by Emily Saka

The 2008-2009 school year has already brought very noticeable change to campus, with the remodeling of the front of the Castle Building and the new statue of Sun Yat-Sen just beyond Castle’s new steps.

Students returning to school back in Au-gust greeted the renovations with mixed feelings. Some thought the fresher, con-temporary look was a welcome change to the building and the cam-pus feel as a whole, while others were con-cerned that it wasn’t a practical investment for tuition dollars.

However, what most students neglect-ed to consider was the functional purpose for the renovation. Headmaster Dr. Val Iwashita encourages students to think about the prac-ticality of the changes instead of looking at the reconstruction on purely aesthetic terms.

He says that the planning for the Castle Building changes and the Sun Yat-Sen stat-ue both began about three years ago, back when the economy was in better shape. The decision to remodel Castle came about after

looking at the limited space for seventh and eighth graders to hang out on campus.

“The I-Building courtyard was congested and hard to get through,” Dr. Iwashita said. By moving seventh and eighth grade lock-ers to the front of Castle and then expanding the stairwell to add extra hang out spots, the problem of the crowded courtyard has begun to resolve itself.

“It was a matter of creating more com-fortable places,” Dr. Iwashita said. Plans to add more shade to the reconstructed area are currently in progress.

The Sun Yat-Sen statue was a different kind of project because it was made possible by a grant from Mr. David Ai and the Sun Yat-Sen Foundation. David Ai,

an ‘Iolani ’72 alumnus, is the grandson of Mr. Stephen Ai, who was a classmate of Sun Yat-Sen’s and one of Sun Yat-Sen’s financial supporters.

Sun Yat-Sen had a key role in overthrow-ing the Qing Dynasty in China in 1911 and ending imperial rule in the country.

Continued on page 12.

Imua Iolania voice for students

since

1923

November 27, 2008 vol. 84, Issue 4 HoNolulu, HawaII

‘No repair date for damaged playgroundby CriStin lim

Though most upper school students have outgrown the play-ground, this isn’t true for all of them. Over the years, some have commonly been seen on the play structure. On Sept. 25, the night of the grades 10-12 Open House, moderate damage was done to the playground adjacent to the tennis courts. The spiral slide, though made out of heavy plastic, was cracked and bent.

“It’s a natural instinct for kids to like playgrounds, and we’re still kids,” said junior Miranda Linsky. There is no set date for the repair of the playground. This damage, allegedly caused by high school students, led the adminis-

tration to ban all upper schoolers from the playground.

Enraged students felt unfairly targeted and blamed for the dam-ages, and questioned the adminis-tration’s decision for the ban.

“I think it’s fair in the sense of being a punishment,” said junior Robert Moran.

According to Mr. Tate Brown, Dean of Students, the playground equipment is not intended for upper schoolers; it is designed for young children. When older students play on the playground, younger ones are intimidated and feel discouraged from using it.

“If you are really upset by this whole situation,” Mr. Brown said, “Help us figure out who really did the damage.”

Aesthetics, Athletics, and Academics

Inside:Election recap - 3XC states - 4Alumni return to teach - 6, 7Indonesian visitors - 12

IndexEditorials--2&3Sports--4&5A&E--8Lower School--10Middle School--11Features--12

Amelia Linsky | Imua ‘IolaniThere is no set date for the repair of the spiral slide, which was damaged on September 25.

Amelia Linsky | Imua ‘IolaniThe remodeled Castle Building provides a more comfortable space for middle school students.

‘Lost’ star visits - 12Photo courtesy of Mrs. Cathy Lee Chong

Where does ourtuition go?

Part 1: Aesthetics

Page 2 Editorials Imua ‘Iolani

Killing for coconuts: What if an AP Government class was stranded on a tropical island with limited resources? Mr. Woodie Milks III proposed this hypothetical situation to get his students thinking about government’s purpose and function.Civility must prevailby AyeshA CoorAy

      What  started  off  as  a  class  exercise 

soon evolved into a full-fledged debate. From appropriating how many coconuts we could each consume per day, we soon argued heatedly over whether or not we would kill someone if they violated the rules or if they stole from the group.

A majority of the class argued that kill-ing would indeed be necessary because of the dire situation: lack of just one resource could induce the hysteria and paranoia such a vile act would require.

In my opinion, that situation is unlikely to occur considering that there are under twenty people in an AP Government class. It is unlikely that we would separate into factions and compete for resources but more likely that we would attempt coop-eration and thus ensure survival.

In a small group, any sort of resource conflict would merely be verbal albeit heated. If a person noticed another steal-ing, that person would probably complain to the others and discuss possible plans of action. Any sort of confrontation would occur with the majority confronting an individual, who would likely succumb to peer pressure since not many alternatives would exist.

Besides, this isn’t “LOST”: if twenty college-bound seniors, bursting with so-called potential, had been lost in an air-plane crash, the media would have a field day.

No company would want to be publicly

responsible for the possible death of twen-ty students and thus much effort would be put forth to find us. Through the marvels of modern technology and mapping, we would eventually be found.

This belief that someone would find us would weigh on our minds as we lay stranded; if we killed someone and were then rescued, we would have to face the societal consequences of the crime.

Furthermore, we would be traveling on a commercial airline so we wouldn’t have any modern weapons. Killing someone would require brute strength and not be as physically easy as pulling a trigger.

Do my classmates really believe they could beat someone death with a tree branch, endur-ing screams of pain? If so, I don’t think they should be so quick to devalue their humanity.

Operating under the belief that someone would find us would ensure some rationality even in face of resource conflict. If we knew we would be res-cued, we would take ad-vantage of our situation.

Stranded on an island with limited food and wa-ter? Think what a college essay that would make.

      

The fittest will surviveby MAile sCArpino

The  island discussion  left many of  the AP Gov students stranded between two op-posing opinions.  

Call  me  selfish,  but  if  our  class  was starving, I wouldn’t share the complemen-tary peanuts I saved from the plane flight, or rather plane crash.  What about “LOST”?  One  doesn’t  exactly  think  of  fuzzy  bun-nies  and  rainbows  when  this TV  show  is brought  into  discussion.    The  characters are constantly arguing and making allianc-es, which are broken, then re-instated, and then broken again due to the fact that trust amongst the strandees is non-existent.  

It’s  obvious  that  everyone  is  out  for themselves;  the  people  who  aren’t  would be the first to go.  Keep in mind that nice and  naive  people  are  often  the  ones  who suffer  most;  those  who  aim  to  please  are often  deceived,  because  they  are  easily manipulated.  This is why individuals be-come  rough  and  secretive,  as  seen  in  the reality TV series “Survivor.”   

As human beings, the philosophy of sur-vival of the fittest has been hardwired into our making.   Of course, we wouldn’t kill each other over a parking place because it isn’t a life threatening or altering matter.  

But  food,  shelter  and  health  are  criti-cal commodities to survival.  I would take 

whatever actions were necessary to keep my-self alive. 

Yes,  I  would  even commit  murder.  If you  were  tired,  hun-gry,  possibly  suffer-ing  from  malaria  and a  classmate  is  doing any  of  the  following: stealing  food,  being lazy, but still demand-ing  the  same  rights and property as others, acting violent, making threats,  going  crazy, or  snoring  REALLY LOUDLY,  I’m  sure you  would  resort  to killing, too.  

Illus

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by seAn yAnCey

Hearty congratulations  to Presi-dent-elect  Barack  Obama.  The election  of  the  first  African-American man into the office of the presidency just goes to  show  America’s  par-

ticular knack at reinvention.  The polls weren’t wrong after all.  There was 

no  “Bradley  Effect”  and  perhaps  in  its  place was something  the media dubbed  the “Buffett Effect,”  in  which  white  men  told  their  conser-vative buddies they were voting for McCain and instead voted for Obama. In fact, a higher percent-age of white men  voted for Obama than any Democrat since Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton included. 

Racism may not be over, but maybe as a country we can move past race and towards cultural, socio-economic and even ideological differences, which constitute reality rather than abstract bigotry. Obama only had 52 percent of the popular vote, but the election represents realignment, even if it is temporary. 

Even hardcore Republican states such as Indiana, home of NASCAR, which hasn’t  gone blue  since 1964,  voted for Obama. 

America  is  hardly  a  perfect  union,  but  the  election proves to Americans as well as the rest of the world that we are at least receptive to a proponent of change, aspiring to do better than what came before.

Let’s not forget about the other players and the down-

ballot races. Needless to say, after eight years of Bush’s un-popular leadership the GOP was fighting the perfect storm.  Palin’s polarizing war of “real America” versus the “other America” saved  the  Republi-

c a n  b a s e but  destroyed  the  moderate support for which McCain was famous. With the senate elections still in the air, the Democrats even have a smidge of pos-sibility of obtaining the 60 seats necessary for a filibuster-proof majority.

Now  for  the caveats  and  recommendations  that  arose from the election: first, beware of unified government. His-tory shows that during those periods when the same party controls both Congress and the White House, regardless of party, expenditure skyrockets.  When bills pass a divided government it is usually in the form of lasting legislature because it requires bipartisan support; this is in stark con-trast to the easy and numberless bills that can pass through 

unified government.Second:  I  fear  that Obama’s core beliefs are different 

from his moderate-sounding campaign rhetoric. His vot-ing record and long-term relationships suggest that he will dramatically  increase  domestic  spending.  Obama  said, “Spend now, and scrimp later.” Way to throw the deficit on 

the up-and-coming generation.Third: with the economic crisis the government has and will  take an  increasingly heavy hand in 

the private sector. Support for free market fun-damentalism has dropped sharply if not disap-peared altogether in most people. Expect more attacks on capitalism across the board for bet-ter or worse.

Fourth: Obama said  that  spending such be “cut with a scalpel, not a hatchet.” But he’s got 

to get it under control. Bring home troops and cut the military budget. Any non-defense budget waste  

must be excised as well. Apart  from  the  symbolism  of  the  Obama  presidency, 

there is the matter of governing well. Over the next four years we will witness recession, and hopefully recovery. But  no  matter  what  happens,  expect  a  bout  of  amnesia from our friends in D.C. as a new party takes control and a  continuing battle  between  right  and  left when  a  better point of view is one between control and choice.

Everyone’s  eyes  are  set  on  Mr.  Obama.  No  doubt  he is a landmark president, but the conditions are perfect to give  him  a  shot  at  being  a  truly  “great”  president. And right  now,  with  the  country’s  crumbling  economy  and deteriorated  image  around  the  world, Americans  need  a president  to  rebuild. As  the columnist  for  the New York Times Thomas Friedman stated, “The Civil War  is over. Let Reconstruction begin.” 

