Trojan TimesVolume XXXVII, No. 2

www.trojantimes.org

October 1, 2009

between the marching band and its directors. This year, though, Peacott-Ricardos will have to take on these responsibilities by himself. “We’ve had three drum ma-jors before, two last year; so we normally try to go with two. But because we really couldn’t find a good pair for (Peacott-Ricardos), we just left him alone,” Marching Band Head Director Derek Ka apana said. “It is unusual, though, to have a sole drum major that’s a junior.”

Fortunately, the issues

that could have arisen with a young drum major have been slim to none.

SEE DRUM MAJOR, PAGE 5

Scholarship funds being raised in Davis’ memoryFormer teacher’s family asks for scholarship do-nations in her honor

In an unexpected trag-edy, former Math Teach-er Wendy Danielle Davis

passed away this summer. In remembrance of their daughter, Davis’ family is asking that people donate money for scholarships for MHS students. Davis’ mother contact-ed Principal John Brummel about donating money col-lected at Davis’ funeral to

MHS. “Since she promoted education and was a teach-er, they, instead of flowers, wanted money to go back to other students for their edu-cation,” said Brummel. The family had no spe-cific instructions for man-aging the money that they were donating to MHS. “So,

I recommended to the moth-er that the money be given to (College and Career Coun-selor) Denise Yamamoto. She already has a scholarship fund, a committee set up to review applications etc. and she agreed with that

SEE DAVIS, PAGE 3

By Ryan Rustynr.rustyn@trojantimes.org

Marching band pick “unusual”

New Drum Major: Junior Peacott-Ricardos

James George | Trojan Times

Junior Kyle Peacott-Ricardos holds the marching band’s attention during an evening practice. Ac-cording to Marching Band Co-Director Erik Kubota, “there’s a lot of respect for (Peacott-Ricardos) as the (only) drum major,” even though he is a junior.

By James Georgej.george@trojantimes.org

For the first time since 2004, the MHS Marching Band has selected only one drum major. But this year, there is a catch. Rather than the traditional senior pick, this lone drum major hap-pens to be Junior Kyle Pea-cott-Ricardos.

Throughout the 2009-2010 school year, Peacott-Ricardos will serve as the band’s conductor, occasional student teacher and bridge

Community contributes to Save Our SportsBy Caitlin Kellyc.kelly@trojantimes.org

Athletics play an es-sential role in the lives of many students, but the future of high school athletics was threatened by the recent budget cuts that added up to a $1.2 million loss. MHS was forced to take measures like eliminating coaching positions, cutting sup-plies and equipment and downsizing the transpor-tation budget. To make up for the effects of the bud-get cuts, the Hawaii High School Athletic Associa-tion (HHSAA) Save Our Sports Campaign was es-tablished. Save Our Sports was inspired by the HHSAA Executive Director Keith Amemiya. “I met with a couple banks and founda-tions to see if they were in-terested in kicking off the campaign with donations … and that’s pretty much how I started (the Save Our Sports Campaign),” said Amemiya. The goal of the campaign is to raise $1.2 million, which will be distributed to public high school athletic programs

SEE HHSAA, PAGE 6

GOONLINE

www.trojantimes.org

Campus Beautification: Beauty takes time

New editors in chief up the journalism program

Editorial | 4

INSIDE

Chosen Trojans| 5

Sports | 6

Features | 7

Trojan Times offers new online features

Male cheerleaders break stereotype of “all-girls” sport

Junior Kyle Peacott-Ricardos

By Camille Marsdenc.marsden@trojantimes.org

He knows Corbin Bleu, has worked on the set of “Lost” and he was rumored to be up for an Academy Award. Who is he and how

Guncheon, new technical producer brings experience to the stageis he related to MHS? It’s Paul Guncheon, the new technical design producer for Tri-School. Guncheon replaced the previous Tech-nical Design Producer Anna Foster, an army wife whose husband received orders ...

See the rest of this story and more on our website

Paul Guncheon builds the set for the Tri-School play, “The Od-yssey, The Il-liad, and All of Greek Mythol-ogy in 99 Min-utes or Less.”Camille Marsden | Trojan Times

