Farrington grad
endows scholarship

One isle public school graduate each year
will receive a full ride to Stanford University

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By Susan Essoyan
sessoyan@starbulletin.com

Starting this fall, one Hawaii public school graduate every year will earn a four-year, full scholarship to Stanford University, thanks to Lady Va Maughan, a Farrington High School alumna.

"I wanted to give back to Hawaii and especially the public school children of Hawaii," Maughan said yesterday, standing in front of her alma mater. "We want to encourage students, to let them know that there is this opportunity, if they work hard they too can attend university in Palo Alto."

Maughan grew up in Kalihi, one of seven children of the late Gustav and Faiaso Hannemann. She lives in New York City with her husband, Sir Deryck Maughan, a British banker who was knighted last year. Their daughter, Chelsea, is a Stanford sophomore, and Sir Deryck received his master's in business administration from the university.

Stanford will award the Sir Deryck and Lady Va Maughan Scholarship annually to a public school graduate who is accepted by the university and qualifies for financial aid. It will cover tuition, room, board and books, which together run close to $38,000 a year.

"It's a four-year, full ride," said Schools Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto. "We're very fortunate to have supporters of the public school system who not only believe in us but are willing to support our graduates."

Roughly 30 to 40 students from Hawaii are accepted to Stanford each year, most of them from private schools, according to Neal Okabayashi, a representative of the Hawaii chapter of the Stanford Alumni Association.

"A lot of public school kids may not apply because they think they can't afford it," he said. "This makes a dream more achievable."

The Maughans also recently endowed a four-year scholarship for a student of Samoan ancestry to attend Iolani School, in the name of her parents.

Lady Va Maughan was joined at yesterday's announcement by her nephew, Paulo Feagai, a Farrington senior, her siblings Gus, Nephi and Faiaso Hannemann, all Farrington graduates, and brother Mufi Hannemann, an Iolani alumnus.

"I graduated from Farrington, which taught me that we enter to learn and we go forth to serve, and I hope that this scholarship will do that," Maughan said.