‘Racism may not be over, but maybe as a

country we can move past race and towards cultural, socio-economic, and

even ideological differences, which constitute reality rather than

abstract bigotry.’

Cautious good luck to Obama

November 27, 2008 Editorials Page 3

A blast from the past Creative teaching benefits all

By Katrina Karl

Oh, silly Imua staff, you’re thinking. What have you done now?

Obviously, we’ve resurfaced an editorial from a student that some of ‘Iolani would rather not re-member or become acquainted with.

Little has changed since 2000, both with adoles-cence and our school. Sure, we now have a more di-verse student body than I ever saw as a lower school student not too many years ago, and two Sun Yat-sen statues (easy there, ‘Iolani). But for the most part, ‘Iolani is what it always has been—a respected college preparatory school “committed to upholding its legacy of academic, artistic, and athletic excel-lence,” as our website will tell you. As Mr. Knox wrote eight years ago, ‘Iolani is indeed a shelter from adolescence, a time I’ll be glad to say good riddance to as well.

“’Iolani is outstanding at teaching kids academic fundamentals,” Mr. Knox said in an e-mail inter-view. “If you just indulge your inner nerd, ‘Iolani can be paradise.”

‘Iolani is most certainly paradise when that’s what you insist on making it. But what is ‘Iolani for those who are less sure of where they fit into the academic environment?

Although ‘Iolani aims to promote academic and intellectual growth, the school often has few solu-tions for students whose learning styles do not fit into expected molds.

“I fault ‘Iolani for doing too little to reach out to those of us on fringes: academically, athletical-ly, and so forth,” Knox said. “There was a lot of sighing and head-shaking, but not a lot of creative solutions.”

Current ‘Iolani student Sean Scott ’09 put it plainly: “’Iolani is geared toward a certain type of learning and people are expected to conform to it,” he said.

All the Smartboards and sighs in the world will not solve an inability to address different learning styles, or learning in general.

At a high school level, learning should be about teaching students how to learn rather than force-feeding content. Granted, some subjects inherently

lend themselves to ensuring that there is meaning behind course material and that students with differ-ent intelligences can learn effectively. No, I’m not going to attack any specific subjects, in part because of my extreme, borderline-ridiculous biases (Ayesha Cooray and I have a theory that math doesn’t ex-ist. And no, that is absolutely not a joke). Every-one learns differently and does their best in different subjects.

Scott thinks that the history department best ad-dresses different learning styles. “They apply more real-world experience to the subject,” he said.

In my opinion, the language department at ‘Iolani best recognizes multiple intelligence, largely due to the fact that language learning in general necessi-tates multiple teaching techniques.

French teacher Mrs. Catherine Pettit, for exam-ple, teaches various strategies to help students learn a new language for the first time. By having stu-dents learn French through everything from songs, play-acting, and exaggerating different sounds to preparing poster boards, delivering presentations, and working individually, in pairs, and in groups, Pettit ensures that she addresses different learning styles and that different types of students can be successful.

Mrs. Pettit feels that the purpose of learning in high school goes beyond success in individual courses. I’m sure that all teachers want to ensure that students can learn effectively in their classes and beyond. Sometimes sighing and head-shaking do not even occur, though—“problems” with learn-ing are met with offense in the worst cases. Dif-ferent learning styles need to be acknowledged and accommodated in all subjects, not just in those that naturally lend themselves to many methods of teach-ing. Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory outlines different types of intelligences (linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial-visual, interpersonal, and intrapersonal) and the specific capabilities they give people. Simple, creative teaching methods like those Pettit and other teachers utilize can easily be applied to other sub-jects without drastically changing lesson plans. If nothing ever changes, students “on fringes” will be fated to accept mediocrity and remain overlooked.

By Edward Knox ‘00

I’m not sure why I’m writ-ing this little passage. I’ve never been accused of being wise. Well, sometimes a wise-ass, but never just wise. And this isn’t as fun to write without the stuff with the –ass suffix attached. Maybe it’ll come to me before I’m through.

I think I might have survived adolescence. Not everyone I know did, figuratively and liter-ally. Any adult who tells you that high school was the time of their life must be living in hell. But I’ve passed through purgatory now.

You grow up awk-ward and ugly, wanting to do ev-erything you can’t, and you regret them after you’ve done them. Our culture defies teenagers. They find all 10 of them with perfect skin and pearly teeth and give them movie contracts. I say good riddance to my teenage years.

You sit there, cynical as hell. In the back of your head, you think it’s cool how cynical you are, but you repress it because thinking you’re cool isn’t cool. You actu-ally care about being cool, about what people think of you. Yet I digress. You sit there and watch all of these poor people living in this static and inconsequential world. Maybe if life weren’t so certain, unseen virtues would just appear in people you never gave a second thought to. But the irony is that a population full of me-diocre people, fussing over brand names and if they’re cool or not, is infinitely better than millions of starving heroes. Why do you care?

So after you get over the inher-

ent pointlessness of the exercise, you look at these poor people, es-pecially the ones your age . He’s an idiot, but a really nice guy. She has the most potential out of almost everyone you know, and now they found she has a condi-tion. He was the happiest and most carefree person you ever met, and now he’s dead. You loved her, but she never loved you back. Oh

wait, that’s your prob-lem, not hers. Well, he’s your best friend, but his life is going nowhere. He’s an inspiration of wit and charm, but he’ll drink himself to death pretty soon. She has it all together, and has no clue. She wants some-thing more out of life

than Saturday night at a karaoke bar when she’s 25, but you don’t know if she’ll ever have the cour-age to break out of the quiet shel-ter of ‘Iolani. I can’t help but shake my head so softly as not to be noticed every time I hear an ‘Iolani kid wanting to go out and be a badass, do all the cool things and spurn the shelter. They sound like I did, mocking the safety from the outside world, wanting to be a starving hero, but never really expecting to starve. I grew up relatively unsheltered because the circles I ran with weren’t con-nected to ‘Iolani. Perhaps by chance I made it through where a few of my friends didn’t. You won’t believe me, so ask any of the other few kids graduating this year whose friends similar fates befell. (I sound like I’m writing in old English.)

Adolescence is something to be survived. It’s a storm and you’re out there on a raft. If you can find a little shelter in a place like ‘Iolani, be happy for it.

After graduating from ‘Iolani in 2000, Edward Knox went on to earn a degree in history from American University. After college, Knox taught English in Vietnam and joined the Peace Corps, which took him to to the Philippines. Knox currently works doing economic research for his father and is starting to write free-lance for local magazines.

Photo from 2000 Ka Mo’olelo O ‘Iolani.

Spirit prevails over rigid dress codeBy tiana BohnEr

“You’re lucky if you even have dress days next year,” a se-nior told me in astonishment as she saw fellow classmates walk-ing around on Halloween. The school dress code was clearly thrown out the window during that spirited homecoming week. But that’s just it. It was all in the name of spirit.

Other times, students’ cos-tumes were not improved by be-ing out of dress code, which forc-es us to realize that there is a line where spirit ends and abusing the privilege begins.

Now it’s just determining whether or not the flouting of the school dress code was necessary.

Of course, no one could help but notice how explicitly some students broke the dress code. Yes, they were punished or at least given a warning. But why? Many people’s costumes, though not abiding by school regulation,

were in good humor, and raised our spirits. The costumes offered students laughs and entertain-ment, which only raised people’s spirits and excitement.

Sometimes exceptions need to be made to the rules. For example, during homecoming week, stu-dents who cross-dress in good taste should not be punished. If their costume is wholesome and the student isn’t wearing something sug-gestive, then why give them detention for be-ing spirited?

You also cannot completely blame the creative students who are always trying to make the most of each dress day. If we are giv-en a Country day, then the thought of wearing overalls will cross many minds. Most will probably reconsider

and opt for a more conservative choice like a plaid shirt and jeans. The excitement for the day is then limited as we remember the catch to all of this- stay in dress code. The next day the theme is reggae.

This only raises more controversy as students try to think outside of

the box of simply wearing red, green and yellow. Then the line becomes vague as students are told they cannot wear shirts with faces on them. Don’t get me wrong, I understand this rule and

agree, knowing that wear-ing a shirt with blackface promotes racism and dis-graces both the school and the student. But does that mean that all faces are off limits, including the leg-endary reggae artist, Bob Marley’s?

On the other hand, many students did take advantage of the dress days, coming to school scantily clad and claiming that it was the only way their costume could be worn. In this case, dress days are not an excuse to don a racy outfit which you planned on wearing to

a Halloween party to school. For those of you who did dress

improperly, keep in mind that there’s always a way to stay in dress code while still maintaining the look you were going for.

To an extent, the rules need to become more flexible during homecoming week, as should the teachers because for the most part it is their in their discretion, whether or not a student receives detention.

It is also necessary for the rules to be explained more thor-oughly to students and the faculty so that everyone knows, without a doubt, what will not be toler-ated and what will be universally acceptable.

As director of Sudent Activ-ites, Mr. Kirk Uejio explained, “Dress days are the visual mani-festation of school spirit.” Just keep in mind that dress days come around only once a year for a week, so take advantage of the privilege, and enjoy those spirited days, but don’t get crazy.

Courtney Ochi | Imua `IolaniMany students compromised the dress code to enthusiastically show their school spirit.

A reprint from `Imua Iolani May 2000

Page 4 SportS Imua ‘Iolani

Cross Country States: ups and downsBy Katherine Lum

The girls came home pleased about getting fourth place while boys returned with third.

‘Iolani’s girls’ and boys’ cross country teams traveled to the Big Island to compete in the state championships on Oct. 31. The state meet took place at Hawaii Pacific Academy, and the course was a tough one.

“It was the hardest course I’ve ever run,” junior Phoebe Jordan said. After running the steepest hill twice, “girls passed out and threw up at the top. Four out of the seven ‘Iolani girls basically had to walk up the second time.”

In the girls’ race, Punahou took first, Sea-bury Hall second and Kamehameha third, fol-lowed by ‘Iolani. In the boys’ race, Leilehua came in first, Kamehameha took second and

‘Iolani took third.“We had a shot at first,”

said Mr. James Rubasch, the boys’ cross country coach for the past twelve years. “If the boys ran as well as they did at ILH championships, they would have had it.”

The boys’ team won first at ILH championships at Central Oahu Regional Park (CORP) on Oct. 25 with ‘Iolani’s first five runners in the top ten.

“You can’t base the whole season on one meet, though,” Mr. Rubasch said.

On the boys’ team were Ty-ler Mulloy ‘09, Troy Esaki ‘12, Justin Higa ‘11, Andrew Ellison ‘10, Kasey Chun ‘12, Robert Ta-mai ‘09, and Borys P l e s k a c z ‘11.

