- Punahou School

Volume 5
Issue 6
The Case Middle School
Courier
May/June
2009
Produced by the Students of Punahou School, 1601 Punahou Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
A Merry-Go-Round
of Changes for the
Next School Year
Above, Mr. White, the new Gates
science guy. At right, clockwise
from top, one set of merry-gorounders: Mr. Woody, Mrs. Umeda,
Mr. Agena, & Mr. Koshiba.
Photos courtesy of Sterling’s Photo
Security Alert!
Security Alert!
L. to r.: Mr. Billy Luat, Mr. Tim
Lucas.
Photo of Mr. Luat by CMS staff;
photo of Mr. Lucas courtesy of Sterling’s Photo
By Claire Feeley
N
ext year there will be a lot
of changes in Case Middle
School.
First off, Mr. Terry Woody
who is a longtime supervisor currently for the
class of 2013 (8th
grade) will be stepping down from
the position to
pursue his previous career
as an English
teacher.
Creating
a spot for Mr.
Woody to teach
in 8th grade will be
Mrs. Jona Umeda.
Mrs. Umeda has
expressed an interest in
teaching 6th grade and
currently teaches 8th grade
English for Team 8Y.
As for 6th grade English, Mr.
Casey Agena will be moving up
from Ka Honua O Weinberg to the
position of Director of Summer
School, taking Mr. Jon Koshiba’s
place.
Meanwhile, Mr. Koshiba will be
moving sideways to become the
new 6th grade supervisor, replac-
By Lauren Tamura & Joylen Nakagawa
T
he CMS Courier interviewed
Mr. William “Billy” Luat, the
Security Director at Punahou.
He runs a staff of twelve people
who deal with parking and campus
safety.
There were some recent events
that have concerned staff and
faculty.
The first event was on Friday,
April 17th, when an Academy
student was confronted in the Mamiya Science Center by a student
from Roosevelt High School.
He was punched in an attempt
to steal his phone but he was not
seriously injured.
The second event was on
Monday, April 20th, when three
men described as in their twenties
were caught and arrested in Alexander, trying to steal backpacks.
The third event was on Tuesday, April 21st, when a homeless
man was found wandering in the
science building.
He had no ill intent, and he was
escorted willingly off the campus
by the security.
Some suggestions that Mr. Luat
has for us are to be watchful and
aware.
If you see anyone who looks
ing Mr. Woody.
Another switch is occurring in
7th grade, this time in the department of science.
After many years of working for Punahou, Mr. Robin
Otagaki, the Junior School
representative for the
Gates Science Center,
will be retiring this
year. (See related
story on page
4.)
Mr. Dave
White, 7Y’s
science
teacher, will
be returning to
his former position as Junior School
representative for the
science center, taking
Mr. O’s place.
And let’s not forget about
Math. Next year a similar kind
of change will be made concerning
the math teachers of 8th grade.
The purpose of all of these
math changes are to try to provide “seamless transitions between the Junior School and the
Academy,” according to Dr. Todd
Chow-Hoy.
This is part of the Math Depart…continued on page 2
out of place, notify the staff and
faculty immediately.
Be mindful that just because
you don’t recognize them, doesn’t
mean that they are suspicious.
The people they want caught
are the strangers that are doing
unusual activities.
Please report suspicious activity
to Punahou security at 944-5777.
We also interviewed Mr. Tim Lucas, 7th Grade Supervisor. He had
some suggestions on what kids
can do to continue to keep their
belongings and each other safe.
• As a reminder, never leave
your backpack unattended.
• If you have to leave it somewhere, keep it in your locked
locker, a classroom with your
teacher’s permission, or in Mr.
Lucas’ office.
• He wants to remind you to
also watch out for each other,
and label your things.
• If you find other people’s
belongings, please take it to
Mr. Lucas, so that it may be
returned to the owner.
Mr. Lucas would like to thank
you for taking care of each other,
and following the guidelines.
He is happy to say that no
laptops have been stolen yet, and
we have been pretty responsible.
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
Beach Clean
Up T-Shirts!
By Ariel McKenzie
B
.E.A.C.H. (Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign
Hawai‘i) is an organization that
helps clean our beautiful Hawai‘i
beaches.
Ms. Kori Hipperson is the social
studies teacher in Team 8Y. She
helped organize the project that
offered the B.E.A.C.H. shirts for
sale.
