Class of 2026 Commencement

ʻIolani School's commencement ceremony for the Class of 2026 took place on Saturday, June 6. Interim Head of School Mrs. Melanie K. Pfingsten conducted the ceremony, which was held on campus.

 

Click to view live stream recording

 

INTERIM HEAD OF SCHOOL MRS. MELANIE K. PFINGSTEN

On behalf of Chair Dr. Mark Mugiishi and the members of the Board of Governors, as well as my distinguished colleagues of the administration, faculty and staff, welcome to the commencement ceremony for the Class of 2026.
 
We gather today to celebrate the achievements of the students before you and to send them forth into a new chapter of their lives.
 
As they have so eloquently noted in their messages, their connection to this community is profound and will be lifelong.
 
A testament to this bond is that each year at graduation, we welcome home members of the 50th reunion class.
 
The Class of 1976 has prepared a message we will share in a moment.

However, before doing so, I would like to share that this year’s 50th reunion class has similarities to the Class of 2026. Just like you, they witnessed a metamorphosis of the ‘Iolani campus from old army barracks to the dedication of the Art Building in late 1975, and the beginning of construction of the Royal ‘Iolani condominium and Castle Building.

Regardless of the pounding and cacophony of construction noise that dominated their later years at ‘Iolani, the Class of 1976 remained a unified and bonded group of alumni. They have proudly manned the grill at the ‘Iolani Carnival and ‘Iolani Fair since the early 1980s and can still be found flipping burgers every April.

These gentlemen are a testament to the line in the alma mater that states, “Here friendships weave their mystic strands forever,” evident in the largest attendance of a 50th reunion class in history. Today, we welcome back 49 members of the Class of 1976 who have traveled from across the country, from Massachusetts, Texas, California, Washington and locally to be with us today. 

And they continue to lead and support our school forward. More than 60 members of the Class of 1976 are generously donating a reunion gift that currently stands at $759,921.

Gentlemen, mahalo and welcome home.

Please enjoy their message to the Class of 2026.

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It is now my privilege to present awards to members of the graduating class.
 
This year we have 59 students who have earned the title of Valedictorian. 

These are students who earned all A’s in their time at ‘Iolani as well as those with higher weighted gpas. 
 
Beyond their notable academic achievements, the students in this group have earned honors and accomplishments in arts, athletics, student government, and community service.
 
I am pleased to introduce each of them and their chosen university. 

Christopher Aguillon — Colorado State University
Anson Akemoto — Johns Hopkins University
Richard Alden — University of California, San Diego
Madison Au — Tufts University
Colbie Bell — University of Utah
Alex Cao — University College Dublin
Justin Chen — University of California, Irvine
Phoebe Ching — University of the Arts London
Emma Chun — Cornell University
Jolie Cruz — University of California, Los Angeles
Kingston Dimagiba — Rice University
Elliott Dix — University College London
Calder Engle — Boston University
Gideon Fogelgren — University of Washington
Mason Funasaki — Lafayette College
Ymin Guo — University of California, Los Angeles
Jackson Hung — Creighton University
Ashlyn Ito — University of Southern California
Lauryn Jim On — University of Southern California
Brendan Kajioka — Santa Clara University
Zuriel Kaplan — Pomona College
Brandon Koo — Washington University in St. Louis
Kai Kuboi — Georgetown University
Tyler Kunimitsu — University of Southern California
Hannah Kwak — University of Pennsylvania
Hong Jin Kwak — California Institute of Technology
Apollo Lee — Wesleyan University
Chelsea Lee — Occidental College
Matthew Lee — Boston College
Royce Lee — Columbia University
Seoahn Lee — Brown University
Taeseong Lee — Duke University
Siying Li — Cornell University
Flora Liao — University of Pennsylvania
Ryan Lu — University of Pennsylvania
Thomas Macchiarulo — Williams College
Tiger Matsushita — Imperial College London
Nicolas Moses — University of California, Los Angeles
Koen Nako — Haverford College
Ya Ni Ng — Cornell University
Madeline Lucy Nicolas — University of California, Berkeley
Ella Nishida — Arizona State University
Anaïs Ortega — Georgetown University
Deborah Park — Stanford University
Jaeden Park — Cornell University
Yoonseo Park — Columbia University
Sumit Roy — University of Michigan
Chloe Sanada — University of California, San Diego
Mingeon Shin — Rice University
Nathanael Shuai — University of Michigan
Arabella Tan — Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Seth Tanitomi — Cornell University
Sean Aivann Drew Tumbagon — Washington University in St. Louis
Taiko Tyau — California Polytechnic University, Pomona
Andrew Vo — Harvey Mudd College
Katsutoshi Yamamoto — Soka University
Rui Yang — University of California, Los Angeles
Nicole Zhang — Washington University in St. Louis
Mengyuan Zhao — Columbia University