Sopho-more Ples-kacz is known to run a fast race. At ILH championships, Pleskacz placed eighth over-all and was the third Raider

finisher. At state championships, he didn’t run his usual race, finishing 196th out of 197 runners.

“We all ran to the best of our abilities given the conditions,” junior An-drew Ellison said. “Next year we will win.”

Robert Tamai, one of the team’s captains, said that he was proud of the team and that the effort showed. He added, “Although it didn’t turn out the way we

expected, we still had a good season.”As for the girls’ team, they returned home

with well-deserved success from the Big Island.

On the girls’ team were Jenna Wong ’10, Leyna Esaki ’09, Maile Scarpino ’09, Valerie Pyun ’11, Elysse Tom ’09, Phoebe Jordan ’10 and Rachael Mintzlaff ’10.

Miranda Linsky ‘10, a junior varsity run-ner this past season, went with the team to the Big Island for the meet.

At the beginning of the season, Mr. Chester Blanton, the girls’ head coach, better known as Chet the Jet, said that the team had a good chance at winning states. A series of injuries made the season a difficult one and lessened expectations for states.

After hoping to place sixth, a fourth-place finish was “miraculous,” Linsky said, adding that the “much harder battle” meant that “in the end [they] were prouder.”

Kayaking falls short of goals

By Jana DagDagan

On Nov. 8, the ‘Iolani Kayak-ing Team competed in the ILH Varsity Championships. For three years, the girls’ team has won three consecutive champi-onships. Unfortunately, they fell just short of that this year and received second.

“It was a little disappointing, but we had a really good sea-son,” said senior Hannah Smith. The kayakers remained optimis-tic despite the results.

“We finally got some new people on our team!” exclaimed Giulia Anderson ‘09.

Both Smith and Anderson have been on the kayaking team since they were freshmen, and had experienced victory in the

championships year after year. However, these girls, as well

as other kayakers, remain deter-mined and understand that kaya-king is not only a sport. It is also supposed to be fun!

“Our loss didn’t really af-fect us, because we are basically here to have fun. I think it’s all about the experience and the team spirit,” said junior Webster Ross.

“It was still a good year, and we did pretty well as a team,” added sophomore Logan Nowack.

Although this past kayaking season was not as successful as in past years, these athletes are readystill fired up for the next kayaking season.

Unsung heroes: the offensive linemen

By niKLas streng

In the game of football it is said that, “Defense wins champi-onships, and offense fills seats.” Those seats are filled so the fans can see their home team score vast amounts of points on the opposing team.

The trenches of the line of scrimmage hold a group of young men who bring the glory of the offense into full view. ‘Io-lani Raiders’, the five offensive linemen hold the entire offense on their shoulders.

The self proclaimed “Hog-gies” are coached by Mr. Samuel Cropsey. Mr. Cropsey, an ‘Io-lani math teacher, played on the offensive line for his entire foot-ball career.

For those of you who do not know much about at all, the of-fensive linemen are the guys on the field that snap the ball to the quarterback. They also double as the main blockers for a good majority of the defensive attacks that could potentially put the ball carrier in trouble.

The job of offensive lineman comes with a lot of responsibil-ity. This also comes along with a lot of “tough love” and “con-structive criticism” from coach Wendell Look. As wonderful as

being an offensive lineman can seem, it is not all doughnuts and coffee. The offensive line comes without its fame and glory.

In newspapers, you can read articles about the “Former Uni-versity of Hawaii Quarterback” Colt Brennan, “Hawaii’s Num-ber One College Prospect” Man-ti Te’o or even “Former Junior Varsity Quarterback Coming Back to Win Division 1 State Title” Andrew Manley. You will never see a newspaper article about Alan Faneca, Al Lolotai, or how John Madden used to play offensive line. The point is that the responsibility of the of-fensive line comes without the glory of all the other positions in football.

So this brings the question, “Why play on the offensive line?” The answer to this ques-tion is simple. Players like Jori-dan Sele ‘09, Daniel Mitchell ‘09, Jordan Tacon ‘09, Mark Rulona ‘09, Chris Geiger ‘10, Michael Thomas ‘10, Grant Yo-nemoto ‘10, Tiras Koon ‘11, and Ryo Chow ‘11, among others, will say that they didn’t join the ‘Iolani Raiders football team for the glory, for the articles in the paper, or to be a “Gamebreaker” every week in the Tuesday edi-tion of the Honolulu Advertiser.

These young men are offen-sive linemen because they love their team and are willing to bow their heads to see their team per-form well on the field.

Bianca Bystrom | Imua IolaniThe offensive linemen battle with the opposing defense.

“We all ran to the best of our

abilities”

Photo Courtesy of Mrs. Beth MulloyTyler Mulloy ‘09, Troy Esaki ‘12, Andew Ellison ‘10, and Justin Higa’11 run to the finish.

Nicole Peltzer | Imua ‘IolaniKimberlee Souza ‘11 paddled her way to third place in the sprints at the ILH kayaking championships.

Katherine Lum | Imua IolaniJenna Wong ‘10 leads the pack of runners in the state cross country meet.

The ‘Iolani girls volleyball team battled throughout the year, beating top-seeded Kamehameha, hosting the annual Ann Kang Volleyball Invita-tional, and traveling to Las Vegas to play in the Durango High School Fall Classic Tournament. While the Raiders used a mix of different players of all ages to their success, a core of seniors led the team to a great season.

After playing volleyball for four years, Kelli Ching decided to bowl during her junior year. For her final year at ‘Iolani, Ching returned to vol-leyball, playing mostly as a backup de-fensive specialist or outside hitter.

“When the team needed a back row player to make a pass, dig, or a serve, [Kelli] got the job done,” varsity Head Coach Jenic Tumaneng said.

Ching’s most memorable mo-ment this season was the victory over Kamehameha.

“It’s an indescribable feeling,” she said of the upset which gave ‘Iolani a shared spot atop the ILH standings.

Ching hopes to attend the Univer-sity of Redlands next year and wants to major in elementary education. She hopes to continue playing volleyball either on the club or Division III level.

***Jana Tokuhama served as the

team’s libero for the past two years. Tokuhama’s play earned her a spot on the 2007 All-State Second Team, the 2007 ILH First Team, and the 2008 ILH Second Team. She was one of the starting six who led ‘Iolani to a second place finishing last year in the state tournament.

“Jana is like a sponge,” Tumaneng said. “She will gather a lot of informa-tion in doing the skill or playing the game.”

While Tokuhama still is not sure about where she wants to attend col-lege next year, she doesn’t think vol-leyball will be a part of her agenda.

“Perhaps softball, but the possibili-ties are endless,” she said.

***After red-shirting her freshmen sea-

son, Chelsea Hardin took over a start-ing role as one of the Raiders’ starting middle blockers. However, it was not until this year that Hardin made the transition to a new position as the right side hitter, playing in the back row.

“She did her best to adapt to the changes of that position, and worked really hard to understand the duties that I expected,” Tumaneng said.

Hardin took this challenge in prepa-ration for college, where she will play on the outside due to her 5’11” height.

Hardin was on the Star Bulletin’s 2007 Fab 15, as well as two ILH first team selections. She counts the victory over Kamehameha during her junior year as a fond memory.

“Last year was more intense,” she said. The three-game win made ‘Iolani the ILH first round winners.

Hardin signed her national letter of intent on Nov. 12, committing to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

***After suffering her first knee injury

in the eighth grade, Kelly Pang re-turned as a freshman and earned a spot on the all-state first team as a libero.

But subsequent reinjuries largely limited her playing during her sopho-more and junior years, until the last home game of her senior season.

In front of a raucous crowd attend-ing Senior Night in the Lower Gym, Pang contributed as a defensive special-ist on her first game back, a day after she received the clear-ance to play.

“It was unexpected and nice,” Pang said. “It was really good to be back.”

Pang controlled the back row as the team’s libero during the ILH second round match against Mid-

Pac. She hopes to attend Northwestern University next fall.

“Kelly would be a steal for a colle-giate team that decides to pick her up,” Tumaneng said.

Although she is unsure about par-ticipating in volleyball next year, Pang still wants to continue playing volley-ball at the club level.

***Middle blocker I’ishah Keli’ikoa

has played with success during her career at ‘Iolani. Combined, Keli’ikoa and Hardin have an overall record of 97 wins and 19 losses.

“They both did their best to lead the team and set high standards for the un-derclassmen,” Tumaneng said.

Keli’ikoa was a middle at ‘Iolani, but she used to set. Her best moment from this season came in a three game win against the Warriors.

“We went to Kamehameha, and we knew it was going to be a hard match,” she said. “We worked hard and came up with a big win.”

Keli’ikoa hopes to attend Oregon State University next fall and continue her volleyball career there.

***Despite fighting to ward off a 2-1

deficit against Kamehameha, the Raid-ers ended their season after losing the fifth set. Although the five seniors won’t get to wear their ‘Iolani jersey again in the lower gym, their impact was felt throughout the year.

On Sept. 1, ‘Iolani graduate Kila Ka’aihue was called up un-expectedly to play for the Kansas City Royals.

Ka’aihue entered ‘Iolani School in seventh grade and was followed by his younger brother Kala. Ka’aihue played intermedi-ate baseball in seventh and eighth grade and then went on to play at the varsity level for four more years.

Throughout his varsity career, Ka’aihue predominantly played first base. As he began to devel-op, he became a threat at the plate and a vacuum at first base.

“He was always an aggressive hitter,” Raider Assistant Coach Kevin Ing said in a telephone interview.

Throughout his high school career, Ka’aihue earned many honors and was always a well-re-

spected athlete. He was drafted in 2002 in the

fifteenth round to the Kansas City Royals, according to an article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, which also reported that Ka’aihue had been called up. Straight out of high school, Ka’aihue spent six years in the minor leagues play-ing for teams in the Royals’ farm club system.

It has been a long and arduous journey; however all of his hard work paid off as he was called up to play with the “Big Boys.”

Since there were already three first basemen strings in front of him, Ka’aihue did not receive as much playing time initially. But as a rookie, when he was asked to perform, Ka’aihue did excep-tionally well for his first season in the majors, ending the regular season with a batting average of .286 with one home run and one RBI, according to an article on

royals.com. Even though the Royals

haven’t been too successful in re-cent years, Ka’aihue will contin-ue to get the opportunity display his talents and fulfill his dream of living the life of a professional baseball player.

