Author: Jazmyne Pennington

Kaira Verdugo is a 19-year-old Natural Sciences major from Honolulu. She plans to pursue a degree in Forensics after graduating from KCC.

“I like the fact that I could bring closure to families, if something bad were to happen,” she said.

After high school, Verdugo took a year off and went to Guam, where she worked with her uncle at his business consulting firm. She decided that she wasn’t interested in that career path and returned to O‘ahu to enroll at Kapi‘olani Community College.

In her free time, Verdugo likes to do karate, read, and watch Netflix.

Loreto Mendoza Jr. is a 25-year-old from Maui and is currently in the Respiratory Care Program at Kapiolani Community College.

After graduating high school, Mendoza was a combat engineer in the U.S. Marine Corps. He specialized in working with explosives and urban breaching. In 2014, Mendoza deployed to Afghanistan with a B billet as a 240 Bravo machine gunner.

Mendoza enjoys the Respiratory program because of the opportunity to work with people.