Congratulations, Class of 2026 Valedictorians.

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The Alumni Medals are given to the top male and female student-athletes in the class.

Escorting our winners are teachers who have made an impact on these exceptional student-athletes.

I ask Mrs. Teresa Shimamoto and Mrs. Bonny Chikamori to bring to the stage Ashlyn Ito and Nicolas Moses.

Ashlyn, escorted by her AP Biology teacher Mrs. Shimamoto, is a force across campus in many arenas. She’s an accomplished cellist, an excellent scientist and selfless community servant who also happens to have earned a perfect academic record while taking some of our most demanding courses.

A stalwart in our Division I-AA basketball and varsity track & field teams throughout high school, Ashlyn found a new athletic home with our flag football team last year, where she was an impact player on defense. She was a leader on this year’s squad who impressed her coaches with her focus and intensity.

Ashlyn will be attending the University of Southern California this fall.

Nic, escorted by his first grade teacher Mrs. Chikamori, was a member of six HHSAA state championship winning teams throughout his high school career, helping to bring home koa trophies for four consecutive years as a member of the cross country team and consecutive state soccer championships these last two years. He’s also helped the track team to strong showings.

As a runner, Nic’s battery never seems to run out, which explains how he is able to accomplish so much as an outstanding student and leader. He is the ultimate team player — ready to help others find success in collective endeavors. That carries over to the classroom as well where he has shown himself to be an accomplished scholar.

Nic will find himself in a friendly rivalry with Ashlyn next year, as he heads across town to enroll at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Congratulations Nic and Ashlyn!

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The Bishop’s Award goes to a senior or seniors who have given unselfishly to church, school and community and who demonstrate outstanding witness to faith in Christ and commitment to principle.

Escorting this year’s winners is someone who has mentored them in a student club that has helped Christian students grow in faithfulness, goodwill and good works. Mrs. Kimi Frith, please bring to the stage Kallie Christensen and Micah Dunn.

Kallie and Micah, together with Mrs. Frith and other faculty advisors, have led the ‘Iolani One Team 3:16 club in teaching students not only to read the Gospel but to live it out every day. In her sophomore year, Kallie started the group as a Bible Study, and soon Micah Dunn joined the leadership team along with other seniors. The two of them built the group to 50 students and have sponsored Easter egg hunts, car washes, two bible studies a week (breakfast and lunch) and a panel discussion about Easter on Easter Tuesday every year.

Beyond their involvement with their faith group, they both live lives of compassion and service. Despite personal hardship, Kallie provides care for her younger brother, volunteers with our KA‘I Programs and serves as a Senior Prefect, in addition to managing the school soccer team and coaching youth soccer. Micah is active in worship music, wrestles and competes in judo for the school, and as the youngest of four children, holds a part-time job at Foodland.

They are outstanding young people who have witnessed to their faith and made our community a better place. We wish them the best as Micah continues his studies at the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa and Kallie makes her way to Chapman University this fall. 

Congratulations and thank you Kallie and Micah!

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The Headmaster’s Award is presented to the graduate who has made an exceptional contribution to ‘Iolani School.