November 27, 2008 SportS Page 5

Cheerleaders flying high

Alumnus makes big showBy Alton Choy

By Reyn nAgAmine

What is that loud bubbly force gracing the football sidelines? Besides tumbling, they are expert jugglers, holding an average GPA of 4.0 in courses including AP Bi-ology, calculus, French, econom-ics, and psychology.

They are the ‘Iolani cheerlead-ers--a small squad with high octane spirit and brains to boot.

In addition to dancing and cheer-ing, these girls perform dangerous stunts that require tougher than average neurons. This results from practice every day like most ‘Iolani teams have worries about injuries, grades, and college ad-mission. To perform stunts, ev-ery cheerleader needs to be strong and have steely nerves with some gymnastic ability.

Senior captain Melissa Lee is the solo flyer for the squad.

“I’ve never been seriously in-jured,” Lee said, “but I’ve been dropped a lot.”

At the ‘Iolani Cheerleading Invitational on Nov. 3, Lee went from an aerial dismount (a jump to return to the floor after a stunt) into a back flip. Aside from fly-

ing, Lee can tumble across the blue mats like Olympic medalist Shawn Johnson. From

a simple cartwheel, she back flipped in mid-air tucking her knees to her chest.

More of the squad’s fantastic stunts are on display at football games.

“I know people don’t think it’s hard,” but it is, Lee said. She added, “It’s really fun.”

Volleyball: Tough match ends senior seasonBy tyleR yAmAmoto By JAnA tokuhAmA

2002 Ka Mo’olelo O ‘IolaniKila Ka’aihue’s senior year book photo. He was drafted right after high school to the Royals.

After a rough first round, the girls varsity vol-leyball team was eager to play Kamehameha in the semi-finals of the ILH second round play-offs. Coming off of a three-game victory over the Mid-Pac Owls, they were ready to take on the defend-ing state champions, whom they had beaten in an exciting match earlier in the season.

On Oct. 21, in front of a full Lower Gym, the Raiders fell after a spirited back-and-forth five-game battle.

During the first set, the Raiders got to a quick start, ahead 8-3. With the help of several Kame-hameha service errors, they hung on to that lead, and quickly won the first game, 25-18. However, the Warriors came fighting during the next set, and battled off two Iolani set points to win the second game, 25-27.

With the match tied, the Raiders and Warriors came out fighting in the third set. Down 17-23 at one point, the ‘Iolani girls pushed and came back to within one point, before losing the third game, 23-25. Kamehameha up two games to one, the Raiders came off with a strong start in the fourth game. Fueled by two 6-point service runs, ‘Iolani quickly won the fourth set, 25-19.

As the fate of the match depended on the result of the first-to-fifteen fifth game, the tension in the gym rose and both sides raucously cheered on their schools. However, the Warriors got to a quick 5-0 lead. An ‘Iolani 4-point run proved insufficient, and Kamehameha won the final game 11-15.

I’ishah Keliikoa ‘09 led the Raiders with 17 kills, while Mahina Haina ‘10 added 14 and Chel-sea Hardin ‘09 had 10 with several timely blocks. Setter Malie Yoon ‘10 had an impressive 46 assists with 2 aces. Despite these great offensive stats and a tough defense, Kamehameha still topped ‘Iolani, ending their season without a chance to go to the State Tournament.

“We did well throughout the first four games, but the last set, we waited too long to come back,” freshman Ashlee Asada said.

Overall, however, the 2008 season was a memorable and exciting one for the coaches and players alike. From the Ann Kang preseason tour-nament to their last game, the ‘Iolani Girls Varsity Volleyball Team enjoyed the game and grew as players and friends. Bianca Bystrom | Imua ‘Iolani

The team cheers before beginning a match.

Spirit and brains to boot

By Tawni Murphy

During any period of the day, the SAO is always filled with a sociable atmosphere. Every day in the SAO, you can always find `Iolani alumni and member of the 1998 Hawaii State Boys Basketball Champion Team who came back to `Iolani School to be Student Activities Director.

During his senior year of high school, Mr. Kirk Uejio was not only the player who forced overtime in the champi-onship game, but he was also named 1998 Hawaii State Player of the Year.

“I learned a lot. I didn’t feel like the best, but I did feel like the leader,” Mr. Uejio said.

After graduating in 1998, Mr. Uejio attended Cla-remont-McKenna College in California. Although Mr. Uejio was supposed to continue playing basketball during college, he decided to quit in his sophomore year.

“I don’t regret quitting,” Mr. Uejio said. “I was becom-ing really burnt out and it just wasn’t fun anymore. So my coach asked me what was wrong, and I told him that it just wasn’t fun anymore, and he told me that maybe I should quit.”

After returning to the islands, Mr. Uejio taught math at Saint Andrew’s Priory for a year. In the summer of 2003, Mr. Uejio formally accepted an offer from `Iolani to be the Student Activities Director.

“I think that Mr. Takayesu would be one of the most influential people that I met while at `Iolani because he was the one that told me about the job position,” Mr. Uejio said.

“I called him one day and left him a mes-sage saying that the position of SAO Direc-tor was open and that I thought he would be a good candidate for it,” Mr. Takayesu said. “He was always a quiet student who seemed to blend in with the rest of the class because he didn’t cause trouble.”

Outside, students pass by the SAO, greet-

ing Mr. U. and then continuing on with their conversations. “The student body seems like it has become more di-

verse. And the same thing goes for the adult personnel here,” Mr. Uejio said, reflecting back

on the dif-f e r -

ence between now and when he was a student. “When I was here, there was a different college counseling director as well as a different Dean of Students. Mr. Brown was actually one of my teachers here.”

“Kirk was kind of like the dream student; he was inter-ested in everything,” says Mr. Brown, who was Mr. Uejio’s

history teacher and is currently the Dean of Students. “His enthusiastic attitude was able to spread throughout the whole class, which

created a positive attitude. He was the one that I would always be able to rely on to help with anything. He was different than he is now. He

wasn’t the guy with the crazy personality that he has now.”

As Student Activities Director, Mr. Uejio gets to know almost every student in the upper school whether

it is from his sophomore leadership class or just by stop-ping in to say hi.

“The students would definitely have to be the best thing about working here,” Mr. Uejio said with a smile. “I get to hang with the best students, at the best school, in the best state, in the best nation in the world.”

But although he gets to know everyone, the hardest thing for him is that he has to say goodbye at the end of the year.

“Starting over would have to be the hardest thing. After I finally get to know everyone, the year is end-

ing. It’s especially hard with the senior class. Hav-ing to say goodbye to them is hard.”

On the board near the door to the SAO, there is a collage of nametags that all have different quotes from the school year. For example, there is a sticker that says “I love parents” and another one that says “A clean desk = a clean mind.” In his life, Mr. Uejio has always lived by a very special quote, “Make every day your masterpiece,” by legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden.

“If I make everyday a new masterpiece, I know that I will be living a great life.”

FeaturesPage 6 Imua ‘Iolani

By nesTor agBayani

With a red and cream-colored aloha shirt, black dress pants, and Jack John-son music playing in the background, Alan Suemori leaned on a small desk and glanced around the classroom. He observed the laughter from his

students, and the sudden smiles that emerged from others who were just entering the room.

Everyone seemed glad to be in the class. Mr. Suemori, more commonly known as Mr. Sue, was happy to see this.

“There’s a tremendous incentive to

make classes fun,” Mr. Sue said. “Not out-of-control fun, but something that’s not just lecture.” He started the class with a game, which he person-ally named “The Sexy Seven.”

Mr. Sue belongs to a special group of ‘Iolani teachers: faculty members who graduated from this very school, and have colleagues who used to be their teachers. This relationship is hard to overcome, and is “really weird,” Mr. Sue said. He pointed out the diffi-culty of addressing his former teachers by their first names. A 1975 alumnus, Mr. Sue attended when ‘Iolani only admitted male stu-dents. “It was tough,” Mr. Sue said. “[It was] hard for ‘Iolani guys to get that broad social education, you know, to see girls as friends.”

In order to meet girls, Mr. Sue and his friends made clubs at YMCA. These social clubs threw dances and parties, where members from other clubs mingled.

Mr. Sue’s life is filled with accom-plishments. He was a Senior Prefect at ‘Iolani, and further excelled at Co-lumbia University, and University of Hawaii where he earned his Master of Public Health and Master of Education degrees. While teaching history at ‘Iolani School, Mr. Sue has also been a member many organizations includ-ing the ‘Iolani Peace Institute.

Despite these accomplishments, after attending ‘Iolani, and teaching at the school for 16 years, he continues to observe and practice humility.

By Tyler yaMaMoTo

Seated in chairs forming two half cir-cles, 15 freshmen chat amongst themselves as they go over their assignment sheet fac-ing the chalkboard. The room erupts into laughter and cheers as they hear, “Discov-erer’s Day. No school!”

After sharing this optimistic observa-tion, Mr. Erik Yamamoto, ‘Iolani class of ‘99, finishes going over the assignment sheet with a smile, then rips sheets of re-cycled paper in half and passes them out to the students. The students maintain their conversations with some added worry about the quiz they are about to take.

The classroom, now lit only by the sun-light from the windows, suddenly grows quiet as Mr. Yamamoto reads each multiple choice question off the projector shining against a screen in the front of the room. After only a few minutes, the quiz over, the class is back to a lively chatterbox as the fluorescent lights fill the room again.

Students describe Mr. Yamamoto as a fun teacher who tries to lighten up his les-sons. “He had us sing and dance, instead of just a normal lecture,” said Reyn Na-gamine, a senior who had Mr. Yamamoto for Europe and the Modern World (now History and the Modern World). “It was easier to remember and more enjoyable.”

A son of ‘Iolani, Mr. Yamamoto real-izes that school creates a lot of stress and can be very difficult to manage. He says that if he can make things more humorous and lighten the stress a little, then it should make the learning environment a little eas-ier to handle.

Some people might think that his slide shows in class are a reflection of his per-sonality since he drew, colored, or wrote in additional notes or pictures using his mouse—not a SMART Board on many of the slides. In actuality he was just making use of what he had.

After moving from the Castle build-ing to the I-Building this year, Mr. Yama-moto’s new room has a chalkboard, a rarity on campus. It was not that Mr. Yamamoto did not have SMART Board because of a backlog in orders or it was not deemed necessary by the office. In fact, he did not even request a board.

“I try my best,” he said in regard to a map which he color coordinated and drew in some added notes. “Other teachers can benefit from (a SMART Board) more.”

Ms. Ernette Au, Mr. Yamamoto’s former teacher and a current colleague, said, “He was a model student. He is an outstanding teacher and a class ad-viser,” also adding that his work ethic as a teacher is just as good as when he was a student.