By Farah Schumacherf.schumacher@trojantimes.org

One is the loneliest num-ber, and Career and Techni-cal Education (CTE) Coor-dinator Sheila Ann Dagarag knows that. It is part of the reason why she created the MHS Lunch Buddy Pro-gram, which helps ease new students into MHS by match-ing them with a student within the CTE Department, who, from then on, will eat lunch with the new student in a familiar place such as the library or a classroom. New students may apply for this program by drop-ping off an application in Dagarag’s box in the office. After the application, the students are then paired with a current MHS student, who is then trained on how to make the new student feel more welcome. Students participating in the program must go to the new student’s classroom and pick them up to eat lunch with them. Students attend lunch meetings to learn more about their new lunch bud-dy. They are given tips about what may help the student feel more welcome, topics to discuss and places to eat at. Students also take their buddies to important places such as the office, the library, B105 and the gym. “I want to make them feel more welcome,” said Dagarag. The new students who come to MHS are often children of military fami-lies, so Dagarag is trying to target students from similar backgrounds to help out as well. Military kids often need help with the stress of mov-ing and having a parent de-ployed, so the Lunch Bud-dies Program is employing the help of Matthew Gregory in the Adolescent Substance Abuse Counseling Service (ASACS) department. ASACS is an MHS Stu-dent Support Service that offers free counseling for teens who have a parent or parents deployed. It is con-fidential and meant to con-nect teens with other teens who are going through or have gone through the same thing. They also have con-nections to Hickam Air Force

Base and Schofield Barracks, to provide counseling and recreational activities for students with deployed par-ents. Softball, basketball and soccer are promoted within these activities. “I think it’s a great idea,” said Senior Dayton Hama-moto. “ ... New students must feel so disoriented and out of place when they move (here).” Interested students can see Dagarag in L204 or drop off an application in her box at the office to be matched up with a new student. All students are welcome to par-ticipate, but it will take a day or two to review the applica-tion and match the applicant with a new student. “(Hopefully they will) possibly get used to finding a place here,” said Dagarag. “I want to make them feel more welcome by expand-ing within the students.” Although this program still has a few more modifi-cations to undergo, it holds great potential and promise for the students it serves.

Lunch Buddy Program makes transition easy for new students

By Matthew Ambrosecchio m.ambrosecchio@trojantimes.org

Project Grad 2010 is hav-ing a Midnight Movie Fund-raiser at the Mililani 14 Con-solidated Theater on Nov. 20, the release day of “New Moon,” the second movie in the “Twilight” saga. The money raised from the premiere goes to the class of 2010 Project Grad fund, which hosts an event for the seniors on the night of their graduation. “Traditionally people just go out and cel-ebrate and not necessarily in a good way, doing drugs or alcohol,” said Lori Wright, the Project Grad Program and Fundraiser Coordina-tor. “(With the Project Grad event) there’s just fun; you know, just being with your friends to party the last time before everyone leaves for college and whatnot.” The night’s festivities will begin at 11:30 p.m., so everyone can pick up their refreshments. Along with the movie, “Twilight”- themed contests will be held before the showing. “Hope-

Project Grad: “New Moon” fundraiserfully this year more people will dress up ‘cause we have prizes for costumes,” said Wright. The costume con-tests will include two cat-egories: the Best Male and Female “Twilight”-themed costume. There will also be trivia questions from the book and prizes for the win-ners. Although the release of “New Moon” is a highly anticipated event, students like Freshman Hailee Gold-en and Sophomore Amber Yonamine both agreed that it’s too early to decide if they can attend the Project Grad showing. “I’m planning on going, but I’m not sure if I’m go-ing to the midnight showing yet because of homework and stuff like that,” said Yo-namine. Regardless, both plan on going to see “New Moon” and they love the “Twilight” series. Golden said, “I cried in ‘New Moon’ when Edward left, and that’s why I can’t choose between Edward and Jacob, because Edward’s always there for Bella but so is Jacob.”

Last year’s Midnight Movie Madness premiere of “Twilight” sold 400 tickets for the event and between eighty and one hundred T-shirts. “This year we are looking at do-ing the same thing. We’re anticipating about six to eight hundred tickets, and … we’re looking at about two to three hundred shirts that we’ll sell,” said Wright. Wright received many compliments from those who attended last year, saying people of all ages enjoyed it. “(Administra-tion) actually came to us and said, ‘We need to do this more often’,” said Wright. She also men-tioned that the staff en-joyed getting together outside of school to have a good time with the com-munity, students and par-ents. Although the fund-raiser is a while away, it’s still an opportunity for people to get together and support the senior class through Project Grad.

NewsOct. 1, 2009

2

By Jaclyn Knitterj.knitter@trojantimes.org

Starting next year, pre-algebra will no longer be offered for credit, but it will remain a part of the curriculum at MHS. This change will be mandated across the state, as the Board of Education (BOE) has determined that it will encourage stu-dents to develop their per-sonal standards and direct themselves to do better in math, among other sub-jects.

In addition, the change will aid Hawaii in catch-ing up with other parts of the nation education-ally. Over the years, many courses have been added and cancelled to raise the standards of public school students across Hawaii.