I ask Mrs. Jennifer Agena to please bring back to the stage, Nicolas Moses.

Some of you may have thought my earlier description of Nic lacked some detail, and for good reason. While Nic is an outstanding student and decorated athlete, he is also a remarkable young leader.

Nic has served as the president of the Class of 2026 since the seventh grade, the last four years advised by Mrs. Agena. His peers clearly see him as a leader, but as his counselor notes, “Titles do not define Nic. When you speak with him, you meet a humble young man who listens more than he talks, who seeks to amplify others’ ideas rather than his own.” His classmates see him as someone who genuinely cares about their well-being and success. Nic, thank you for your integrity, empathy, and leadership.

Congratulations!

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We are pleased with the accomplishments of all our students, and we honor them at award ceremonies throughout the year as well as at these commencement exercises today.

I'd like to take this opportunity to recognize yet one more group of students. These students bring good character, generosity of spirit and a positive attitude to campus each day.

They are important in defining who we are as a school and as a community.

They make a difference in the lives of their teachers and classmates, yet seldom receive the spotlight they deserve.

Please allow me to introduce you to our Unsung Heroes.

Tiffany Ishida — Santa Clara University
Joshua Ohira — International Christian University
Keeley Kawamura — Washington University in St. Louis
Von Hangai — Chapman University
Kierra Kaneshiro — Brandeis University
Asher Hill — Kenyon College
Kristyn Koga — University of British Columbia
Seen Morimoto — University of Hawai’i, Manoa
Lehua Matusoka — Franklin & Marshall College
Ronin Fanelli — University of Michigan
Marley Kim — Tulane University
Aria Yokota — University of British Columbia
Ryder Shiraishi — University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Chloe Wehner — Northeastern University

Thank you, Unsung Heroes, for your contributions to our community.

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Class of 2026,

When many of you entered kindergarten in 2013, your biggest concern may have been whether you were Elsa, Anna or Olaf. "Let It Go" was being belted out in every car and living room. Instagram was new, TikTok not even a glimmer and the future seemed wonderfully predictable.

You were first graders when Inside Out animated our innermost feelings, teaching us that Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust belonged in the control room. You were second graders when Moana had everyone holding up their hands to the horizons, third graders when your parents started talking out loud to Alexa, and fourth graders when Kīlauea reshaped parts of Hawaiʻi Island, reminding us that even the land beneath our feet is not as fixed as we sometimes imagine. You were fifth graders when humanity captured the first image of a black hole.

And then, in sixth grade, the world stopped. You were eleven years old. Your classrooms emptied. Your friendships moved onto screens. Birthdays, performances, competitions, traditions and school were at first canceled and then, by enterprising moms and dads, IT folks and teachers, moved into a Zoom room. The routines that had quietly held life together suddenly disappeared.

Many commencement speeches celebrate resilience. And you, Class of 2026, have certainly been resilient. But as I have reflected on your journey, I have become convinced that resilience is not the most important thing you learned. You learned something even more valuable. You learned how to live in uncertainty. You learned how to move forward when no one knew exactly what would happen next.

You learned how to grow up in what author Susan Beaumont calls a liminal season; a season in which something has ended, but the new thing has not yet fully emerged. And the truth is, liminal seasons are not unusual. They are one of the oldest human experiences. Think about the stories we tell.

Before Jesus began his public ministry, before the teaching, the healing and the leadership, he was baptized and then spent 40 days in the wilderness. This in-between place of the wilderness was not a detour from his purpose. Before he could change the world, Jesus spent time discerning how he would be in the world.

Siddhartha Gautama, the prince who would become the Buddha, left behind privilege and predictability not because he knew exactly where he was going, but because he sensed there was something he still needed to learn. His in-between time reminds us that growth often begins not with certainty, but with the willingness to step outside it.

In 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 became the first humans to leave Earth's orbit, venturing farther into the unknown than anyone had before them. When they looked back, they took a photograph that became iconic — “Earthrise” — which showed them something unexpected: not a new world, but a new way of seeing their own world. Sometimes you must leave what is familiar in order to see it clearly.

