She Goes to a Hawaiian Immersion School. Her Senior Project Is About ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. She Stewards Land at Kahaluʻu Every Month. And She Will Be the First in Her Family to Go to Jeju.
One of 42 public high school students selected for the 2026 Hawaiʻi Sister-State Study Tours.
Student Snapshot
Name: Taytum Medina-Oliveira (legal); ʻĀlohilohi Medina-Oliveira
Preferred Name: Alohi (shortened from ʻĀlohilohi)
School: Ke Kula o Ehunuikaimalino
Grade: 12th (Senior)
Home Community: Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi Island — confirmed in essay; Kahaluʻu community connection through monthly mālama ʻāina service
Delegation: Jeju Island
Travel Dates: March 14–25/26, 2026
Focus Interests / Extracurriculars: Student Council Vice President; Kahaluʻu Kuahewa mālama ʻāina (monthly land stewardship); paddling; volleyball; drawing; Japan travel (Tokyo and Osaka, 2024); senior project on ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi on her school campus; Hawaiian language immersion education (entire schooling)
Career Aspirations: College — her acceptance reflection specifically names her college journey as the horizon this trip is preparing her for; no specific field named
Why They Were Selected
Alohi has been managing real-life family challenges alongside her education since she was young — not avoiding them, but moving through them with patience, breaking large problems into manageable steps, and building herself into someone who is empowered by difficulty rather than overwhelmed by it. She attends a Hawaiian immersion school, stewards land at Kahaluʻu every month, paddles, and is spending her senior year building a project about ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi for her school. Her mom told her she matured faster than many. Alohi wrote about that with no self-pity and complete clarity.
What They're Excited About
Extreme gratitude mixed with nervousness — realizing she would be traveling alone without her family for the first time; seeing a new place; experiencing a new culture; representing her own culture and her school; trying new things; being the first in her family to go to Jeju; defeating some inner battles with herself; becoming a better version of herself ahead of college
She Was Grateful and Nervous at the Same Time. Because She Realized She'd Be Going Alone — Without Her Family — For the First Time. The Ke Kula o Ehunuikaimalino Senior Is Going to Jeju.
When ʻĀlohi Medina-Oliveira found out she'd been accepted, she felt two things at once: extreme gratitude, and nerves. Not because of Jeju — because she realized she was going to be traveling alone, without her family, for the first time. That moment, sitting with both feelings simultaneously, is very much who she is. She is a senior at Ke Kula o Ehunuikaimalino, a Hawaiian language immersion school in Kailua-Kona, and she has been learning how to hold difficult things with patience for most of her life.
ʻĀlohi is Student Council Vice President, a paddler, a volleyball player, and someone who goes to Kahaluʻu every month to do mālama ʻāina — caring for the land as her school and community have taught her. She went to Japan in 2024. Her senior project is about ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi on her school campus — dedicated to strengthening the presence of the Hawaiian language in the place where she has been educated in it. She is the first in her family to go to Jeju Island.
ʻĀlohi was selected because she already knows how to move through hard things. Her essay describes a student who has been managing real family challenges alongside school for years — not avoiding them, but learning to break them down into manageable steps, to approach each situation with calm, and to be empowered by difficulty rather than stopped by it. Her mother told her she matured faster than many. ʻĀlohi wrote about that with honesty and no self-pity. That steadiness is what makes her a natural ambassador: she brings it to everything she does.
"This will definitely help me defeat some inner battles with myself, and help me become a better version of myself for the future." — ʻĀlohilohi Medina-Oliveira, Ke Kula o Ehunuikaimalino, Class of 2026
When ʻĀlohi comes home to Kailua-Kona from Jeju, she'll return as a senior who traveled alone for the first time and came back with something real to bring to her senior project, her campus, and her community. For a Hawaiian immersion school in Kona that is doing the work of keeping a language and a culture alive, that return matters.