The Courier recently interviewed her about the project:
1. How did you come about
designing the beach clean up shirt,
and why did you want to?
“The shirts were designed by
my ‘Mo’ class. I’m the social studies teacher for Team 8Y, and I
named my classes ‘Eeny, Meeny,
Miney and Mo.’ For their Project
Citizen project, they decided to
4Staffing Changes
…continued from page 1
Counter-clockwise from top, the
second set of merry-go-rounders:
Mr. Young-Kingsbury, Mrs. Bender,
Ms. Hong, & Dr. Chow-Hoy.
Photos courtesy of Sterling’s Photo & CMS Staff
ment Teacher Exchange Program.
It lets one teacher in each division to spend about a year teaching the other’s courses and learning about the other teacher’s
day-to-day experience.
The changes next year
include:
• Mr. Lee
YoungKingsbury
will move
to the
Academy to
teach
Algebra
I and
Geometry.
• Andrea
Bender, who
is a teacher in
the Academy, will
be joining us in Case
to teach 8th grade for
Page 2
address cigarette litter on O‘ahu’s
beaches. The Action Plan group
decided to create and sell T-shirts
to both raise awareness of the
problem and to raise money to
give to civic organizations that
work to organize beach cleanups.”
2. Were there different sizes, or
was it all one size?
“XS through XL sizes were available.”
3. Did you participate in cleaning up the beach?
“The class, in whole, did not
participate—however, at the
Sustainability Fair they helped to
inform people of beach cleanups
and gathered email addresses for
listservs to support the Academy
Environmental Surf Club, BEACH
and Kai Makana.”
4. Have you designed T-shirts
before this?
“No.”
5. Who got the beach clean up
shirts?
“I ordered them from Certified
Hawaiian Designs and will pick
them up tomorrow or Wednesday! If you’re asking who bought
them—Punahou students from all
grades, coaches, faculty, staff,
beach volleyball friends...community members who care about our
beaches.”
6. How many shirts did you
have to make?
“We were surprised by the number of orders, and unfortunately
this has caused a delay in getting
the shirts to people who ordered
them (THANK YOU FOR YOUR
PATIENCE!!) but the response was
great! We have to print over 200.”
7. Was it hard to do this or did
you enjoy it?
“The Project Citizen project,
in general, is challenging—both
to the students and for me to
help coordinate. However, it is
extremely rewarding because
the learning experiences happen
largely out of the classroom and
require all students to contribute
and work together.”
Team 8X.
Due to the switch and helping to maintain a gender
balance between the teachers, Dr. Todd Chow-Hoy will
be moving from Team 8Z
to Team 8Y, becoming
the new team leader
there.
•Ms. Jen Hong will
be filling the
empty space
in Team 8Z
and taking
over as team
leader on her
new team.
During this
switch Dr. ChowHoy and Will Best
will be “managing
the experience from the
outside” by meeting with
teachers and asking them to
reflect on their experiences.
•
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
Mathcounts at
Disneyworld
Above, from l. to r., Dr. Chow-Hoy,
Justin West (Highlands Intermediate), Stephen Mau (Mililani
Middle), Zheng Ma, & Emile Oshima
in front of Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice Hat at Disney’s Hollywood
Studios Theme Park in Orlando,
Florida.
Below, the cool desserts that were
served at the awards dinner, some
in the shape of math tools.
Photos courtesy of Dr. Chow-Hoy
By Sean Rodan
T
he 2009 Raytheon Mathcounts
National Competition took
place at the Disneyworld Resort at
Orlando, Florida on May 8th. Two
Punahou 8th graders, Zhengyuan
Ma and Emile Oshima, took part in
this special event.
Mathcounts is a
program with the mission of promoting math
excellence among
middle school students
throughout the nation,
held annually during the
spring.
The adventure to the
national competition
was a long winding road
for the two.
Students from the
7th and 8th grade came
in to take several tests
during Math Club earlier
in the year. Based on
the scores, an eightmember team was selected, consisting of four
7th graders and four 8th
graders.
With the team chosen, Punahou
competed in the chapter level in
February, where over 220 students
from thirty schools on O‘ahu took
part in the challenge. The team
came in 2nd place, trailing only to
‘Iolani.
