Ka’u kid heads to Oxford University for Masters in Philosophy

Video by David Corrigan

A spirited student speech is given at Saturday’s UH-Hilo graduation ceremony by La`akea Yoshida.

The university provided this acedemic bio on Yoshida for the media:

La`akea Yoshida, a history major focusing on European history, with a minor in anthropology, is student speaker. Yoshida, who has maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.8, has earned numerous academic honors including the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Scholarship, the CAS Dean’s List, the first ever UH Hilo Ambassador Grant, the Vulcan Leadership Award for Outstanding Scholar, the UH Hilo History Department’s Outstanding Student Writing Award, Kamehameha Schools’ Na Ho`okama a Pauahi Scholarship, and Who’s Who Among American Colleges and Universities.

Yoshida is president of the UH Hilo Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, (Alpha Beta Omicron) The National History Honor Society, and was part of a five-member team that competed in March at the Society’s regional conference at UH Manoa. Yoshida’s paper, “Bloodline Accession and Gifted Power: Nero Claudius Drusus and the Struggle to Define Heir ship in Rome During the Reign of Tiberius,” was voted Best Undergraduate Paper. It was the second time Yoshida captured that award after first winning it in 2008.

Yoshida is scheduled to enter Oxford University in October, where he was admitted earlier this year as a Master of Philosophy candidate in Roman and Greek history. He is believed to be the first History major from UH Hilo ever admitted to the prestigious United Kingdom institution.

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