Each year, the Miss Hawaii scholarship program awards young women hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships. This was a major motivating factor for Miss Oahu to enter the competition.
At 23-years-old, Shawlea Aona has accomplished many things in her life.
The Kamehameha School graduate received her bachelors degree from the University of San Francisco and also went on to get her masters in business from HPU.
"Total with two degrees came out to about $190,000 and I am walking away with $30,000 student loans,” said Aona.
To pay off her debt the commercial real estate leasing associate turned to the Miss Hawaii pageant for scholarships and began volunteering with Junior Achievement.
"I actually volunteer at Pahoa Elementary School, we try to get into all these title one public schools, teach them basic business and economic principals,” she said.
Raised by a single mother Shawlea says she and her sister may not have had a lot of material things but there was a lot of love. "It was a little difficult at a time we did live in a studio apartment just my sister and my mother and I so it was a little tough."
"But as you grow up you kind of learn to do things for your self and that’s one thing my mom was always my biggest support,” she said.
Now as Miss Oahu she says she can better help children by sharing her story as motivation.
"That’s really why I went into Miss Hawaii is to hopefully be able to tell people that they can be whatever they want to be just like me,” she said.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