In this case, the decision has been “at least five years in the making,” according to Vice Principal Jamie Oshiro, who also added, “The change is not a surprise for educators and should not be a surprise to parents. We have already suggested for some students to take Math Lab.”

At MHS, Math Lab is of-fered as part of the free af-ter-school tutoring program, which also helps students with English, science and social studies. The program helps students who are struggling and need some extra help with what they are learning in class.

Math Lab is open to any students at the high school who feel that they need ad-ditional help, and taking this opportunity is encour-aged, as many teachers strongly believe that it will

help students improve their grades. The help ses-sions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, after school from 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. Additional infor-mation on the sessions is posted around the school and some teachers can also be contacted for fur-ther direction regarding the program.

The overall focus of the course addition and elimination process is to be proactive, to support the students and to pro-mote personal advance-ment in education. Ul-timately, MHS, among other public schools in Hawaii, wants to help students raise their stan-dards and motivate them to focus on their high school education.

Pre-algebra: Out of the equation

Get your degree from UH West O‘ahuApply Today!

454-4700admissions@uhwo.hawaii.eduuhwo.hawaii.edu

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DavisCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

process,” said Brummel.The donations are being

put into the Parent Teach-er Student Organization (PTSO) Scholarship Fund. As of Sept. 11, the PTSO has collected $1000, but that number may still increase, as there is another funeral service to be held in Ohio where the family is asking, once again, for donations rather than flowers.

Whether the money is going to be its own schol-arship or included with scholarships that the PTSO awards every year is unde-cided.

Either way, students wishing to attempt to re-ceive the scholarship money will need to fill out an MHS Common Application; a single application that gives students a chance to earn a multitude of scholarships.

“We might look at some-

body who may be looking at going into education; they might have preferential treatment,” said Yamamoto in regard to any criteria that students will have to meet to earn the money being raised for Davis.

The standard criteria of academic achievement (a grade point average of 3.0 or higher), participation in ex-tra curricular or community service activities, leader-ship positions and financial need must also be met. The Common Application will become available some time in second semester, and will probably be due in February or March, sooner than pre-vious years because of the shortened school year.

Anyone who was un-able to attend Davis’ funeral service and who is looking to donate money can either give their donation to Yama-moto at the C&CC office, or mail it to the PTSO with Da-vis’ name on it.

NewsOct. 1, 2009

3

Time necessary for true Campus BeautificationBy Kelli-Anne Hok.ho@trojantimes.org Past Campus Beautifica-tions have helped to improve portions of the school cam-pus, but as a whole, the cam-pus still lacks a consistent appearance. While previous projects have made sev-eral differences around the school, there are still many more problems that, conse-quently, add up and make the campus look unsightly. The real impact of change will come from the time and maintenance needed to truly finish the campus. Although the turnout of student participation at last year’s Campus Beautifica-tion was a high two hundred students from nearly all clubs, there are still many ob-vious parts of the school that need to be worked on; and while ASMHS and the PTSO invest much hard work into coordinating Campus Beau-tification, having only one beautification day (totaling three hours) is not effec-tive enough to enhance the school campus. Therefore, the problem is not lack of participation, but instead it is the lack of ability to “beautify” the campus in such a short time period. There is no point, really, to spend time scrubbing walls, picking up trash or painting if these tasks are to be performed one time each school year. A true beautifi-cation requires consistency, otherwise all efforts will go to waste once the school be-comes dirty again. Campus Beautification is only one small step in contributing to the school, and while there is a huge participation level for the cause, much more help can be gained from people who have yet to volunteer. But no one person or group is to blame because re-ally, we are all at fault since each of us is a part of MHS. Is it not automatically our responsibility to continually uphold the place where we spend most of our week? In this sense, one way to give clubs (and anyone else

looking to participate) more opportunities is to have one Campus Beautification day per quarter, or four Cam-pus Beautification days per school year. As there are four quar-ters in a school year, the to-tal number of clubs could be divided by the number of quarters. There are approxi-mately thirty clubs, which means that each quarter, sev-en clubs will be volunteering on the assigned date for the quarter. With this system, each club is still mandated to participate in one Beautifica-tion day, but the difference is the amount of Beautification dates held per school year and better maintenance that will come from the addition-al dates. “… To do a Campus Beautification once a month and to hit on different things that need to be done, I think would be a terrific idea,” commented Principal John Brummel. But a downside to this solution is the extra time and effort that ASMHS and the PTSO will have to put in. “I still have to be there to su-pervise and my kids would have to be there to help,” said ASMHS Adviser Gail Nishimura. “So, that’s addi-tional days for us to not have any free time because even if it’s only five clubs working, we still need to have people here to give them the imple-ments to work or give them the assignments and super-vise and then provide them with refreshments and ev-erything.” ASMHS would be doubly

