Aileen Huerta.
HPU third-year, Level 1 nursing student Aileen Huerta was recently selected as an Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholar. The Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service is a prestigious two-year leadership development program that provides up to $25,000 per year in "last dollar" financial aid for students' junior and senior years of college. The scholarship was designed to alleviate "the burden of college debt so that students can afford to pursue a career in public service," states the program website.
One of the more exciting and novel aspects of the Voyager Scholarship is the Summer Voyage. Between their junior and senior years, scholars receive a $10,000 stipend and free Airbnb housing to pursue a work-travel experience of their own design, gaining exposure to new communities and hands-on experience in their fields. The travel doesn't end at graduation. Scholars receive a $2,000 Airbnb travel credit each year for 10 years, allowing them to keep exploring new cultures and building connections throughout their public service careers.
Huerta is working with her Voyager Scholarship coach to plan her Summer Voyage. Her destination has not been finalized, but she is considering opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa, South America and potentially the Caribbean.
"I hope to use this experience to learn more about how culture, community and access to health care shape health outcomes in underserved communities around the world," she said.
Huerta, a first-generation Latina, is the daughter of parents who emigrated from Mexico. Moving between Mexican and American culture while growing up in diverse communities taught her resilience and adaptability early on and shaped how she approaches education, culture and service.
"These experiences shaped me into an open-minded individual, willing to understand how culture influences people's lives and how different systems function through cultural values," she said. "Today, that curiosity guides my academic journey and fuels my aspiration to become a nurse who provides compassionate, culturally responsive care.
"Through my education and experiences in Hawaiʻi, I have realized that effective nursing extends beyond clinical knowledge. It requires recognizing the deep connections between health, culture and community. Meaningful care involves understanding patients' cultural identities, beliefs and lived experiences, while approaching each person with empathy, respect and humility. This realization has reshaped my professional goals and inspired me to become a nurse who practices cultural understanding alongside clinical competence and carries these values into the communities I serve."
Huerta grew up in Illinois and chose HPU for its values of aloha, pono and kuleana, wanting to immerse herself in a community where those values are part of everyday life and service. Studying nursing in Hawaiʻi transformed how she understands health care.
"Living and learning in a culture different from my own introduced me to the importance of applying values such as mālama (care) and pono (righteousness) to my journey of public service," Huerta said.
Huerta called the Voyager Scholarship life-changing, saying it has shown her that no goal is out of reach when it is rooted in lifting others up and filling gaps in communities.
"This scholarship provides me with the tools and opportunities to pursue my dream of serving others around the world," she said. "It has also deepened my understanding that meaningful service begins with listening and learning from the communities we hope to serve, understanding their culture, their needs and the ways they are most receptive to support. Being an Obama-Chesky Voyager has opened the door to possibilities I once only dreamed about, and I am excited to see how this journey will shape me as a future nurse and health care advocate."
After graduation, Huerta plans to keep traveling and learning from other cultures while expanding her health care advocacy internationally.
"As a future health care professional and advocate, I hope to serve communities that experience barriers to accessible health care and use my experiences and knowledge to help bridge gaps in care," she said. "I am very grateful to be part of the HPU community and excited to see where this journey takes me."
Click here to meet the 2026-28 Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholars.