The top seven school teams
from the O‘ahu Chapter competition and three teams from the
outer islands made the state level,
held in March. Punahou’s team
consisted of four members, all of
which were eighth graders. The
four highest individual scorers out
of the teams would qualify for the
Hawai‘i team, which would represent the state at the national level.
Emile placed first and Zhengyuan placed second as individuals,
so both made the Hawai‘i team.
Stephen Mau from Mililani and
Justin West from Highlands were
the two other members that made
the team.
The coach of the winning team
at the state level got to train the
Hawai‘i team. Since the Punahou
team captured first place, Punahou
8th grade math teacher Dr. Todd
Chow-Hoy got to train the team.
This would be the first time that he
went to the National Competition
as the state coach.
The team came together almost
every weekend for four hours
starting in early April to prepare
for the National Competition. In
addition, they were given hours of
test work from previous years to
practice on throughout the weeks.
The Hawai‘i team departed for
the math marathon on the night of
Tuesday, May 5. The costs for each
member and coach was about
$2,000, which included airfare,
hotel, meals, and even the theme
park entrance fees. This was all
paid for by Mathcounts.
They had a brief stopover in
Denver, Colorado. The team landed
in Orlando and checked in at Disneyworld Resorts by Wednesday
evening. All of the Mathcounts
Page 3
competitors were lodged at The
Swan, which also was where the
competition would be held. The
team then went to Downtown
Disney to get gifts and spent their
first night there.
On Thursday, the team spent
most of their day at Animal Kingdom. They went on rides such as
the Expedition Everest.
After breakfast the next day,
227 mathletes from 50 states and
7 territories entered the competition room. Each state team
performed their own “cheer” for
everyone else. The competition
commenced at around 8:30 and
lasted throughout the morning.
The written portion consisted of
three tests, beginning with a speed
round known as a “Sprint”, then
an accuracy round known as a
“Target”. Both of these were done
individually. During the “Team”
round, the members of each team
got to collaborate.
After testing was finished and
lunch was served, the Countdown
round was held. During this round,
the twelve highest individual scorers out of the whole pool of competitors were chosen and battled
one-on-one for the title of Mathcounts National Champion. They
answered questions similarly to
how Jeopardy is conducted, except
with math problems instead of
trivia. Bobby Shen, from the Texas
team, won the title.
None of the Hawai’i team made
it to this final round. Zhengyuan
placed 17th, holding the new record for the highest standing from
Hawai’i. Emile placed 99th. The
Hawai’i team as a whole placed
25th, one place higher than last
year’s results.
The competition was officially
over, but the trip wasn’t yet. The
team spent the daylight they had
left at Magic Kingdom and went to
Epcot at night.
On Saturday, they went to
Hollywood Studios to go on more
rides and motion simulators. The
team then went to Epcot to attend the Awards Banquet. The top
scorers were recognized for their
achievements, and the teams had
the chance to exchange their final
farewells and gifts.
The Hawai’i team departed from
Orlando on Sunday morning and
returned to Hawai‘i by the afternoon.
According to Zhengyuan, the
whole experience with Mathcounts
“piqued my interest in competition
math“ and “improved my math
skills overall.”
Doc summed up his experience:
“This has been an outstanding
year...all the hours of training—
both formally and informally—paid
off. Everyone who competed at the
chapter, state, and national levels
represented Punahou well, and
should be proud of their accomplishments. I would like to thank
the 8th graders who made this an
enjoyable experience for me, and
wish them continued success in
the Academy. And, I hope the 7th
graders will participate again on
next year’s team!”
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
Mr. O—
Acknowledging His
Time Here at Punahou
Mr. Otagaki doing what he loves
best—playing with toys.
Photos by F. Zhu & D. Shen
The Physical Plant
Is Becoming
Physical Plants
Above, Ms. Eliza Lathrop; below,
some of the new plants.
Photos by C. Feeley & H. Haythorne
By Flora Zhu & Dylan Shen
M
r. Otagaki, a science teacher
in the Gates Science Center
on the Academy side, is retiring
this year.
Mr. Otagaki is a one of a kind
science teacher. He teaches kids
with much humor, making science
a fun experience.
Everything with
Mr. O is always fun
to work with and always enjoys a good
laugh, even when
teaching.
Here, he’s been
working at Punahou
with all the grades
for 23 years, and
before coming to
Punahou, he taught
10 years at public schools.
