A Konawaena Freshman Who Dances Tinikling, Reads Japanese, and Learned Hula as a Child Is Representing South Kona This March
One of 42 public high school students selected for the 2026 Hawaiʻi Sister-State Study Tours.
Student Snapshot
Name: Lyka Lomongo
Preferred Name: Lyka
School: Konawaena High School
Grade: 9th
Home Community: Kealakekua/Captain Cook area, South Kona, Hawaiʻi Island
Delegation: Okinawa
Travel Dates: March 14–25/26, 2026
Focus Interests / Extracurriculars: PAAC Club Vice President (Konawaena); Filipino Club member; badminton; ukulele and guitar; singing; Tinikling (Filipino cultural dance); drawing; photography (scenery, plants, flowers); Japanese language student (Level 1, reads Hiragana and Katakana); travels regularly between Hawaiʻi and the Philippines
Career Aspirations: Global problem-solving and community leadership — she frames her vision around learning to resolve environmental, political, and social conflicts worldwide; specific career not named
Why They Were Selected
Lyka arrived in Hawaiʻi as a young child and immediately began building bridges — she learned hula, made diverse friends, joined PAAC, became vice president, and is now studying Japanese while still practicing Tinikling. She doesn't treat cultures as things to observe from a distance; she participates in them. Her essay shows a student who has connected global issues like the SDGs to real community projects, not just classroom discussions. For a ninth grader, that's unusually grounded.
What They're Excited About
Expanding her Japanese language knowledge in person; meeting students from other PAAC clubs; learning how others lead; exploring Okinawan culture she's long been curious about
She Moved From the Philippines to Hawaiʻi and Learned to Dance Hula. Now She's Headed to Okinawa.
When Lyka Lomongo arrived in Hawaiʻi from Siquijor, Philippines as a first grader, she did something that tells you everything about who she is: she learned to dance hula. Not as a class requirement, not because she had to — but because it was there, and she wanted to understand it. That instinct, to learn a culture by stepping into it, has never left her. This March, the Konawaena High School freshman is taking it to Okinawa as a PAAC Sister-State Student Ambassador.
Lyka is a ninth grader in South Kona who has quietly built one of the most culturally layered lives in this cohort. She's the Vice President of Konawaena's PAAC Club and a member of the Filipino Club. She plays ukulele, guitar, badminton, and performs Tinikling — the traditional Filipino bamboo dance. She's studying Japanese and can already read Hiragana and Katakana. She photographs plants and flowers in her free time. And she travels regularly between Hawaiʻi and the Philippines, keeping both places alive inside her.
Lyka was selected because she doesn't just learn about the world — she participates in it. Her PAAC Club has been working through the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, and when they focused on "Life on Land," she helped develop a community action project around it. She understands, as she puts it, that even small impacts can have a big impact — and she's been proving it one project at a time in South Kona.
"I used to do Hula back when I was little, and that really helped me connect with other cultures, inspiring me to learn more about other cultures." — Lyka Lomongo, Konawaena High School, Class of 2029
When Lyka returns to South Kona from Okinawa, she'll bring back more than stories — she'll bring back connections to other PAAC club leaders across Hawaiʻi and a deeper command of the Japanese she's been studying. For a freshman who has already been building bridges since the day she arrived, that's not a small thing. It's the next step in a path she's been walking her whole life.