responsible for the project’s organization. And since there are students involved with more than one club, the individual student would have to decide which club they would volunteer with for Campus Beautification day. To ensure that there are an equal number of students on each Beautification day, clubs could sign their members up at the start of the school year. From there, ASMHS could assign the clubs to whichever date as they see fit. On the other hand, vol-unteers from community organizations could also as-sist ASMHS and the PTSO. “American Savings Bank had expressed that they would like to participate in the Beautification portion of the school. I think they kind of look for doing outside work and they would send people over,” explained PTSO Head Coordinator Denise Painter. Organizing Campus Beautification into a quar-terly project will lead to a presentable school campus. Hopefully, with the par-ticipation of more students and volunteers, green grass and plants will replace the dauntingly large dirt spots and stop the waste of wa-ter that is currently used for these dirt areas. Despite the positive and negative aspects, though, achieving a true impact in changing the way our cam-pus looks will require time and effort. Regardless, it is simply a matter of how much more time and effort everyone is willing to give.

Many sprinklers unnecessarily water sections of the school, cre-ating muddy areas and puddles around the campus.

To voice an opinion or any concerns, feel free to submit a letter to L205 or to k.ho@trojantimes.org. The Trojan Times re-serves the right to edit let-ters as they see fit. Please type your let-ter and clearly state your name, grade level and pe-riod one class.

Editor in ChiefKelli-Anne Ho

Assistant EditorCyrus Takahashi

Sports EditorKellie Kawamoto

Copy EditorNoah Perales-Estoesta

Business ManagerLexi Kaneshiro

AdviserMr. Christopher Sato

PrincipalDr. John Brummel

StaffMatthew Ambrosecchio

Caitlin BasilioMichelle ChoeJames GeorgeCaitlin Kelly

Jaclyn KnitterCamille MarsdenLanden Muasau

Ryan RustynFarah Schumacher

Bianca SewakeCheyenne Young

Trojan Times

The mission of the Trojan Times is to publicize events,

share in the successes of students, promote the hard

work of the faculty andcapture the dedication of

organizations.

The Trojan Times is a monthly production of

the Newswriting staff of Mililani High School

95-1200 Meheula Pkwy., Mililani, HI 96789

James George | Trojan Times

By Kelli-Anne Hok.ho@trojantimes.org Never before have I felt so pressed for time. I’ve only just realized that a synonym for the word “busy” should probably be something along the lines of “insanity.” I started writing daily to-do lists this year because I’ve found that it’s incred-ibly helpful to jot down ev-erything I need to do. Typically, I write my list out on the whiteboard behind my desk in L205. The amusing part is that surrounding my own to-do list are other to-do lists made by the editor-in-chief of Yearbook, Lauren, and my adviser, Mr. Sato. My to-do list is the only real “list” of the three. Lauren’s is set up as a four-square, and Mr. Sato’s is set up in some sort of coordinate graphing rationale. We each claim that our own technique is the most easy to follow, but really, I’m not sure whose is most or-ganized. Amongst our edito-rial staff, they too have their own methods of to-do lists. Kellie, our sports editor, writes her daily lists on various pieces of paper that eventually scatter all over the classroom. Our copy editor, Noah, prefers to scribble whatever he has to do on the whiteboard, in his beautiful handwrit-ing that only he can read. As for Cyrus, our assistant editor, no one ever sees his list because he claims to remember everything in his head. Admittedly, his is probably the most effective since out of the four of us he’s the only one who re-ally gets anything done. I’ve heard the various agendas of my peers and it seems that the only time sleep is scheduled in is when we suddenly become narcoleptic in the middle of doing homework. But on the plus side, at least by the time Project Grad rolls around we’ll be ready for that all-nighter (well, that’s if you have time to go).

No time to check “sleep” off to-do list

EditorialOct. 1, 2009

4

Chosen TrojansOct. 1, 2009

5By Lexi Kaneshirol.kaneshiro@trojantimes.org

Through the MHS Jour-nalism class, students may explore their interests in writing, photography and design. While the program may be very challenging, new editors in chief, Seniors Kelli-Anne Ho and Lauren Mottley, know that it comes with its own rewards. Holding the position of editor in chief comes with numerous responsibilities. However, Ho and Mottley, both returnees to the jour-nalism program, look for-ward to the challenge. Ho, Trojan Times edi-tor in chief and a third year journalism student, ran for the position against other students. “I wanted to be editor in chief to challenge myself ... I like writing, I like designing, especially,” she said. Starting her second year in journalism, Mottley, Na Mana o Poina ole editor in chief, shares Ho’s commit-ment to the program stating, “I really enjoy the design as-pect and the writing aspect of it. It’s more than a class, it’s like English and photog-