The campus has changed quite a bit since his graduation when he served as senior class vice president and senior prefect. He acknowledges that the stu-dents have nicer facilities including the Weinberg building, the parking struc-ture, new athletic facilities, and better resources for teachers to work with. He also senses a different attitude from teachers.

Mr. Yamamoto recalls that the work-load was different because they did not have no-homework weekends. He said that the teachers focused more on “suc-cess rather than balance.” Now there are classes such as a leadership class

taught by Mr. Kirk Uejio to help get stu-dents involved.

Prior to his young career at ‘Iolani, Mr. Yamamoto taught and coached base-ball at Moanalua High School. There Mr. Yamamoto taught English, social studies, media, guidance, and study skills all in the course of one day. At ‘Iolani he teaches two different courses—History and the Modern World, and History of the Ancient World. This allows him to focus more and he can give more to the students since he doesn’t have such a broad range of sub-jects to teach.

He also balances being a part of the ‘Io-lani baseball coaching staff as well as the ‘Iolani faculty, just as he balanced being a pitcher on the baseball team and a student in high school. “It is much harder as an adult,” Mr. Yamamoto added.

“If I do not show up prepared as a stu-dent, the worst I can get is a zero,” ex-plained Mr. Yamamoto. But failing to pre-pare as a teacher would be letting down the students who expect to learn from him.

It was some time after he entered the upper school that Mr. Yamamoto started to think about becoming a teacher. “It looked fun,” he said describing how this became his ambition. It wasn’t a choice based on a favorite teacher, but a “collection of a lot of different teachers.”

In his limited free time, Mr. Yamamoto enjoys hanging out with his friends and family. He also enjoys surfing, however, he hardly has the time for it anymore.

Mr. Yamamoto graduated from Clare-mont-McKenna College and majored in history and literature. He is also currently working on his Master of Educational Foundations degree and is a co-advisor for the class of 2011.

Doing it all for ‘U’

That’s the ‘Sue’ for you

Balancing his Raider spirit

Once a Raider, always a RaiderAlumni have returned to teach throughout the years

By Tawni Murphy

During any period of the day, the SAO is always filled with a sociable atmosphere. Every day in the SAO, you can always find `Iolani alumni and member of the 1998 Hawaii State Boys Basketball Champion Team who came back to `Iolani School to be Student Activities Director.

During his senior year of high school, Mr. Kirk Uejio was not only the player who forced overtime in the champi-onship game, but he was also named 1998 Hawaii State Player of the Year.

“I learned a lot. I didn’t feel like the best, but I did feel like the leader,” Mr. Uejio said.

After graduating in 1998, Mr. Uejio attended Cla-remont-McKenna College in California. Although Mr. Uejio was supposed to continue playing basketball during college, he decided to quit in his sophomore year.

“I don’t regret quitting,” Mr. Uejio said. “I was becom-ing really burnt out and it just wasn’t fun anymore. So my coach asked me what was wrong, and I told him that it just wasn’t fun anymore, and he told me that maybe I should quit.”

After returning to the islands, Mr. Uejio taught math at Saint Andrew’s Priory for a year. In the summer of 2003, Mr. Uejio formally accepted an offer from `Iolani to be the Student Activities Director.

“I think that Mr. Takayesu would be one of the most influential people that I met while at `Iolani because he was the one that told me about the job position,” Mr. Uejio said.

“I called him one day and left him a mes-sage saying that the position of SAO Direc-tor was open and that I thought he would be a good candidate for it,” Mr. Takayesu said. “He was always a quiet student who seemed to blend in with the rest of the class because he didn’t cause trouble.”

Outside, students pass by the SAO, greet-

ing Mr. U. and then continuing on with their conversations. “The student body seems like it has become more di-

verse. And the same thing goes for the adult personnel here,” Mr. Uejio said, reflecting back

on the dif-f e r -

ence between now and when he was a student. “When I was here, there was a different college counseling director as well as a different Dean of Students. Mr. Brown was actually one of my teachers here.”

“Kirk was kind of like the dream student; he was inter-ested in everything,” says Mr. Brown, who was Mr. Uejio’s

history teacher and is currently the Dean of Students. “His enthusiastic attitude was able to spread throughout the whole class, which

created a positive attitude. He was the one that I would always be able to rely on to help with anything. He was different than he is now. He

wasn’t the guy with the crazy personality that he has now.”

As Student Activities Director, Mr. Uejio gets to know almost every student in the upper school whether

it is from his sophomore leadership class or just by stop-ping in to say hi.

“The students would definitely have to be the best thing about working here,” Mr. Uejio said with a smile. “I get to hang with the best students, at the best school, in the best state, in the best nation in the world.”

But although he gets to know everyone, the hardest thing for him is that he has to say goodbye at the end of the year.

“Starting over would have to be the hardest thing. After I finally get to know everyone, the year is end-

ing. It’s especially hard with the senior class. Hav-ing to say goodbye to them is hard.”

On the board near the door to the SAO, there is a collage of nametags that all have different quotes from the school year. For example, there is a sticker that says “I love parents” and another one that says “A clean desk = a clean mind.” In his life, Mr. Uejio has always lived by a very special quote, “Make every day your masterpiece,” by legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden.

“If I make everyday a new masterpiece, I know that I will be living a great life.”

Features Page 7November 27, 2008

By eunice chang

David Masunaga’s Geometry class burst into peals of laughter listening to their teacher explain the “glide reflect” motion using incoherent noises. Geometric shapes hang over students’ heads, books are jammed in shelves, papers are stacked on top of one another, and random projects take up what little space is available. Mr. Mas’s classroom gives flavor to the campus, and so does he.

Wearing his usual glasses, a light pink collared shirt, and his trademark bowtie to complement his wardrobe, he emitted a squeaky “Whoot!” to emphasize a motion on the projector.

“But wait—!” Mr. Mas said his catch phrase, indicating there is more to it than just his explanation. “If you drop the object like this—Wheeee!” Another round of laughter follows.

“He’s funny, he’s smart, he knows what he’s doing, and he offers something unique to the school,” Kira Swope, a junior in Mr. Mas’ design science class, said.

Mr. Mas is an ‘Iolani graduate of 1975, what former headmaster Father David P. Coon called a “watershed year.” The school was changing, from strict and orderly to more assemblies, the beginning of proconsuls, and bands playing at more games and not just at concerts and football games. Mr. Mas was an oboist in

band and in the Hawaii Youth Symphony, a yearbook staff member, involved in church youth group activities, and part of a chamber music group.

Some of his teachers were Mr. Charles Proctor (English 9), Mr. Jack Kay (regular and A.P. Biology), and Mr. Wayne DeMello (band). “This school still has the same high standards and rigor, although people say the workload has lessened ever since the girls started coming to this school,” Mr. Mas said. He also said the graduation requirements are similar, except now there is one more year of science and history added.

In college, he double majored in math and biology with the intent to become a teacher. After three years in college, he decided to go into math because he was more ahead in that than in biology. Unfortunately, there were no jobs available. He worked three different jobs: at Northwestern University’s food service, as a clerk typist at New York University, and transcribed tapes.

“I had to wash a thousand sets of dishes a night. Yes, a thousand sets,” he recalled.

Fortunately, he was recruit-ed by Father Coon to teach math at ‘Iolani, anh here he stands, in front of the projector demonstrating a glide reflec-tion and saying “Whoot!”

By nesTor agBayani

With a red and cream-colored aloha shirt, black dress pants, and Jack John-son music playing in the background, Alan Suemori leaned on a small desk and glanced around the classroom. He observed the laughter from his

students, and the sudden smiles that emerged from others who were just entering the room.

Everyone seemed glad to be in the class. Mr. Suemori, more commonly known as Mr. Sue, was happy to see this.

“There’s a tremendous incentive to

make classes fun,” Mr. Sue said. “Not out-of-control fun, but something that’s not just lecture.” He started the class with a game, which he person-ally named “The Sexy Seven.”

Mr. Sue belongs to a special group of ‘Iolani teachers: faculty members who graduated from this very school, and have colleagues who used to be their teachers. This relationship is hard to overcome, and is “really weird,” Mr. Sue said. He pointed out the diffi-culty of addressing his former teachers by their first names. A 1975 alumnus, Mr. Sue attended when ‘Iolani only admitted male stu-dents. “It was tough,” Mr. Sue said. “[It was] hard for ‘Iolani guys to get that broad social education, you know, to see girls as friends.”

In order to meet girls, Mr. Sue and his friends made clubs at YMCA. These social clubs threw dances and parties, where members from other clubs mingled.

Mr. Sue’s life is filled with accom-plishments. He was a Senior Prefect at ‘Iolani, and further excelled at Co-lumbia University, and University of Hawaii where he earned his Master of Public Health and Master of Education degrees. While teaching history at ‘Iolani School, Mr. Sue has also been a member many organizations includ-ing the ‘Iolani Peace Institute.

Despite these accomplishments, after attending ‘Iolani, and teaching at the school for 16 years, he continues to observe and practice humility.

Doing it all for ‘U’

By Jan Biernacke

Sitting at the desks in a circular formation about the room, English students lend Ms. Meghann Schroers their ears. Her long, light-brown hair dangles unless she manages to neatly bun it. Sometimes, she’ll rest her feet on a nearby chair during long discussions.

Schroers, 28, is “a cool English teacher,” said former American Literature student Christopher Tokeshi. “She understands us as students because she was one of us just about 10 years ago.”

She currently teaches British Literature and Englihs 10 Honors.

Schroers was born into the ‘Iolani fam-ily. She grew up on campus because both her parents worked there. Her mom, Mrs. Gail Schroers, a current ‘Iolani English teacher, and her father, Director of Athletics Mr. Carl Schroers, moved to Hawaii from Califor-nia in 1977. “Why not Hawaii?” said Mrs. Schroers.

Although they didn’t have a house, Mr. and Mrs. Schroers didn’t feel too bad be-cause there were other families on campus with children. “Meghann and [her brother] Clayton were especially close to the Roberts boys. They’d even have sleepovers,” said Mrs. Schroers.

Schroers was among some of the first daughters of ‘Iolani to graduate in the class of 1998. While she attended ‘Iolani, she enjoyed history, science and not surprisingly, English courses. Some of her favorite courses were British Litera-ture and Shakespeare. English teacher Dr. Michael LaGory, one of Schroers’ high school teachers, told her she could be-come a great English teacher early in her high school ca-reer. Schroers said she was of-fended. “I had sworn I would never become a teacher,” said Schroers.

Schroers also enjoyed horseback riding. She still has a horse that she keeps on Big Island.