That’s a total of 33 years of
teaching science!
This is his response to the question of “Why did you choose to
teach science?”
“Why? Because you’re surrounded by science—people are always curious about things around
them. Science is a way to teach
people, to answer their ‘why’s.’”
The question, “Why did you
choose Punahou?” came with an
By Claire Feeley & Hayley Haythorne
Y
ears ago, students at Punahou
weren’t just students, they
were also farmers.
They would grow and eat their
own food working in the Punahou
gardens.
Nowadays, that is no longer a
common occurrence, but in the
mind of Ms. Eliza Lathrop it soon
will be. Ms. Lathrop has begun the
Griffiths Hall Garden, striving to
create a new place that encourages
sustainability.
The garden inspired Ms. Lathrop
when she visited Yale University’s
new Sustainable Food Garden while
on her trip, courtesy of a Wodehouse Grant.
Yale’s Sustainable Food Project
focuses on developing a sustainable
institution.
It features a working farm in the
middle of Yale’s University campus,
located in New Haven, CT.
“I immediately saw connections
between what was going on at Yale
and what Punahou was trying to do
as a campus,” stated Ms. Lathrop.
The main purposes of this garden
was helping fulfill President Scott’s
mission to create a private school
with a public purpose.
To help follow through with this
goal, Ms. Lathrop has come up
with four objectives to achieve Dr.
Scott’s incentive:
Objective #1: To bridge a gap
between Punahou’s Academy and
lower school. (Make a more open/
active collaboration between the
“learning spaces.”)
Objective #2:Extend the concept
of play and play space on campus.
Page 4
answer makes us proud of our
school,
“Well, it’s an outstanding school
with outstanding people and students! Also my children could be
educated here. It’s my neighborhood.”
Question: “You were made science teacher of the year. How was
that?”
The answer will
surprise you. “Pure
luck. I had a weird
sense of fun. So if
kids have fun when
they learn, that’s a
plus. I teach with
humor so kids have
fun learning science.
I enjoy some fun.”
The last question?
The answer is something we’d all agree with. “How
was teaching at Punahou?”
“Oh, it was the best! You can
have fun, do fun things! Science
is cool, you can have fun with science. If you can work and have
fun, it’s cool.”
Mr. O is a science teacher we
have to acknowledge for giving us
a good experience with learning
science in a fun way. He’s someone
who helps kids learn in a fun way,
someone we’ll all miss at our school.
Objective #3: To provide a sustainable, hands-on learning experience concept from classrooms into
outdoor spaces.
Objective #4: Support students shift to a mindset where
sustainability becomes a lifestyle
rather than a lesson.
Currently, the Griffiths Hall
Garden is a “work in progress.”
The Crotalaria Juncea L. otherwise
known as a “green manure” plant is
the only vegetative species planted
in the garden. (A “green manure”
plant acts similarly to animal manure, enriching the soil.)
The future plans for this garden
consist of planting lettuce, tomatoes, eggplant, squash and fruit
trees along with flowers to attract
the birds and the bees for pollination. Also in the plans are to bring
this garden to the classroom by
using this site as an extended space
for Ms. Eliza’s American Literature
Nature Class.
Students will spend three hours
a cycle in the “traditional” classroom and spend two hours a cycle
participating in hands on activities
in the garden.
Ms. Eliza Lathrop will be partnering with Mrs. Danette Kobayashi
for the Garden to Market Program
in first grade along with some CMS
classes. Ms. Yap’s Home Economics Class and Mrs. Ching’s and Ms.
Chong’s 6th grade classes will be
using the garden for their home
economics and botany unit.
Want to take part in this new
project? Come behind Griffiths Hall
on one Saturday a month, or just
email Ms. Lathrop at elathrop@
punahou.edu.
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
50th Hawaiian
Statehood Day
By Joseph Verghese
T
he State of Hawai‘i is turning
50 soon! President Dwight D.
Eisenhower signed Hawai‘i in as a
state on August 21, 1959.
I’m going to tell you some history about Hawai‘i. For this article,
I interviewed the Chair of Statehood Commissions, Mr. Kippen de
Alba Chu (Mr. Kip), through the
phone for some information
and thoughts on Statehood
Day.
Before you learn
about Statehood Day,
you need to know
the events that
came before it.