raphy at the same time.” As editors in chief, Ho and Mottley must lead their respective journalism staffs and adjust to new changes within the program from last year. In Newswriting, these changes include a greater focus on video journalism and the online edition of the Trojan Times. “This year me and (Journalism Adviser Christopher) Sato and all the editors – we’re just trying to really build it up and lay a foundation for future News-writing staffs just to really set the standards for them too. Everything is pretty much a challenge just trying to get it

better than it was,” said Ho. This increased focus on vid-eo journalism and the online paper comes from an ef-fort to emulate professional newspapers. “Newspapers, professionally speaking, most of them don’t use just print. They have video jour-nalism and web,” said Ho. In Yearbook, the staff is faced with the challenge of earlier deadlines and an in-creased emphasis on writ-ing and photography. “Our deadlines are really tight because we seniors gradu-ate earlier. We’re like, really crunched and I guess we need to have our rookies fo-cus more on the writing as-

pect of the class and the pho-tography aspect too, because we made space enough to have stories for everything,” said Mottley. Although the journalism program has many of its own challenges, Ho and Mottley believe that there are many benefits. Mottley thinks that the journalism program helps students to meet new people. “You’re able to talk to people. You can’t come into this class and be shy be-cause you have to interview and whatnot,” she said. Ho agreed saying, “I get to talk to a lot of people through be-ing in Newswriting because of all the people that I’ve in-terviewed. I can develop re-lationships with other teach-ers that I normally wouldn’t talk to or other students that I normally wouldn’t talk to either outside of this class.” Being an editor in chief in the journalism program may be challenging and present a number of new ob-stacles, but to Ho and Mot-tley, the rewards gained and skills learned while going though the process make it worthwhile.

Ho, Mottley strive to take Journalism to new heights

(L to R): Seniors Lauren Mottley and Kelli-Anne Ho

Hey Trojans! First quarter is coming to an end. Time flies by so fast and it’s just going to go by faster! As you may know, I’m super excited to be working for you all this year, and my coun-cil and I are doing our best to make this year fun, exciting and memo-rable. The circus is about to leave town! This year’s Homecoming has been a huge success. So far we’ve had our spirit week and we’re done with Makeup Monday, Tamed Animal Tuesday and Wacky Hat Wednes-day. We also had our Homecoming pep rally on Tuesday at Kauinana Stadium. Today we have Tumbler Thursday, which is dressing up in bright colors. On Fri-day, dress in class colors and show your spirit! We also have the parade going around Mililani showing off the awesome banners each class has made and later that evening we have our Homecoming game! Come down to support your Mililani Trojan football team as we play Kapolei! On Saturday evening we also have our Homecoming dance at the gym. Come on down, show your spirit and get involved! Well, I hope you all had a great first quarter. I also hope you enjoy the rest of your Homecom-ing and what is in store for the next three days. Fall break starts on Oct. 5 and will end on Oct. 12. I am looking forward to our break and the fun things we will do, but always remember to be safe and aware of your surroundings. When walking, al-ways be with a group or a friend and travel in well-lit areas. Have fun, be safe and see you all in second quarter.

Drum MajorCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Marching Band Co-Director Erik Kubota commented, “You know, there’s a lot of respect for him as the drum major. So picking him, I think, that was never an is-sue, you know, that he’s too young. That never was even a question.” During the selection process this year, Peacott-Ricardos was expected to fill out an application, answer a few written response ques-tions, undergo an interview with both of the directors and then perform for them a conducting routine; and all the while he was compet-ing against older, seemingly more experienced seniors. “You have to prepare your own routine; that took me some time to do. And then the audition itself is pretty nerve-wracking,” Peacott-Ricardos said. Of course, Peacott-Ricar-dos faces another audition process in 2010 if he wants

“I enjoy my position – kind of scary but kind of cool at the same time to be the only (drum major).”

-Kyle Peacott-Ricardos, 11 Peacott-Ricardos conducts the marching band at a 7 p.m. rehears-al. Every Tuesday and Thursday the band spends their evening practicing and adding more moves to their marching routine.

James George | Trojan Times

to keep his position. “Just because you’re a drum ma-jor one year doesn’t mean you’re going to be drum ma-jor next year,” Kubota said. “But, you know, if he does a good job, which he has been doing, and keeps it up and keeps improving, then I

don’t see why he wouldn’t make it again next year.” Making it through the audition process success-fully was the first step, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that his job is now a walk in the park. “There’s a lot of work,” Peacott-Ricardos said. “I spend all my time in the band room, actually.” Despite the high work ethic, he is pleased with his re-

sponsibilities. “I enjoy my position – kinda scary but kinda cool at the same time to be the only one,” he said. “Overall, I like it so far.” The directors shared sim-ilar thoughts. “The moment he auditioned and he con-ducted his routine in front of us, it was kind of immediate for both myself and Kubota that he would definitely be

one of the shoo-ins for drum major,” Ka apana said. “So far, that feeling hasn’t really changed.” Considering the rare path that Peacott-Ricardos has walked so far, both he and the directors are hope-ful of what the future has in store concerning this new, young leader.