Dancing was also an im-portant part of Schroers’ life. She took ‘Iolani dance courses from grades nine to twelve. She also danced after school in the Halau ‘Iolani, Advanced Jazz classes, and was on the Dance Team. Schroers took ballet classes at Punahou twice a week and was an apprentice for Hawaii Ballet Theater.

After high school gradu-ation, Schroers left to attend Stanford. She got her M.A. and B.A. in English by the age of 22. She even managed to take a Horse Medicine class.

Unfortunately, by the time

she graduated, the nation was in a recession due to 9/11. There were very few job options for Schroers.

She eventually took a job at Hawaii Preparatory Academy on the Big Island; it was “home but not home.”.A few years lat-er, she started working part-time at ‘Iolani teaching English 10A and Creative Nonfiction. After a year, there was a full-time job opening in the ‘Iolani English department. It was perfect tim-ing and she got the job.

She joined her mom and dad on the ‘Iolani campus once again. She and her mom espe-cially “love the idea bouncing when it comes to curriculum planning,” says Schroers. “It’s really neat. We give each other tips, eat lunch together, work out, and car pool in mornings and afternoons.”

Mrs. Schroers feels blessed that they can all understand each other’s jobs. “We share the joys and aggravations.”

Especially because of her 19 previous years of experience as a student and resident at ‘Iolani, Schroers understands the school well. She is familiar with the problems and can relate to the students, too. “I’m in for the long haul. I love this school as much as I poke it with a sharp stick.”

A true daughter of `IolaniIt

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Photos by Courtney Ochi and Marissa Sakoda

Once a Raider, always a RaiderAlumni have returned to teach throughout the years

Page 8 Arts & EntErtAinmEnt Imua ‘Iolani

by AmeliA linsky

Playing Lucille in Moliere’s The Prodigious Snob was one of the best experiences of my life. I only auditioned because of an injury that prevented me from participating in my first com-mitment, cross country. But, still glowing from the residual glory of closing night and the sporadic compliments of audience mem-bers, I can say without hesitation that I have no regrets.

The glory comprises but a small portion of the work that went into the play. After all, we only had three official shows. We had months of preparation. Memorization of lines and block-ing was difficult, not to mention stressful.

The performances were the best part, but more like a re-ward for working hard together than the goal toward which we’d worked all along. Mr. Duval has really improved the theater pro-

gram from what I experienced in seventh grade Beginning Theater. So many aspects of Iolani Dra-matic Players’ productions have benefited from his oversight: technical things like lighting, sets, costumes, and publicity, as well as the quality of the stage-work.

The space in Seto Hall is more like a ledge than a real stage. We have no wings, no curtain in front, no permanent stage lights, no or-chestra pit, and the stage protests loudly whenever we walk on it. The audience seating is horrible, with uncomfortable chairs and a flat floor: no compensation for those unlucky enough to sit in the back, or behind a bigger person.

However, I felt that our play was good enough to make up for the failings of Seto Hall, to convince the audience that they were viewing a real production. It’s hard to tell from behind the wings, but the amount of laugh-ter from the audience seemed to justify our efforts. We found the

important words, the little jokes within lines, the puns, and em-phasized most of them enough for the audience to understand in rapid-fire dialogue. I hope we did, anyway.

I’m going to miss the fall play—the wonderful people, and the con-sistent teamwork oriented toward our common goal of making a good show. At the cast party at Bubbie’s, at half past 11 p.m. on Saturday night, I realized with a bit of a shock that I won’t be here for next year’s play. It’ll be up to the juniors, who mostly played supporting roles in a senior-dominated cast, to continue to lead quality shows and even im-prove on our legacy.

But there’s still the musical! The ‘Iolani Dramatic Players will present Pippin, a comedy about a prince’s search for ultimate fulfill-ment and the truth about life, at Diamond Head Theater February 26-28. Yes, that was a shameless plug, but trust me—it’ll be worth your while to buy tickets.

Fall Play: The Prodigous Snob Inside and Out

by Jen sAmAnthA RAsAy

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Spectators gasped, snickered,

and guffawed in their seats as twenty-three ‘Iolani students per-formed Moliere’s comedy classic, The Prodigious Snob, from Nov. 5-8.

Full of witty jokes, innuendos and foolish pranks, the play gar-nered raving reviews and praise. Miles Malleson’s translation of Molière’s Le Bourgeois Gentil-homme (The Prodigious Snob) communicated to the audience the fate of those who feign im-portance and superiority to gain acceptance into society’s highest ranks.

The play tells the story of Monsieur Jourdain, played by

Samuel Kor ‘09, a nouveau riche man who views himself as impor-tant and wise. He attempts to con-vince others of his good breeding by learning the arts of fencing, dancing, and music with the help of various masters. But a desire to be considered aristocratic paired with gullibility make the comic hero an apt target for flatterers out to cheat him of his wealth.

Matt Hirokane ’09, in his role as Count Dorante, becomes the greatest usurper of our hero’s wealth. Convinced that Dorante can help him win over the beau-tiful Marchionesse Dorimene, played by Jackie Mosteller ’10, Jourdain continues to provide the Count with large sums of money for his own purposes.

The audience received the wit-ty banter between Cleonte and Lucille (Jonathan Lee ’09 Amelia Linsky ’09) and Nicole and Co-vielle (Blaire Tolentino ’09 and Chaz Silva ’09) as each couple seeks permission from Monsieur Jourdain to be married. Towards the end, Cleonte and Covielle play a well-executed trick on Jourdain, eventually allowing all characters to marry as they choose and leav-ing Monsieur Jourdain abandoned and bewildered.

The audience liked Kor’s facial expressions throughout the play. “Sam’s face just had that way of lighting up whenever Monsieur Jourdain learned something new. And when Monsieur Jourdain got confused or annoyed, his face was

hilarious and very convincing,” Shayne Rasay ’11 said.

The furnishings of Monsieur Jourdain’s home successfully transported the audience into the play and the time period itself. “When you’re doing a period piece,” explains director and ‘Io-lani theater teacher, Mr. Rob Du-val, “you have to be somewhat ac-curate. You have to come as close as possible to the real thing.”

During auditions, Duval ex-plained that it was clear which students would fit each character. “Not only did they grow into their

characters, but they were able to grow during the performances as well,” he said.

Overall, Duval wanted the au-dience to be entertained. “I want-ed them to laugh, to forget their worries for those particular two hours, to understand the message of not trying to be what you’re not,” he said.

“This is very different from what we did last year, which was a Greek tragedy,” he said. “Every year, we try to mix it up a little bit.”

Pump it up!by Kaela Shiigi

Homecoming truly lived up to the theme of “Pump it up”. Start-ing the week before homecoming, at lunch, the center courtyard was filled with wonderful live music. When the festivities were an-nounced, the names of the bands were all kept a surprise which added some mystery to the spe-cial events.

Just Funk, a collaboration be-tween students and faculty mem-bers, kicked off the homecoming lunch assemblies with a rocking performance. The saxophone player was Mr. Fred Li who used to teach at Iolani and is now a

professional musician. They were followed the next

day by the much anticipated surprise professional band who turned out to be Beach 5, a local Hawaiian and Reggae group.

Finally, Summer Roots, a Reg-gae band formed by seven seniors and a junior, added an extra boost of spirit to the red, yellow, and green dress day.

Director of the SAO Mr. Kirk Uejio said that we can expect more live student entertainment during homecoming week in the coming years. For more informa-tion on the bands, go to imuaon-line.org

Photo courtesy of Mrs. Cathy Lee ChongSenior Samuel Kor played Monseiur Jourdain in The Prodi-gious Snob.

Photos by Bianca Bystrom| Imua IolaniMembers of the trumpet and trombone sections played on the football field as the marching band performed during the half time show at the Homecoming game.

The Insider’s View:

The audience’s view:

November 27, 2008 The LighTer Side Page 9

Life Lessons from DisneyBy Emily ShimkuS

Chances are that everyone at some point in their lives has watched at least part of one Dis-ney movie, from an old classic like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” to the more recent “Lilo and Stitch.” So what do you get out of those movies besides grimaces, guffaws, and catchy tunes stuck in your head? Here’s a list of things I have learned from watching Disney movies over the years.

1. Just say no. If a creepy old woman with buggy, shifty eye-balls and warts on her nose offers you a red delicious promising that it’s a “magic wishing apple,” don’t take a bite. Let’s just say that it didn’t work out so nicely for Snow White.

2. The word “supercalifra-gilisticexpialidocious” fixes ev-erything. If it got Mary Poppins first place in a merry-go-round horse race, just imagine what it could do for you. Plus, it’s just fun to say. Supercalifragilisticex-pialidocious.

3. Don’t touch sharp things! Not only could you bleed to

Ask Birtha: Crazy Cat Lady Answers Your Questions!

Illustration by Cordelia Xie | Imua ‘Iolani

death from the sharp needle on your favorite spinning wheel, you could fall into an enchanted sleep for eternity unless there’s a brave prince willing to hack through thorns and slay a fire-breathing dragon to rescue you. But be-lieve me, men like that are hard to find.

4. Just because you have big ears, that doesn’t make you a joke. Dumbo can use his to fly. Maybe you can too!

5. Don’t follow any white rab-bits or ask the Cheshire cat for directions. All roads lead to the Queen, but all she wants is your head because you don’t know why the cards are painting the roses red. It doesn’t make for a pleasant trip to Wonderland.

6. Evil stepsisters ruin your beautiful dress for the ball and leave you wallowing in despair? Not a problem. The Fairy God-mother will pick up the slack for you, but only until midnight. That is one curfew you won’t want to blow.

7. If you have a beautiful voice, don’t sell it off willy-nilly to a sea-witch for a pair of legs! Body language is not all it’s cracked up

to be.8. People can

always tell when you’re lying. It’s as plain as the elongated nose on your face. Just listen to your conscience next time. He’ll “give a little whistle” and try to keep you away from giant man-eating whales named Monstro.

9 . “ O h a n a means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgot-ten.” What does this really mean? That you, like Stitch, can be the most vicious, water-phobic, city-destroying, crazy creature in the universe, but you won’t get kicked out of the house.

10. Male chauvinists beware. Just because someone is a girl doesn’t mean they can’t beat you up. Mulan kicked butt and saved

all of China. So there.11. Even though you’re the

“Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” you can’t just steal his magical pointy hat, grab his spell books, enchant broomsticks, and flood the house. If Mickey Mouse can’t get away with it, neither

can you.12. “Happily Ever After”

means the end. So, without fur-ther ado, “And they all lived hap-pily ever after.”