The first American
missionaries came
to Hawai‘i in 1820
and succeeded in
converting most
of the Native
Hawaiian population into Christians.
Sugar cane planters
soon came to Hawai‘i
in the mid-1800s and
soon became powerful
and popular. When Queen
Lili‘uokalani tried to restore
power back to the Hawaiian
monarchy, that eventually led to
her overthrow in 1893. The Native
Hawaiians didn’t look too happily
on this overthrow.
Mr. Kip said, “For the Native
Hawaiians, there was a sense of
loss... Lots of Hawaiians felt that
their government had been taken
from them, and basically, their
independence.”
In 1898, Hawai‘i became a U.S
territory after the bill was passed
by Congress for it to be annexed
by the United States.
The sugar cane industry and its
power grew once Hawai‘i became
a U.S territory. The sugar cane
industry used cheap labor to build
up their power. The descendents
of the laborers said that they
were U.S citizens since they were
born in U.S territory and that they
should vote. Wanting full voting rights, they campaigned for
Hawai‘i’s statehood.
The first plebiscite (a plebiscite
is basically a vote by people to
change a law) was in 1940 to see
if the population favored statehood. Mr. Kip said 46,174 people
said Yes to statehood and that
22,426 people said No. World War
II stopped any law for statehood
because there were many Japanese people in Hawai‘i. After the
attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S became suspicious of the Japanese in
Hawai‘i. Americans questioned the
“Americaness” of Hawai‘i. But the
loyalty and the bravery of Japanese American soldiers in World
War II, like the 442nd Combat
Team, soon put aside this issue.
In 1959, the statehood issue
was brought up again in Congress.
Congress and then President
Eisenhower signed the Hawaiian
Statehood Bill in March 1959. The
only thing left to make Hawai‘i a
state was another plebiscite to see
if the people of Hawai‘i wanted to
Page 5
become a state. It was held on
June 27, 1959. Of those voting,
94.3% said Yes to statehood and
only 5.7% of them said No. The
only island that voted overwhelmingly against statehood was Ni‘ihau
since the population was mostly
Native Hawaiian. Hawai‘i became a
state on August 21, 1959.
“It’s a great
opportunity for
people to reflect on
the benefits that we
have being a state.”.
—Mr. Kippen de Alba Chu
There are not too many events
planned for this upcoming Statehood Day, but according to Mr. Kip,
they will have a Statehood Conference at the Hawaiian Convention
Center. They will have different
speakers talking about different matters. One of the planned
speakers is Sam Donaldson from
ABC news.
There will be smaller discussions
on renewable energy, innovation,
labor unions, the future of media
(issue on newspapers being replaced by online news), and tourism. Mr. Kip says that the discussion on military partnerships is key
because Hawai‘i is headquarters to
many military organizations, like
the US Pacific Command (the largest of all US military areas in the
world).
Mr. Kip said he sent President
Obama an invitation to attend but
so far there is no reply. But retired
General Eric Shinseki, who is from
Kaua‘i, is attending.
Mr. Kip’s thoughts on statehood?
“It’s a great opportunity for people
to reflect on the benefits that we
have being a state.”
He tells the problems facing
U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and
American Samoa. The two territories can’t vote in Congress or
for President and they can’t take
advantage of federal programs.
Puerto Rico has some problems
with a divide between the rich and
the poor people. When the U.S
government wanted to raise the
minimum wage of workers at a
tuna packing facility in American
Samoa is going to close with about
2,000 people out of work.
Statehood Day is a time to reflect
on the fortune of being a state. Native Hawaiians would argue this, but
since we became a state, we have
had many opportunities offered
to us. Hawai‘i is looked upon as a
tropical paradise from all around the
world and our islands are one of the
most beautiful places on earth.
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
What in the World Is
the H1N1 Influenza A?
By Alayna Kobayashi
“P
arents and students are
shocked. They did not
expect the swine flu to hit their
campus,” said Leland Kim during
the 6:00 evening news on May 21.
The swine flu has hit Waiau
Elementary School, which is a
public school in Pearl City.
This school has three adults
and four children with confirmed
cases of H1N1 Influenza A. There
are currently 58 confirmed cases
of the H1N1 virus.
Is the Swine Flu spreading?
The first case of the H1N1 virus
started from a five-year-old boy
in Mexico named Edgar Hernandez who got in early March. Edgar
lives in La Gloria, Mexico. La Gloria is a small, dusty town that’s
next to a large industrial pig farm.
