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In the face of an historic rise in the cost of living, a joint EWC student and staff Food Security Task Force was formed in October to help address student need by looking for collaborative solutions to increase access and affordability of healthy food. EWC Foundation Scholar and UHM law student, Miah Bonilla, is one of the student leaders who helped form the Task Force, which includes fellow student members Mostafa Abdelhafeez, Naomi Doherty, Imaculata Kurniasanti and Skyler Smela.
“I had heard about the Food Vault at UH, and I would see classmates and students going there for free food, and it gave me the impression that there was a significant feeling of food insecurity happening. I reached out to [EWC Dean Ann Hartman] about addressing this issue and finding a solution.”
As part of the task force, one of her roles has been planning and organizing the monthly emergency food distributions (made possible through a partnership with local foodservice distributor, Y. Hata, and facilitated by a retired EWC staff member), which involves coordination with the vendor as well as with multiple EWC departments, the EWC Participant Association, and staff and student volunteers. “This is a collaborative effort. The goal is trying to have that conversation [about food insecurity] and make sure that the student participants’ input is being heard [through regular meetings and surveys]. I’ve been involved with the food distribution part, but I’m also trying to establish spaces where we’d be able to store food, have our own Food Vault [in the dormitory], so we’re in the midst of trying to make that happen.”
This is Miah’s first year as an EWC student and law student at the UHM Richardson School of Law. Growing up both in the Philippines and Kalihi, Miah recently graduated with a Masters in Asian International Affairs program. Her experience at EWC thus far has aligned with what she thought the EWC would be. Miah feels that the most important thing that EWC has given her is friendship. “You come here for academic reasons, but EWC provides different kinds of connections not just for school, but life-long relationships.” Along with these personal connections of living in the EWC community, professionally, Miah adds, "EWC provides this perspective that there are bigger things you can do, and the ability to work abroad seems more feasible.”
In addition to her active engagement with the EWC community, Miah is also involved with the Law School community as a Senator representing first-year law students. One area that she has also been assigned to help is also related to food security, where she makes sure food is continually stocked in the law school student lounge.
After graduating, Miah plans to practice law in Hawai‘i and work with groups in the local community that do not currently have a lot of legal representation, and using her Ilokano and Tagalog language skills to help the local Filipino community and other underrepresented groups, such as the transgender community. “I have shifted my career focus into creating and changing policies when it comes to transgender rights. I have learned that there are no law firms that primarily serve transgender people in Hawai‘i, so I want to try and establish that here. My immediate goal is to create some change in transgender rights not just in Hawai‘i, but also in the United States.”
The East-West Center offers scholarships for graduate study as well as affiliation programs for service-minded students with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region to join our international graduate student community. Miah is supported by multiple scholarships including the Sarah K. Vann Scholars Award and the Amy Agbayani Fellowship.
In the face of an historic rise in the cost of living, a joint EWC student and staff Food Security Task Force was formed in October to help address student need by looking for collaborative solutions to increase access and affordability of healthy food. EWC Foundation Scholar and UHM law student, Miah Bonilla, is one of the student leaders who helped form the Task Force, which includes fellow student members Mostafa Abdelhafeez, Naomi Doherty, Imaculata Kurniasanti and Skyler Smela.
“I had heard about the Food Vault at UH, and I would see classmates and students going there for free food, and it gave me the impression that there was a significant feeling of food insecurity happening. I reached out to [EWC Dean Ann Hartman] about addressing this issue and finding a solution.”
As part of the task force, one of her roles has been planning and organizing the monthly emergency food distributions (made possible through a partnership with local foodservice distributor, Y. Hata, and facilitated by a retired EWC staff member), which involves coordination with the vendor as well as with multiple EWC departments, the EWC Participant Association, and staff and student volunteers. “This is a collaborative effort. The goal is trying to have that conversation [about food insecurity] and make sure that the student participants’ input is being heard [through regular meetings and surveys]. I’ve been involved with the food distribution part, but I’m also trying to establish spaces where we’d be able to store food, have our own Food Vault [in the dormitory], so we’re in the midst of trying to make that happen.”
This is Miah’s first year as an EWC student and law student at the UHM Richardson School of Law. Growing up both in the Philippines and Kalihi, Miah recently graduated with a Masters in Asian International Affairs program. Her experience at EWC thus far has aligned with what she thought the EWC would be. Miah feels that the most important thing that EWC has given her is friendship. “You come here for academic reasons, but EWC provides different kinds of connections not just for school, but life-long relationships.” Along with these personal connections of living in the EWC community, professionally, Miah adds, "EWC provides this perspective that there are bigger things you can do, and the ability to work abroad seems more feasible.”
In addition to her active engagement with the EWC community, Miah is also involved with the Law School community as a Senator representing first-year law students. One area that she has also been assigned to help is also related to food security, where she makes sure food is continually stocked in the law school student lounge.
After graduating, Miah plans to practice law in Hawai‘i and work with groups in the local community that do not currently have a lot of legal representation, and using her Ilokano and Tagalog language skills to help the local Filipino community and other underrepresented groups, such as the transgender community. “I have shifted my career focus into creating and changing policies when it comes to transgender rights. I have learned that there are no law firms that primarily serve transgender people in Hawai‘i, so I want to try and establish that here. My immediate goal is to create some change in transgender rights not just in Hawai‘i, but also in the United States.”
The East-West Center offers scholarships for graduate study as well as affiliation programs for service-minded students with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region to join our international graduate student community. Miah is supported by multiple scholarships including the Sarah K. Vann Scholars Award and the Amy Agbayani Fellowship.