ASMHS President Matthew

Lai

Cheerleading, not just for girlsSports

Oct. 1, 2009

6

throughout all of Hawaii depending on the size of the program. Amemiya and his wife have already donated $30,000 of their own money to benefit the campaign. “We both feel strongly about supporting public schools and athletics in particular because it’s such a big part of many students’ lives,” Amemiya said. The Save Our Sports program was completed on Sept. 30, and the money will be distributed to the schools.

Some local businesses have begun to show support for the fundraiser. Foodland was accepting donations of up to $249 from customers to benefit the campaign. At the Mililani location, 1,279 customers donated to the Save Our Sports campaign. “Mililani had the most amount of donations given – so approximately four percent of all customers made a donation to support the program, which is a lot because the average was about one percent of all customers. So Mililani did a really great job in showing their support,” said Foodland Director of Corporate Communications Sheryl Toda. Not only did Foodland collect the money, but they donated $2 for every $1 donated by customers. In the two weeks that the program ran, “the customers raised more than $25,000 at all stores, and then Foodland gave $51,000. So in the end, we gave HHSAA $76,000,” Toda said.

The people of Hawaii and beyond have offered their help during this time of need. “We’re getting donations everyday from all across the state, the mainland and even from Japan,” Amemiya said. It is evident that the donations could not have come at a better time. “I mean, it’s like a godsend, you know – something we weren’t expecting,” said Nitta. Contributions to Save Our Sports have amounted to about $852,670. The generosity of many people will help the HHSAA reach their goal of raising $1.2 million to ease the budget cuts in public schools.

HHSAA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

By Bianca Sewakeb.sewake@trojantimes.org

Girls, skirts, makeup, pom poms and dancing. These are the images one typically thinks of when cheerleading comes to mind. Now that there are male cheerleaders at MHS, this image has changed. There haven’t been male cheerleaders on the team since 2004, so when Head Coach Renesha Kierstedt saw boys trying out for the team, she was excited. “I love it,” she said. “It lets ev-eryone know that cheerlead-ing is not only for girls.” Senior Andrew Longboy, a male Varsity cheerleader, made his debut perfor-mance at the Welcome Back Assembly in August. Long-boy was able to do several flips and stunts even though this is his first year cheering. “Prior to the assembly, I had maybe three to four months of tumbling practice. I have never trained in gymnas-tics or anything along those lines,” said Longboy. He is no longer alone, though. Also part of the team is Senior Daniel Quen-ga, who is on sideline. “I wasn’t on the team when we had the assembly. I joined a few weeks later,” Quenga explained. With the stereotype that

cheerleading is just for girls, both boys had to overcome the reactions they received when making the decision to try out for the team. “I will not lie. Most, if not all, people have teased me at one time or another,” Long-boy explained. “I mean, I’m a male cheerleader; I saw it coming, but not as much as I actually did get – so much so that I nearly backed out of the team entirely.” However, with the en-couragement from his team and the unwavering sup-port of his parents, Longboy didn’t back out. “My parents never faltered,” Longboy

stated. “They support me in everything that I do. My mother praises me for my individuality and my un-willingness to quit.” Long-boy then decided to take the plunge and try out. “I wanted to dare myself to be different. I wanted to stand out of the crowd,” he said. Quenga received sup-port when he told his family and friends. “At first they didn’t believe that I wanted to do it, just because they thought it was something I would never even think of doing. But after they found out I was serious, they were real supportive,” he said.

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Although the boys were nervous when they tried out for the team, Ki-erstedt stated, “I was ex-cited. I love to see when more guys are out.” She also commented on their high level of skill. “... Their ability level is out-standing,” said Kierstedt. “When the boys go out there, they get to add a little extra flavor.” Stunts and cheers are not the only things the boys learned. Longboy said, “If I had to get one point across to the school it’s that cheerleading is a sport. I want people to know that cheer is more than skirts, makeup and bows. It’s not just a ‘girl thing.’ It’s a lot of hard work, hours of practice and plenty of falling.” Quenga agreed by adding, “Guys need to know that cheerlead-ing ain’t just about pom poms, ribbons and skirts. It’s more about getting other students hyped up and school spirited. It’s a coed sport, so guys shouldn’t be afraid to go out for it.” Although there were challenges both boys had to overcome in order to become cheerleaders, Longboy and Quenga will continue to cheer.