But Miguel Angel Lezana, the
director of the National Center for
Disease Control, says, “It is very
unlikely that the virus made the
mutation in La Gloria.”
Lenzana says that the flu was
carried by travelers from Asia to
the U.S. and that migrant Mexicans from the U.S. could have
taken the virus with them to
Mexico.
In April, the H1N1 virus came
to America. Mitchell Wiener, a
New York schoolteacher, died on
May 18 from this virus. According
to the CDC, there have been 15
deaths in the U.S. as of May 29.
On May 5th, the first case of
H1N1 influenza A came to Hawai‘i.
On may 20th there were 40 cases
of the flu but had suddenly grown
Sneezing and How
to Prevent the
Spread of Germs
By Thomas Pang
H
ow many times did you ever
get sneezed on by some
random bystander, or in class, or
in an elevator? How many times
have you sneezed on someone else?
For every time that you sneeze on
something or someone, you
spread germs to them.
Those germs then
spread to other people.
Say you sneezed and
you were using a public
phone. Then,
you
wiped your
hands
on your
clothes
and picked
up the
phone
again.
From the
germs on
your hand,
you just spread
germs to the phone. Then, when
you leave the phone, someone
else uses it. The germs on the
phone spread to them and they do
something else, like go on a train,
or eat, or even go to a store’s door.
From you to the phone to the
next person to use the phone, you
just started a germ cycle that may
get someone sick, or even hook
someone up with a nasty virus.
That’s how viruses spread. They
stay somewhere for 24 hours before
the die. From those 24 hours, they
Page 6
to 73 cases by May 29. The Swine
flu epidemic is covering the globe
with a total of 13,398 cases in the
world with 48 countries with H1N1
cases and 95 deaths.
There are 137 cases in the
United Kingdom, 4,541 cases in
Mexico and 360 cases in Japan
causing the country to close down
4,000 of their schools.
What is Punahou doing about this
epidemic?
You might have seen the hand
sanitizing stations that have been
set up around school but is that
enough to stop the swine flu?
Nurse Wilhite says that there
have not been any cases in
Punahou but everyone should
wash their hands and be updated
about the H1N1 situation.
Nurse Wilhite also says that
the Department of Health originally planned to make the schools
close down if they had one case
of the H1N1 virus but they had
recently announced that if a child
at Punahou does get the H1N1 virus, they have to report the case
to the Department of Health and
inform Punahou parents but the
school won’t close down.
If someone came to the Health
Center with a sickness that might
be suspected as the swine flu,
then the Health Center would
isolate that patient and make sure
that everyone in the building hand
sanitizes.
By washing your hands, being
careful and being aware of the
current cases of the swine flu in
Hawai‘i, we can all be safe from
the H1N1 Influenza A.
are touched countless times by
some innocent child or a parent who
already has problems.
You’re probably thinking, “Dude,
that’s disgusting!” I know, right?
However, dear reader, even you do
this!
You have probably sneezed in
your hand, wiped it on your clothes,
and shook someone’s hand. You
can’t say, “I’ve never done it before,” because you probably have
when you were just a little boy or
girl, too!
Not even the tissues can help you
stay alive! Even though you sneeze
in a tissue, you crumple it up and
throw it in the trash can! It’s close
to sneezing in your hand either way.
However, it’s not time to think
of the apocalypse so soon! Even if
germs are impossible to get rid of,
there is always a way. The perfect
weapon has been with you all of this
time. It’s your sleeve!
“Your SLEEVE?!?” you may yell.
Of course! Your sleeve will absorb
the sneeze and stay there until you
take a bath.
When it’s there, it won’t harm
anyone unless someone just falls on
you or something of the sort.
More importantly, always stay
sanitary. It’s not like you have to
…continued on page 7
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
The National French
and Latin Exams
Sean Rodan, class of 2013, with his
National French Contest trophy.
Photo courtesy of Madame Clay
4Achoo!
…continued from page 6
Page 7
t 9 a.m. on Sat., Mar. 14,
students from all over O‘ahu
piled into classrooms at the University of Hawai‘i, nervously chatting while they waited to take the
National French Test.
The National French Test consists
of 70 questions divided into written
and listening comprehension questions. There are
six different levels
for grades 7 - 12,
each level with
different tests.
