About Sheena Tagalicod

Aloha mai, my name is Sheena Tagalicod and I am currently a senior majoring in Sociology. I will be graduating this December and the time will come to really enter the “real world.” It is honestly a bittersweet moment, yet extremely frightening at the same time. Nonetheless, I have every intention of using what I learned to make a difference in my community. I am now continuing my dream. It may not be what I anticipated coming out of high school, but I still have the same end goal in mind – serving the Hawaiian people.

I am well aware that the Hawaiian population is dwindling right before our eyes due to numerous health-related issues. Therefore, without hesitation, I have every intention of remaining in Hawai’i to serve the Hawaiian people. I’m looking into the field of public health with hopes of educating Hawaiians of the various health issues facing our race. More so, I hope to promote an assortment of prevention methods in hopes of preserving the Hawaiian culture.

I was born and raised here in Hawai’i. Therefore, Hawai’i is and will always be my home. My family also calls Hawai’i home and majority of us still reside here. As Native Hawaiians, our ancestors called Hawai’i home as well many years before us. As a result, Hawai’i and our Hawaiian culture is what keeps us together as an ‘ohana. We work together, play together, and even fight together. Nonetheless, Hawai’i is our home.

Currently I am living in Pahoa with my grandpa and mother, in the same home that I have been living in for the 22 years of my life. My great-grandparents settled in the area of Pahoa and Kapoho both in the Puna District. Since then, Pahoa has become the heart of our ‘ohana as we were all raised there. Although many of my family members have moved out to Hilo, off island, and even out of state, Pahoa is still the area that we all come back to.

This course provides a great opportunity for me personally to be more aware of all that’s around me. Often times I find myself so focused on my education and work that I fail to recognize the everyday things that are taking place. I hope that this class will teach me to be open-minded and ultimately more understanding of the many different views that people have on topics such as those dealing with our environment.

As a sociology major, I am interested in many things that impact our society. Some of the courses that most interested me was sociology of disaster where we students how disasters such as a tsunami or hurricane impacted people and their community. Another area of interest is one’s identity and how we often times create our identity through socialization. Typically the topic that most interests me is the Hawaiian culture and perpetuating it. I recognize that the Hawaiian culture and people are dwindling. Therefore, taking a stand and preserving all that we can becomes so important. One of the biggest ways of doing so is educating ourselves and continue what our ancestors have taught us.

In addition, paying attention to our environment is extremely important. Many times I fail to recognize that there are many ways that we are all harming the environment. One way that I can limit my impact on the environment is to take shorter showers. I can admit that I don’t pay attention to how much water I am wasting, but indeed I am. Especially in the morning when I am showering, I tend to stand under the shower in attempt to wake up. If I limit my time showering to only the necessity, I will surely be able to preserve our environment.