Natasha Clarin, community outreach coordinator for Ko Olina Resort and Marina, won the Presidential Service Award from the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. She was recognized for her role in hosting monthly birthday parties for keiki at the Paiolu Kaiaulu shelter in Waianae.

Kori Shlachter, an Island Pacific Academy humanities teacher, is one of 25 teachers nationally to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a six-week study tour of South Africa and Botswana this summer. She will attend classes at the University of the Western Cape near Cape Town, visit townships and learn about the difficulties people have faced before and after apartheid.