$275K Donated to UH-Hilo Endowed Scholarship

L-R: Courtney Kajikawa, Vice President and Personal Trust Manager, First Hawaiian Bank; Jean Creadick, Vice President, Philanthropic Services, First Hawaiian Bank; UH Hilo Chancellor Donald Straney, Dr. Bruce Mathews, Interim Dean, College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management, UH Hilo; Mariko Miho, Executive Director of Development, UH Hilo, UH Foundation. University of Hawai’i Foundation photo.

An undergraduate scholarship program at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo recently had more than a quarter million dollars donated.

The $275,000 donation was awarded by the W.T. Yoshimoto Foundation Charitable Trust in support of the W.T. Yoshimoto Foundation Charitable Trust Endowed Scholarship Fund for the Conservation and Preservation of Wildlife Habitats and Large Land Mammals at UH-Hilo.

Multi-year support to students pursuing studies in terrestrial mammalian habitat conservation and/or the conservation of large land mammals is made possible through the program. An initial offering of a synthesis course in wildlife science at UH-Hilo’s College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management will also be supported through the donation.

“On behalf of the trustees of the W.T. Yoshimoto Foundation Charitable Trust, we are very pleased to enter into this partnership with UH-Hilo,” said Jean Creadick, Vice President of Philanthropic Services at First Hawaiian Bank. “We look forward to working with Chancellor Straney, Dean Mathews and UH-Hilo to support undergraduate students as they build the foundation of their careers in wildlife science and terrestrial mammal habitat conservation.”

“UH-Hilo is positioned to offer students an opportunity to immerse themselves in applied research. With our unique natural living laboratories, and transdisciplinary programs that address pressing global concerns, we offer students from around the world an opportunity to learn how to make the world a better place,” said UH-Hilo Chancellor Donald Straney. “The synthesis course in wildlife science is an example of one of these transdisciplinary programs. We are most grateful to the W. T. Yoshimoto Foundation Charitable Trust for this very generous investment in students on track to address crucial land management challenges facing our world.”

“As the human population grows, so too do the demands on land for food, feedstock, and fiber,” said Bruce Mathews, Interim Dean of thr College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management, UH-Hilo. “More and more, people are encroaching on wildlife habitat, with tragic results for animals and the environment.

“In order to have a sustainable balance between that which we extract from the ecosphere and that which needs to be replenished, we need to think beyond the designation of specific conservation areas and national parks.”