Lahaina town's Yuna Lee is finishing her first year at Gonzaga University, majoring in civil engineering and minoring in business.
The Maui Preparatory Academy alum received about $30,000 from the Construction Industry of Maui in honor of Bob Paulson, one of the organization's founders.
Two weeks before Lee was supposed to leave for college in Spokane, Washington, her family home was destroyed in the Aug. 8 fires.
Her parents spent months in a hotel and just recently moved into a rental unit not far from the neighborhood she grew up in. She said she saw firsthand how the wildfires worsened the island's housing crisis.
"A lot of people who also had to leave to go to college around that time felt like a guilt of leaving and just not being able to do anything — leaving your family behind and they have to deal with it," Lee said.
Her goal is to one day return to rebuild her hometown with her business and engineering knowledge. Lee said she first started leaning toward engineering when playing with Lego bricks as a keiki.
"I do want to come back and I want to help the community and give back to the community that, sort of, raised me and brought me to be who I am today," she added.
The deadline to apply for this year's CIM scholarship is May 1. Lee encouraged any Maui County high schooler interested in design, landscaping or engineering to apply.
"It's great to see more people, minorities and more women especially, representing engineering and hopefully we'll have more in the industry of Maui," she said.
This interview aired on The Conversation on April 25, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