Jessica Antonio | Na Mana o Poina ole

MHS football player Stevenson top recruitBy Cheyenne Youngc.young@trojantimes.org

Like the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character, Senior Dalaunte “Taz” Stevenson is known for his speed. On Sept. 7, Steven-son was featured on KITV after helping lead the Trojan football team to back-to-back victo-ries. As a sophomore, he was mentioned in the Oct. 1 online story in “Around Hawaii” as being “one of the bright stars for the Tro-jans.” In his junior year, the Aug. 7 online story in the The Honolulu Ad-

vertiser described Stevenson as “the gem of the offense.” Now, in his final year of high school, he is one of the top recruits for the state of Ha-waii and has received of-fers from several colleges including Washington State, University of Washington, Oregon State, University of Wyoming and University of Utah.

Head Coach Darnell Arceneaux praised Steven-son for his positive attitude and athletic ability, saying, “He always brings a smile to practice and a hard-working attitude. He’s got that game-breaking speed that we al-ways talk about.” However, in the interview with KITV,

Stevenson modestly said, “I’m just another piece of the puzzle. Everybody out here is a piece of the puzzle and we all just work hard and do what we do.” Stevenson stood out as one of the best athletes at the All Polynesian Football Camp among 300 others from all over the state of Hawaii, the mainland and American Samoa.

In his high school career, Stevenson has been a kick returner, safety, running back and receiver. His speed often helps contribute to his success.

“Something you can’t teach is speed. I think he’s just one of those types of players that when he gets in-

side that gear, you’re not gonna catch him,” said Arceneaux.

With Stevenson’s ability, hardwork and good attitude, his future looks promising.

Senior Dalaunte Stevenson

As one of the first male cheerleaders seen in a while at MHS, Senior Andrew Longboy rehearses his cheer routine for competi-tion with his fellow Varsity cheerleaders.

FeaturesOct. 1, 2009

7

By Kellie Kawamotok.kawamoto@trojantimes.org

Going away for college can be a nerve-wracking ex-perience, especially for those who get homesick easily. To be separated from family, friends and everyone who is familiar can feel quite lonely at times. But with technol-ogy these days, it’s easy to stay connected to family and friends through cell phones, email and the latest craze – video chat. iChat and Skype are video chat programs that have dominated for some time, but a newer video con-ferencing trend has recently become popular among stu-dents: ooVoo. ooVoo’s main appeal to kids is the fact that they can keep in touch with friends if they decide to leave the island for college. “I down-loaded it because a lot of my friends were getting it and since I left for college, it was a fun and easy way to com-municate with them,” said Alumnus Kyle Yamauchi, who left to attend the Uni-versity of Reno. Alumnus Mark Goya, who stayed on the island for college, agreed that ooVoo was convenient to talk to far-away friends. “It is a good way to stay in touch with friends who left for school,” he said. Another appeal ooVoo has to kids are the several features that iChat and Skype

don’t have, one of them be-ing the ability to video chat with more than one person at the same time. “On Skype you can’t have a video chat with more than one person in it,” Goya said. “You can have a conversation with a lot of people but you won’t be able to see them.” How-ever, with ooVoo, someone can video chat with up to six

people at the same time. The downfall, though, is that this means getting the premium version that requires a pay-ment per month or per use. Another favorite feature of the students is the variety of effects that come with oo-Voo. Senior Stephanie Iwa-saki said that her favorite part of ooVoo was “playing with the effects.” The Mac computers have the same effects that are available for the Photobooth application, such as black and white, se-pia, even the image contor-tions. But the PC provides another variety of effects for ooVoo users. “The ones for the PC has like, differ-ent characters and animals

ooVoo:

Stephanie Iwasaki, 12

you can be and when you move, the thing moves too!” Iwasaki said. “And there’s this voice changer thing and it’s super hilarious! You can sound like an old lady or a chipmunk or go from a male’s voice to a female’s voice and vice versa.” ooVoo also has other fea-tures like instant messaging chat, where someone can chat with up to six people at the same time as well, or Web video calling where someone who doesn’t have ooVoo can video call an oo-Voo user from their own Web browser. During video calls, the participants can take screenshot pictures or even record their video call, but only with the paid pre-mium versions. With the advancements of technology these days, the definition of “chatting” has taken on a whole new meaning. The fun features plus the easy connection to multiple friends that ooVoo provides make this video chat program convenient for students to remain in touch with their far-away friends and peers.

Variety of effects make keeping in touch fun

Expect these features and more from the Trojan Times Online

In today’s world of journalism, technology plays a key role in information exchange. New trends must be adopted to keep up with the rapid-ly changing nature of the medium. Taking a step in this direction, the Trojan Times will, starting today, emphasize our online capabilities.

