By Jana Julian | Staff Writer

How do you think you contribute to society?

Charmaine Hacker-Sabas
Age: 23
Hometown: Pearl City
Major: Psychology

“I think I contribute to my community by being a productive member of society in general. I go to work, I pay taxes, I vote, and I buy local.”

Yilin Wan
Age: 20
Hometown: Wuhan, China
Major: Liberal Arts

“I contribute to society by being warm hearted and helping others. Just in general, being kind. When I go back home I’ll probably want to be a teacher.”

Amar Thejas
Age: 22
Hometown: Trivandrum, India
Major: Liberal Arts

“I contribute to society by volunteering at my friend’s farm and helping him with farming. I don’t know if that’s contributing to society, but it provides fresh, healthy food. I support local farmers. I make art, I’m an artist, and I focus a lot of my artwork on planet pollution.”

Kū Mo’o Ali’i Nui Loa Mo’i King Kamehameha VIII
Age: 63
Hometown: Wailua
Major: Hawaiian Studies

“I contribute to society by inspiring our younger generation to rebuild our lo’i kalo mahi’ai farms (taro farms) and our loko i’a mahi’ai fish ponds and all of our sacred places around the islands, our beautiful Hawaiian islands.”

Jaelynn Lopez
Age: 27
Hometown: Honolulu
Major: Public Health

“A lot of my contribution comes from how I interact with people of my community. Helping people and being loving and kind goes a long way. It changes the way people choose to live around you. Not always, but love and kindness usually reciprocates itself. Another way is throwing away my trash or trash of others. I feel like I can only contribute so much to the environment but the very least I can do is to pick up trash around me. There are many other ways but these are probably the most important ones for me.”