"No Boat Can Move Forward Unless the Crew Works Together" — An ʻEwa Beach Sailor, Scout, and Swimmer Is Headed to Okinawa
One of 42 public high school students selected for the 2026 Hawaiʻi Sister-State Study Tours.
Student Snapshot
Name: Tracey Beesley-Wadzinski
Preferred Name: Tracey
School: James Campbell High School
Grade: 10th
Home Community: ʻEwa Beach, Oʻahu
Delegation: Okinawa
Travel Dates: March 14–25/26, 2026
Focus Interests / Extracurriculars: Varsity Swim Team (Captain, both JV and Varsity); competitive sailor — lead mainsheet/head sail crew on Farr 10/20 racing yacht, Kāneʻohe Yacht Club; small dinghy racer; BSA Scouts Life Rank (near Eagle Scout) — Outdoor Ethics Guide, Patrol Leader (2 years), Quartermaster, Asst. Patrol Leader, 50+ volunteer hours; Academy Ambassador for Creative Media Academy at JCHS; National Honor Society; YMCA Camp Erdman Camp Counselor and Leader in Training (100+ volunteer hours annually); Salvation Army Events Leader and volunteer at KROC Center Hawaiʻi; Red Cross Lifeguard certified; Beach Junior Lifeguard certified; animator with published shorts; artist and short story author; crocheter and knitter; avid reader; #6 of 8 children; maintains a 4.0 GPA
Career Aspirations: Ocean education and cultural connection — she names this explicitly; her long-term vision includes youth programs that blend sailing, environmental stewardship, and cultural exchange
Why They Were Selected
Tracey is the sixth of eight children, shares one computer with her family, maintains a 4.0 GPA, and still finds time to captain a swim team, race yachts, log 150+ volunteer hours a year, earn near-Eagle Scout rank, and animate published short films. She does all of this from ʻEwa Beach, and she does it because she genuinely loves it. Her essay opens with a spinnaker sail snapping open in the Ko'olau morning light — and it only gets more specific from there. This is a student who has been paying very careful attention to what makes Hawaiʻi worth protecting.
What They're Excited About
Trying all the new foods; taking photos to make a printed photo book and journal; finding the roller slides at an Okinawan playground (a friend told her about them); sharing everything with her younger siblings so they'll apply someday too
The Last Bell Rang. She Screamed. Her Friend Said, "On Your Bike?" She Rolled Her Eyes and Pedaled Home.
The last bell of the school day rang and Tracey Beesley-Wadzinski was checking her phone before riding her bike home. She clicked on the PAAC email. Saw the acceptance letter. Screamed. A friend appeared behind her: "On your bike?" Tracey shared what had just happened — she'd applied, crossed her fingers and all her toes, and she was in. Going to Okinawa. Her friend replied: "Oh, so not on your bike then?" She rolled her eyes, laughed, and pedaled home to tell seven siblings. The James Campbell High sophomore from ʻEwa Beach is headed to Japan.
Tracey is the sixth of eight kids in a big, busy family that shares one computer and gathers at the beach in the evenings for box lunches at sunset. She captains the varsity swim team, races yachts out of Kāneʻohe Yacht Club as lead mainsheet on a Farr 10/20, is one merit badge from Eagle Scout, animates published short films, and volunteers over 150 hours a year across BSA, YMCA Camp Erdman, and the Salvation Army KROC Center — all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. She has lived in Hawaiʻi her whole life. She has never left. Until now.
Tracey was selected because she already understands, at fifteen, something most people spend their whole lives trying to learn: that every role matters, and nothing moves forward unless everyone pulls together. She learned it on a sailboat. She learned it in Scout patrols. She learned it growing up as number six in a family of eight, navigating the chaos and the love of a very full house. Her essay opens with a spinnaker snapping open at dawn off the Ko'olau range — and she wrote it herself, without AI, with Grammarly only for spelling. It shows.
"No wind can move a boat efficiently that isn't ready, and no boat can move forward unless the crew works together. That's how I see Hawaiʻi's future: different voices and cultures all adjusting their sails smoothly to move towards something greater." — Tracey Beesley-Wadzinski, James Campbell High School, Class of 2028
When Tracey comes home to ʻEwa Beach from Okinawa, she'll make a photo book and a printed journal — she's already planned it. And she'll share everything with her younger siblings, she says, so that when they're old enough, they'll apply too. That kind of ripple effect, from one ʻEwa Beach kitchen table outward, is exactly what this program is for.