By AnniE RiAn

Dear Birtha,OK, so I’ll admit right off

the bat that I’ve never been too good with the ladies. I’m kind of a shy guy, and my performances are average. Are you picking up what I’m putting down? So any-ways, there’s this girl, let’s call her Mildred. Me and my broheim Archibald both want to ask her to Winter Ball, but Archibald always gets the ladies and I’m afraid that he shall prevail in this battle for her attention. And, I have to ad-mit, he’s a handsome bro. I mean, he is FINE. If you’ve ever run your hands over his bulging, tanned biceps, or stared deep into his piercing blue eyes like the sea after a storm (and felt with a

smoldering passion for how they penetrate so much more than your soul!), you’d know what I mean.

Anyways, I digress. I don’t want to let this broad get in the way of our friendship, but I’m not digging the inevitable feelings of loneliness and confusion that I know must accompany her bla-tant rejection. Any suggestions?

Yours truly,Apprehensive in Annapolis

Dear Apprehensive, I’m so sorry to hear about your

situation. I know exactly how you feel, since my Sprinkles died just a month ago and I’m still coping with the loss. I still remember how he used to shred my under-garments so affectionately, and how he used to turn up his gosh-darn nose at anything less than Filet Mignon With a Hint of Sage Fancy Feast brand cat food. A wise dark-skinned man once told me: “Cats must be the change you wish to see in the world.” As I know you will too, I went through the seven stages of grief after his death: happiness, bloating, chron-ic diarrhea, and denial. It’s always good to have a few tricks up your sleeve, like I said. Knowing how to reprogram your partner’s da-tabase is key in any relationship,

especially if, as in your case, your partner is a robot. Robots are so much feistier and more willing to experiment, I tell you . . . in the chemical laboratory, that is. So my advice to you would be just this: “Semper Paratus,” which, in laycat’s terms might be loosely translated as “Always Paratus.” Remember the three D’s to suc-cess: Dsuccess, Dhard work, Dfo-cus, and Diligent Cat. That’s what Granny Steve always told me. It’s also the motto of the Radio City Rockats, you know. I was a Rock-at once, in my golden years: what you might call a “hot mama,” yes sirree! The Old Vacuum Cleaner, they used to call me. But this isn’t about me: it’s about my gall stones. They’re over there on the shelf, along with my placenta and umbilical cord. Waste not, want no cats, that’s my motto. But if you want my honest opinion, I would stick with Plan A: return the mice and the can-can dancer costume before, rather than after, you even attempt to kidnap that over zealous man-child tricyclist!

I hope that helps. Good luck with your mysterious bowel pains! My fourth husband Carl, rest his soul, had the same prob-lem, only he got the doctor to do some sort of new-fangled surgery

to get rid of it. You know how technology is these days. As the great Confucius once said: “We am who think cats is so cute.”

Saucily, Birtha

Dear Birtha,Ever since my boyfriend

Xavier and I broke up, I’ve felt so lonely and friendless. My former best friend Chastity hates me be-cause Xavier cheated on her to be with me, and since I’m generally a rude, obnoxious, racist back-stabber, I don’t have any other friends. Now that Xavier and I aren’t together anymore, I feel like my life is over! There’s noth-ing more to live for! Please help me, Birtha, or I’ll kill myself!

Insincerely yours,Lecherous in Los Angeles

Dear Lecherous,Twinkletoes, Puss in Platform

Heels, Madamoiselle Antoinette, Monsieur Sparkles, and Paul Newman send their greetings. They’re feeling a little saucy after their baths, especially Paul, the feisty little bugger, just meow-ing and spitting and hissing up a gosh-darn storm over here! I had to read an extra twenty-seven

minutes of Crime and Punish-ment during story hour to get him settled down. He’s just been so distraught after the election, and I don’t blame him--just because this so-called Barack Obama has the voice of a baby angel that just melts my gosh-darn heart doesn’t mean those gosh-darn liberals and Africans can elect him president of this fine nation! But, I’ll war-rant, he’s quite a looker--a hand-some young man, yes indeedy. Me and that Barack Obama, we’d make a nice pair. I wouldn’t mind if he came over and cleaned the pool once in a while, and maybe stayed for dinner, too. I do make a darn good meatloaf puree. You know, my cousin Eunice-Jane, she always says: “If you got it, flaunt it, baby, flaunt it!” I take that to heart, yes indeedy. Just yester-day I says to Eunice-Jane, I says: “Eunice-Jane, I think it’s about time you died. You’re ninety-nine years old, for cryin’ out loud!”

I hope that helps! Like Ronald Reagan, rest his soul, once told me: “Ask not what you can do for your country; ask what cats can do for your country.”

Suggestively,Birtha

Illustration by Stephen Stack | Imua ‘Iolani

Page 10 Features Imua ‘Iolani

Imua ‘Iolani is published by the students of ‘Iolani School, 563 Kamoku St., Honolulu, HI 96826. Established 1923, printed at Hawai’i Hochi. Imua ‘Iolani accepts advertising on a space available basis. Rates are $100 for 1/2 page, $60 for 1/4 page, and $35 for 1/8 page ads. Please e-mail iolaniimua@gmail.com for more information. Include “advertising” in the subject line. Deadline for the next issue is Dec. 2.

Editor-in-Chief:Katrina Karl

Design Editor:Marissa Sakoda

Copy Editors:Annie Rian

Lianne ChungPhoto Editors:

Asha AllenCourtney Ochi

Features Editors:Amelia Linsky

Emily SakaOpinion Editors:Emily ShimkusTiana Bohner

Sports Editors:Bianca Bystrom

Kelia CowanArts & Entertainment

Editors:Akari Hatanaka

Kaela ShiigiLighter Side Editor:

Stephen StackLower School Editors:

Kyle KimAndrew Zhou

Middle School Editor:Madison Obata

Editor at Large:Stephen Toyofuku

Adviser:Mrs. Karin Swanson

Imua ‘Iolani is distributed free of charge to students of ‘Iolani School. Mail subscriptions are $15 per year. Imua ‘Iolani is online at www.imuaonline.org or as pdfs at www.iolani.org under the “Student Activities” menu. Some material courtesy of American Society of Newspaper Editors/MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service. The opinions herein expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the administration, faculty, staff of ‘Iolani School or Imua ‘Iolani.

Fable II: Who will you be?By Stephen toyofuku

Well, Fable fans, the time has arrive. On October 21, Fable 2 was released on X-box 360. The game is not a continuation of the first, but takes place with a new hero, close to 500 years after the first game.

Albion is now a pre-indus-trial soci-ety, with the larg-est city in the game still be-ing Bow-e r s t o n e . The He-ro’s Guild from the first game no longer exists, and the story f o l l o w s the play-er’s char-acter, pos-sessing heroic blood, on an epic adventure, and your dog comes along too.

Many similarities are carried over from the first game such as classic golden path finder, expres-sions, strength, skill, will, and the fable trademarked interactive dy-namic world.

New features include new weapons, so archers put away the long bow because now there are guns! Fable 2 features a set of cross bows, but mainly the addi-tion of firearms is adds a new di-mension to game play. The world is much larger and more much more expansive in relation to the first game. Continuing a dy-

namic world theme, night and day changes, and as the days progress new jobs, quests, and sale offers appear.

The citizens of Albion are in-teractive as well, and they will judge your character and interact with him based upon their opin-

ion of him/ her. Yes, her, Fable 2 offers p l a y e r s the chance to choose their char-a c t e r ’ s gender.

A l s o you can now not only pur-c h a s e houses, but shops and taverns as well.

Overall game play is pretty s t r a i g h t -

forward, you have close and long range attacks, and magic spells. One fun feature is that you can cast unlimited spells without worries of mana or magic points. And of course the classic Fable feature, character alignment, and other character altering at-tributes. Eating healthy will keep you fit and skinny vs. eating pies will make you fat. Also the choice to be evil or good is once more is up to the player. Killing villagers, stealing, vandalism etc will make you evil (you get horns), where as being virtuous, self sacrificing, ad honorable will make you good (halo).

The game is exciting and

The college essay:Be profound, be intense, be yourself

By AyeShA CoorAy

The college es-say has gained in-famy amongst Iolani students.

It is potentially the difference be-tween victory and defeat with those schools in which one

is on the cusp of acceptance. That’s right, your ‘reach’ schools. But as Mr. Fleming, Mr. Briguglio, and

the English department will firmly attest, a great essay isn’t the only deciding factor in your application.

It is, however, the portion over which you have the most control.

This is what makes the college essay such a formidable foe: it is an identity cri-

sis in 1500 words or less. Not only must you craft an essay that

exemplifies the very best of your writing abilities, but you must also decide what exactly you want colleges to know about you.

The challenge of the college essay is to

write an essay that champions an aspect of yourself that you think is uncommon with-out lapsing into embellished and preten-tious prose that only seeks to earn brownie points with the admissions officers.

But as the essay is the only glimpse of your personality that admissions officers have, the temptation to weave a tale ca-tering to what you think colleges want is understandable.

On the other hand, clichéd “profound” experiences become the whirlpool of ba-nality that your essay must struggle to overcome.

Unfortunately, the college essay is only the first of the many times we will be forced to utilize our personalities to sell our skills throughout life.

With an economy in dire straits and a diminishing job market, knowing how to distinguish yourself from your competition will be imperative.

And thus with the college essay one be-gins the journey into modern, competitive society.

Photos courtesy of lionhead.com and gamestop.comAbove: Fable 2 concept art of the hero and his dog, courtesy of Lionhead Studios, the maker of Fable. Left: The Fable 2 game cover courtesy of gamestop.com.brings you into the world of Al-bion. Equipment and money is not impossible to get, and com-pleting the game is not ridicu-lously tedious.

On a difficulty scale, I would rate it a six or seven out of ten. But the true fun of the game comes from the large variety of

fun mini quests and almost un-limited number of available on-line options. Yes, online trading, fighting, ranking, and questing,, so grab your ether net cables. Before you begin, set aside a couple of hours and start your journey.

Who will you be?

Clichéd “profound” experiences become the whirlpool of banality.

November 27, 2008 The Middle Years Page 11

What do you think of Barack Obama becoming our next

president?

“Well, I think that it’s a change and it’s pretty cool that he’s our first African American president. I know he’ll do a good job.”

- Alyssa Kogami ‘13

“Obama’s election to the presidency is like the fresh light of spring kissing our cold world left by winter winds, which will usher in a new era of growth and, indeed, our country will grow with him as president.”

- Ezekiel Kearns ‘13

“I don’t trust him, I just hope that he isn’t as bad as I expect him to be.”

- Raven Moniz ‘13

“I’m excited for our new president and waiting for some change!”

