Anju Bekkum had been nervous all day. She was leaving basketball practice when she finally checked her phone, saw the notification, and her heart started racing. She ran to her mom's car and they both started cheering and crying at the same time. The reason: Anju had just become the first student in Hāna High & Elementary School's history to be selected for a PAAC Sister-State trip. This March, she's headed to Okinawa.
Anju is a junior from Hāna — the town at the end of the road, the one with 620 turns and no McDonald's, by community petition. She'll tell you that Hāna has around 300 students K–12, that her class has 22, and that the smallest class in the school has 6. She'll also tell you that her community holds Makahiki games in the rainy season, sings mele before they Kuʻi Kalo, and has successfully fought off Walmart. She's served two years in student government, led a beach cleanup club for three, and this year is teaching sewing to middle schoolers. Hāna shaped her — and she's been paying it back ever since.
Anju was selected because her essay is unlike anything else in this cohort. Born in Oregon, raised in Tokyo until she was four, and then transplanted to Hāna where she had to relearn how to belong, she's spent her life navigating what identity actually means. She's Hapa — Japanese and American — and she's spent years reconciling those two halves, relearning Japanese so she can talk to her aging grandparents without her mother as a translator. Okinawa isn't just a destination for her. It's a chance to be near the culture she lost and is slowly finding again.
"Bringing honor to my family, Hāna town, and the State of Hawaiʻi is not an act of obligation — I pursue that honor out of love and pride." — Anju Bekkum, Hāna High & Elementary School, Class of 2027
Since her acceptance, Anju says high schoolers and middle schoolers have already been asking her what PAAC is and how they can apply. She told them. "Be prepared for the Hāna wave," she warned — and knowing Hāna, that's not an idle threat. Whatever she brings home from Okinawa, it won't stay with her. It never does in a town that small.
Anju is a constituent of House District [#] and Senate District [#], represented by [Legislator Name] in the Hawaiʻi State Legislature. ([VERIFY WITH DISTRICT LOOKUP])