And bringing it home to the Pacific, we remember that the great Polynesian navigators crossed vast oceans without seeing the islands they sought. They did not travel with certainty; they traveled with orientation, guided by stars, winds, swells and a deep ancestral knowledge. Uncertainty does not mean you are lost.

Across cultures and generations, our most enduring stories are rarely about arrival. They are about the time in between. The space between what was and what will be, between certainty and understanding, between who we have been and who we are becoming.

And that, Class of 2026, is where you have spent much of your adolescence. Through a pandemic. Through social change. Through the astonishing emergence of technologies that are reshaping what it means to learn, create and work — you have grown up in a world that keeps reinventing itself.

Which raises an important question: How do we proceed when we do not know exactly where we are going?

Our society offers one answer: certainty. Have a plan. Know your destination. Have your five-year plan, your 10-year plan, your major, your career, your purpose all figured out.

But another possibility exists.

Last Sunday, the pastor at my church said something that made me lean in. "The opposite of faith is not doubt," Kahu Lucas said. "The opposite of faith is certainty."

I find that deeply comforting.

Many of you have spent this year answering questions everyone keeps asking: What's next? Where are you going? What will you study? Who will you become?

And perhaps the most honest answer is: I don't know ... not yet.

And that is not failure. That is not weakness. That may, in fact, be the beginning of wisdom.

Faith is not having every answer. It is trusting that you can take the next step even when you cannot see the entire path. Faith is being spiritually curious, taking questions seriously and being willing to sit still and honestly with mystery.

One of the great gifts of your education has been learning that the goal is not certainty. The goal is presence — with ideas, with questions, with those around you, with people who see the world differently than you do.

The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, has described hospitality as creating space where people who disagree can still listen, pray and walk together.

What a remarkable vision for the world you are entering. A world that often rewards outrage over understanding, performance over authenticity, certainty over curiosity, and judgment over compassion.

The world does not need more people who have all the answers. The world needs more people who can listen. People who can learn. People who can create space for others. People who can walk together across difference. People who can resist the voices of judgment and cynicism, and fear. People who can keep their minds open enough to learn, their hearts open enough to understand, and their wills open enough to embrace what is still emerging.

That kind of presence is not passive. It is courageous. It is transformative. That kind of presence is human. And perhaps that is why the prophet Micah's words remain so enduring: Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly.

Notice that Micah does not tell us to possess certainty. He tells us how to walk. Like the wayfinders of the Pacific, Micah does not offer us a map. He offers us a compass. Justice. Love. Mercy.

The compass you have built here at ‘Iolani offers more for you to orient yourself: gratitude, humility, contribution beyond yourself. These are your stars.

Class of 2026, today we celebrate your achievements. But perhaps even more importantly, we celebrate who you have become. A generation that learned how to adapt.

And like every generation before you, you now stand at the edge of a new horizon. And we cannot tell you exactly what comes next — not me, not your parents, your family, your coaches, your mentors or your teachers.

The future remains, as it has always been, partly hidden. And that is not something to fear. It is something to embrace, to celebrate! Because the most important thing about the journey ahead is not where it takes you. It is who it helps you become.

So today, I do not wish you certainty. I wish you curiosity. I wish you courage. I wish you hospitality. I wish you the humility to admit what you do not know. I wish you the faith to step forward anyway.

And when the world asks who will go, who will serve, who will lead, who will show up, may your answer be the same answer that has echoed in our chapel all year and through generations: Here I am, Lord. Send me.

HO‘OMAIKA‘I ... congratulations, Class of 2026.

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Chair Mark Mugiishi and members of the Board of Governors: We, the faculty and administration of ‘Iolani School, in consonance with the laws of the State of Hawai‘i and our requirements, do certify that all students have satisfactorily completed the requirements for graduation and present the Class of 2026 to be awarded their diplomas.

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Congratulations to the 283 graduates from the Class of 2026!

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