- Jacob Baba ‘13

The joys of Class DayBy Esma arslan

Ah! Class Day, my favorite day of the year. A time when old friends come together and enjoy a single day at the beach. A time when the food is brought out, the husky boys play football to show off for the girls in bikinis who are desperately trying to get a tan, and some just roam around saying, “Hi” to everyone and playing with their friends. Even though I hate sitting in the gym for over half an hour, listening to the rules and regulations, cramped up and sweaty, with random girls trying to take pictures on their new camera, it’s worth it. Follow the rules and you’re all set. The other thing is that we have an awesome class. We have so many creative people and that’s what makes it interesting.

We have groups of people at our class day. First, we have the boys who love football. They

toss it into the mud, but isn’t that the fun of it? Then there are the volleyball girls. If that ball

comes at your head, I’m telling you, you are going home with a major concussion. We also have the magazine girls, who brought the whole stock.

In the corner the technic people, staring at their Gameboys and DS’s. I swear, they have eyes like hawks. They love to sit in the dark, when they could

be under the beautiful sun. Then out in the water, a crowd of people are

either pretending to swim or just hanging out and fooling around.

On the warm sand, we have what I like to call the tanning girls. I wonder if they ever get bored.

Then, there are people who like to sit and watch the beautiful scenery with their toes sinking into the sand, ruffled with foam. I’m probably among the people who do almost all these things, socializ-ingand enjoying every single activity going on.

‘Iolani doesn’t forget the environment. We, as a “green” school, pick up trash after we are done partying.

It’s kind of cool, how we all line up like in the military, and then we march forward across the length of the beach, picking trash whenever we see any.

We usually don’t find much because we are such clean people, but we still don’t forget about every-thing around us. Class Day is one of those days when you can be the real you.

At school, you have to maintain a good reputa-tion, and although you can be yourself, you just can’t let it all out. But on Class Day, jump, scream, yell, play, and do whatever else that pops into your head.

Elise Kaneshiro ‘13, Erin Masatsugu ‘13, Paige Omura ‘13, Carina Fasi ‘13, Isabella Rossi de Leon ‘13, Taylor Katase ‘13, Kelis Oshita ‘13 gather together at Kailua Beach Park.

Down with the dog callsBy madison oBata

Study hall is supposed to be a calm place to do your homework. It is also a place that seems to be turning into a dog pound because of the growing popularity of a homemade “dog whistle.” Most people can hear the eerie, high-pitched noise of the whistle, but some teachers may be unable to hear it at all.

How do students get this dog whistle? Take a look at your pen the next time you are writing.

If you are one of the few who use a ballpoint pen that re-tracts. You can remove the tip of the pen simply by turning it. Once the tip is off, just blow through it and you’ll hear a high-pitched sound coming from the pen.

It’s not pleasant to hear. Most people actually find it a nuisance. “I think it’s annoying and I wish that people would stop making that noise. It’s pret-

ty distracting, and most teachers don’t hear it, so they don’t stop (the students),” says Alyssa Lau ’13.

Zeke Kearns ’13 also expressed concern about the sound. “Those individuals who indulge in that particular activity show a clear lack of respect for

the comfort of their fel-low students.”

Other students ac-tually like making the noise. “I don’t really know who started it, but it’s always fun to make it when it’s really quiet. Plus, the teachers don’t hear it,” explains a stu-dent who asked not to be identified.

It’s unclear who fig-ured out how to make

this noise-maker in the first place, but it seems as if students here are taking great interest in the homemade whistle.

We are not all dogs here at ‘Iolani, but appar-ently many students like to treat us as such.

All photos by Madison Obata | Imua Iolani

Page 12 Features Imua ‘Iolani

Continued from page 1.

His ideals provided inspiration for people across China, instilling in them hope for a more just gov-ernment. The intent of the statue is to provide inspiration of a dif-ferent sort to the students passing by, to remind them of an extraor-dinary man who got his beginning here at ‘Iolani.

“How a campus looks and en-gages students is important,” Dr. Iwashita said. The projects were meant to better the feel and func-tionality of the campus, but their success is ultimately up to the stu-dents who are affected by them.

Many students who use the re-constructed steps of Castle Build-ing and pass by the statue daily to and from class are pleased with at least one of the new projects.

Austen Tom ’14 finds that the current lack of shade over the Castle steps keeps him from fully appreciating the added space. A fixture on the Castle lanai during lunch since before the renovation, Tom is still unsure as to how much he appreciates the changes in his hangout space. However, he is a fan of the statue. “It honors an alumni who did great things after ‘Iolani,” he said.

Lauren Ho ’14, on the oth-er hand, enjoys the renovation greatly. She and her friends have moved to occupy part of the Cas-

tle steps after having previously spent lunch periods under the um-brella tables.

“Before, there was only one set of stairs,” she said. “Now that they’ve opened it up, it’s much better.”

Victoria Sprowls ’14 remains indifferent about both projects. She’s glad for the increased num-ber of stairs and finds the statue pretty, but doesn’t feel the need to relocate to the steps for lunch, nor does she know enough about Sun Yat-Sen to fully appreciate the statue. When asked if she thought the money could have been spent for better things elsewhere, she responded, “If you’re talking about better things in terms of technology…”

Many students who aren’t di-rectly affected by either the Castle steps or the statue somewhat share Sprowls’ mentality. But as Dr. Iwashita pointed out, the changes are affecting somebody. They are in fact of some benefit besides the obvious aesthetic advantage.

This article is the first in a three-part feature investigating the financial decisions made in our school‘s community. “Aes-thetics” sheds light on the vari-ous projects and improvements around campus from the perspec-tives of both the administration and ‘Iolani students.

Michael Emerson, who plays Benjamin Linus on ABC’s hit show Lost, visited Mr. Rob Duval’s periods 4 and 5 Advanced Theatre classes on Tuesday, Oct. 28. He donated $200 toward the Performing Arts Department’s Christmas break New York trip.

Star donates time, money Aesthetics

By Serena Li

Although Dr. Sun Yat-Sen died a century ago, his accomplishments cannot be forgotten. Known today as the Father of Modern China, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen changed the traditional system of autocracy that ruled Chi-na for two thousand years.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen attended `Io-lani School for four years, from the fourth grade to the eighth grade. When admitted to `Iolani School, he was only one of the five Chinese students. He knew no English at all. However, he was a determined learner, and upon his graduation in 1882, he received a grammar award from King David Kalakaua.

At ‘Iolani School, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen befriended classmate Mr. Chung K. Ai. Ai supported Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s revolutionary ideas. When Ah-mi, Sun Yat-Sen’s brother, was infuriated by Sun Yat-Sen’s desire to become a Christian

and kicked him out of the house, Mr. Ai lent him money and a place to stay.

The David C. Ai Charitable Trust contributed $60,000 for the courtyard to honor Dr. Sun Yat-Sen as Mr. Ai’s ‘Iolani classmate and good friend. Mr. Ai grew up to found City Mill and he became a scholarship donor for ‘Iolani.

The statue depicts Dr. Sun Yat-Sen as a fourteen-year-old student. There are no pictures of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen before the age of seventeen, so `Iolani School invited a Hong Kong sculptor, Master Chu, to use his imagina-tion. The statue stands 71 inches tall.

Contrary to popular belief, “the building of the Sun Yat-Sen statue is not to advertise him for the fact that he attended ‘Iolani School for four years, but to serve as a kind of inspiration to our stu-dents,” said Mr. Glenn Ching, the

Director of Finance. On Nov. 12 at 11 a.m., a court-

yard dedication ceremony in front of Castle Building commemo-rated Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s birthday. The ceremony began with tradi-tional Chinese lion dancing, fol-lowed by Headmaster Dr. Iwashi-ta’s opening greeting. Student speakers Olivia Fatongia ’09, Sara Fang ’09, Alex Tom ’11, and Webster Ross ’10 spoke in honor of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. Sara Fang re-lated her experiences to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen in her speech, “A Return to My Roots.” Special guests in-cluded Mayor Mufi Hannemann and Mr. Stephen Ai, ‘Iolani grad-uate and President of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Hawaii Foundation.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s strong pas-sion for justice, believed to have been rooted in Hawaii, helped him to follow his dreams. The new statue will inspire ‘Iolani students to follow theirs.

Statue honors Sun Yat-Sen

Photo courtesy of Mrs. Cathy Lee Chong

Asha Allen | Imua ‘IolaniThe David C. Ai Charitable Trust contributed $60,000 for the Dr. Sun-Yat Sen courtyard.

By neStor agBayani

We are not so different, a group of visiting educators from Indonesia said.

The 22 educators traveled from Indonesia to the United States through a program of the East-West Center’s Asia Pacific Education and the U.S. State De-partment to address ways on how to prepare the youth to live peace-fully and cooperatively in a rap-idly globalizing world.

As primary and secondary teachers in “pesantrens,” or pri-vate Islamic boarding schools, six of the educators gave a crowd of about 20 students and 10 adults an introduction to the Islamic faith on Nov. 4.

Indonesia extends 3,200 miles from east to west in Southeast Asia and contains about 17,000 islands. With an area only about 20 percent of that of the United States, the nation contains more than 300 distinct languages. This diversity is “what unites us,” teacher Imran Anwar Kuba said.

Although dominated by an 80 percent Muslim population, Indo-nesia is not an Islamic country, the teachers said. Different reli-gions such as Christianity, Bud-dhism and Hinduism are present, and even within the believers of the Islamic faith, diversity ex-ists between the moderates and

the extremes of Shi’a and Sunni Muslims.

Since the Sunni outnumber the Shi’a 99 to 1, conflicting views do not cause as much tension in Indonesia as in other parts of the world, one of the educators said. Islam even shares several reli-gious beliefs with other faiths.

Just like Christians, Muslims believe in Jesus, however, not as the son of God, but one of the 25 Islamic prophets. The others in-clude Moses, Joseph, David, and Muhammad, regarded by Mus-lims as the greatest prophet.

Aside from the Qu’ran, the central religious text of Islam, the Muslims further practice and share their faith through differ-ent holy books taken from vari-ous religions. Muslims follow the Torah,or the Jewish Old Tes-tament, Injil, commonly known as the Gospel, the Zabur, or the Psalms, and according to Wikipe-dia, the Suhuf Ibrahim.

Two male educators wore a “kippah,” a cap which provides both national and religious iden-tity. While the first educator em-phasized the religious purpose of the cap, Veri Muhlis Arifuzzaman wore a slightly rounded skullcap with unique embroidery that rep-resents his hometown in Indone-sia. He concluded saying, “Even Christians use it.”

Indonesian teachersimpart culture of Islam