The School In Focus

Students March on MLK Day

The club Students for Peace led by teacher Peter Greenhill, co-director of the ‘Iolani Peace Institute, marched on January 19 through Waikiki in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade.
   
“If ever there were a year when this event carried enormous meaning and positive feelings, this was the year,” Greenhill said, “thanks to the election and inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.”
   
The atmosphere during the march was joyous. Music by Stevie Wonder, Sister Sledge, the Staple Singers and others played along the parade route.

Taking on Real World Challenges

‘Iolani was named the Hawai‘i state champion in the first annual state competition of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Real World Design Challenge on February 17. The team represented Hawaii at he national competition in Washington, D.C. in March. Another ‘Iolani team finished second while Kalani High came in third.
   
The first place included Celia Ou ’09, Amy Ko ’09, Adeline Li ’09, Julia Zhang ’09, Anya Liao ’09, and Jessica Lynn Saylors ’09. The second place members were David Martorana ’09; Rayfe Gaspar-Asaoka ’09, Andrew Yu ’09, Grant Iwamoto ’09, Zachary Zimao ’09, and Thanh Truong Vu ’09. The Real World Design Challenge is a national learning program that challenges teams of teachers and students to develop innovative solutions to significant technical problems as defined by the aerospace industry.

For three months, 14 teams from nine high schools from across the state took part in the competition working with mentors at the Department of Energy’s national energy laboratories, the Federal Aviation Administration, and aerospace companies nationwide to formulate their solution to the design challenge. Teachers supported the student teams and provided access to technical training and advanced engineering software. ‘Iolani’s faculty advisor was physics teacher Dr. Carey Inouye ’66.
   
Teams were challenged to balance competing forces of aerodynamics, propulsion, structures and controls, with each particular element of the redesign process being assigned to an individual team member. Success depended on strong science, technology, engineering and math skills, along with effective teamwork.

Robotics Teams Up With California School

A three team alliance – composed of ‘Iolani School Team robotics and two teams from the California Academy of Math and Science Team – took top honors in the VEX Robotics Pan-Pacific Championship that ended on December 6 at the Hawai‘i Convention Center. The three teams will advance to the VEX Robotics World Championship at the Dallas Convention Center and Arena from April 30 to May 2. At the championship, the teams will compete against top-ranked peers from other countries, including teams from the Asian Robotics League, South America and Europe.

Celebrating Chinese New Year

Kindergartners held a cultural celebration in honor of Chinese New Year’s on January 26. The holiday presented an opportunity for learning and activities as students painted Chinese lanterns, made noise makers, enjoyed a lion dance, and heard stories about the Lunar New Year from William Lee ’53, retired ‘Iolani dean of students. The students also marched through the Lower School. Some were dressed in traditional Chinese costumes.

Alyssa Alysson Ochiai ’09 is Hawai‘i Jr. Miss

‘Iolani senior Alyssa Alysson “Aly Aly” Ochiai ’09 was named the 2009 Hawai‘i Junior Miss during the scholarship competition in early December at Kamehameha Schools. She received a $4,000 cash scholarship, a four-year scholarship to Hawai‘i Pacific University, the Govenor’s Trophy, and a trip to the America’s Junior Miss competition in June in Mobile, Alabama.
   
She also won the top talent award for piano performance of Fantasy Impromptu by Frederic Chopin. Ochiai has studied piano for 13 years. She competed in five categories: talent, interview, fitness, self-expression and academics. She has a 4.2 grade point average.
   
Also representing ‘Iolani was Marissa Sakoda ’09 who was named second runner up and received a $2,000 scholarship.  Sakoda played the violin during the talent segment.

1. 

   Gob on 5/12/2009 at 7:14pm

   Woo! Go Kaitrin! That's my girl!

Print this Page

- Email to a friend

Resize the default text size