By Cyrus Takahashic.takahashi@trojantimes.org

Twitter

In an effort to pro-vide the most up to date information as soon as possible while it’s still relevant, the Trojan Times is now on the popular site Twit-ter. You can follow us and read our tweets at www.twitter.com/trojan-times. This will allow us to post the latest sports scores just minutes af-ter the game ends and notify readers of the featured story of the day for the main web-site.

Trojan Times Blog

In addition to the Trojan Times Online website, the newspaper will maintain a regular-ly updated weblog. This blog will serve to com-plement the main web-site, providing opin-ion while encouraging feedback by allowing readers the chance to comment and respond to the posts with their own opinions on the subject. Look forward to this within the next few days.

Facebook

The Trojan Times is now on Facebook. Find us and be our friend! Expect frequent notifications to stay up to date with the additions to our sites.

Trojan Times Online

The main website at http://trojantimes.org has experienced a mas-sive overhaul and will soon offer new online exclusives on a daily basis. In addition to the usual news or sports stories, columns featur-ing topics such as fash-ion, movies and music will be offered weekly by the editorial staff. A new element is the abil-ity for the readers to re-spond to our articles by submitting comments. To further allow user interaction, polls will be added. Accompanying these

changes will be the newly opened video section, providing a wide range of coverage of activities and events around campus and the community. Keeping with the idea of constant up-loads, scores of every game, meet, match and competition of every sport will be posted un-der the sports section and will be promptly updated following any event. The sports sec-tion will also contain a new sports gallery with photo coverage of the latest games.

There are a multitude of effects that ooVoo has to offer, such as the “kaleidoscope” effect, seen here used by Stephanie Iwasaki. Alumnus Mark Goya is seen using the effect called “weave.”

“I downloaded it because a lot of my friends were getting it and since I left for college, it was a fun and easy way to com-municate with them.”-Alumnus Kyle Yamauchi

Mark Goya, alumnus

Follow Alumna Kylie Yama-moto on ooVoo as she pro-gresses through her first year at the University of Washing-ton. Look for her upcoming videos at http://www.trojan-times.org.

InteractiveOct. 1, 2009

HoroscopesAries (March 21 – April 19)The repetition of time in your world will be reflected by your creation of little gold fishes. You’ll melt a piece, craft the gold into fishes and then melt them down again to repeat the process.

Taurus (April 20 – May 20)The next time you walk the dog, bring some tissues, for when you reenter your driveway, he will rise off the ground and ascend into the sky.

Gemini (May 21 – June 21)Water will lead you to some-thing of your past; go home, pour yourself a glass and watch as it slides across the floor, up the stairs and under your bedroom door until it reaches whatever you have lost.

Cancer (June 22 – July 22)A little girl will arrive at your house trying to sell you cook-ies. If you turn her down, she’ll leave a bag at your door. Just bury it.

Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22)A male relative will leave with a band of gypsies soon. His mother will initiate a wild witch hunt for him, but he will not return until he travels the world and gets a ton of tattoos.

Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22)The next time you’re home alone, break every piece of furniture in your house; one of them is full of gold coins.

Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22)The next torrential down-pour will decimate your se-cret stock of bananas. Take it as a clue to begin hoarding a different type of yellow fruit.

Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21)An old card reader with laughter that scares birds will move into your neigh-borhood sometime within the next few weeks. She can give you a reading.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21)Prepare yourself for a literary adventure in English, as your class will soon begin reading an amazing book.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19)The magical properties of ice will soon become clear to you in a dream, in which you wander a city whose build-ings are made entirely of the cold, glacial crystal.

Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18)An Italian piano player, who calls himself a pianola player will ignite a fierce animosity between two female relatives. Steer clear of their battles and you’ll survive.

Pisces (Feb. 19 – March 20)A great wind will lift your entire house off the ground and fly it over many great and foreign lands before dropping it down in a soli-tary South American forest.

Compiled by Noah Perales-Estoesta

ACROSS3. The Career and Technical Educa-tion Coordinator7. _____-Ricardos/ The 2009-2010 drum major8. New video chat program that has recently become popular 10. ___-algebra/ Next year, this class will no longer be offered for credit11. The new, free SAT and ACT soft-ware12. Campus _______: includes “Make a Difference Day”

DOWN1. _____ High School will visit us from Japan on Monday, Nov. 16 2. The new campaign meant to lessen the effects of the recent athletics budget cuts 4. A free after school tutoring program 5. ___ 20/ The release date of “New Moon” 6. A male Varsity cheerleader 9. Na Mana o Poina ole Editor-in-Chief

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