This year 34,380
students from all
50 states competed in the Junior School level.
Le Grand Concours, or the National French Contest, is written,
given, and designed by the members of the American Association of Teachers of French.
On their web site they
state that, “[The] purpose
[of the National French
Contest] is to help stimulate further interest in the
teaching and learning of
French and to help identify
and reward achievement on the
part of both students and teachers.”
Madame Clay, the Junior School
French teacher here at Punahou,
leaves the National French Test
optional but encourages students
to take it because, she says, “In
the classroom, a student may being doing fine but it’s good to see
themselves compared to other
students nationally. The feeling of
joy and satisfaction they get out
of seeing themselves beginning to
really understand French is what
makes my teaching experience so
wonderful.”
She believes that the reason
Punahou students excel in this contest is because, “Punahou students
don’t just learn inside of the classroom. They open their mind up to
things and start learning because
they want to learn and not just for
the grade.”
Among all the public and private
schools in the State of Hawai‘i,
Punahou Junior School ranked
first in terms of number of medals received. Punahou also placed
in the top 10th nationwide as well.
Punahou students received a total
of 19 medals, 1 gold, 4 silver, and
14 bronze.
Sean Rodan, 8th grader, earned
1st in the nation with a perfect
score. He said, “Studying for this
test really helped me learn all
about the French culture and the
way they live. I also have found a
new appreciation and understanding for the French world and really
enjoyed learning new things for this
contest.”
Not only did Punahou students
from middle school participate in
the National French Contest, they
also participated in the National
Latin Exam. The National Latin
Exam is sponsored by the American
Classical League and the National
Junior Classical League.
According to the leagues,
more than 149,000 Latin
students from all fifty
states participated this
year, as did students from
thirteen foreign countries,
including Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Italy,
Japan, New Zealand, Poland,
Switzerland, United Kingdom
and Zimbabwe.
The NLE is made up of 40 multiple-choice questions. The questions
range from grammar, comprehension, and derivatives to mythology,
life, history, and questions based
on a short passage in Latin.
Mrs. Power, one of the Junior
School Latin teachers, believes
that, “Students should take this
test because seeing where they
stand in the nation pushes them to
keep doing well or to work harder.
It is also great from the to get
practice taking a standardized test.”
This year many Latin awards
were given to Punahou students
in the Junior School. There were
29 gold medal winners, 21 silver
medal winners, 4 third place winners, and 8 fourth place winners.
Kisa Matlin, Matthew Buck, Brad
Kawano, Chloe Nobuhara, and
Sonia Chang are the five students
that received perfect scores.
be a germaphobe (someone who is
scared of getting dirty, like a lot of
people) and avoid germs in every
possible way known to mankind. It
just means that you have to stay as
clean as possible.
That means washing your hand
every now and then, or wearing
long sleeved shirts to cover your
mouth when you sneeze. That way,
you can prolong the amount of
time it would take to get sick or to
spread a germ.
Also, when you sneeze on your
hand accidentally, it’s not that bad.
All you have to do is carry around
antiseptic spray, or hand wipes, or
go to a bathroom and WASH YOUR
HANDS! Many of the people in the
world do not wash their hands,
causing the spread of germs to go
even farther. It would only take
another good 20 seconds to go to
a sink, turn the water on, get some
soap, and dry your hands.
Nurse Wilhite from the Health
Center says, “We can help each
other and help ourselves with good
hand washing and good personal
hygiene.”
She thinks that staying healthy
and sleeping regularly is a great
way to keep ourselves immune, and
to wash yourself after an activity
like P.E. or using something a lot of
other people use.
Now that you know a little about
keeping clean, it’s your turn to sanitize the world and to keep a healthy
and green life,
By Gigi Abcarian
A
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
What Was Your
Impression of Your
Year at Punahou?
By Ally Mullen
T
he end of the school year is
less than a week away and
about a 1/4 of the 7th grade were
new kids this year.
Punahou is rated one of the
best schools in the nation and to
see if the children coming in from
other schools agreed with this
statement, I decided to interview
some new kids at Punahou.
Tamara Ohta
Q: What did you think of
the Punahou experience?
A: It was a lot more hands
on and there’s a better way
of teaching than my old
school.
Q: Are you glad that you
decided to come to Punahou?
A: Yes!
Larry Tuileta (Tui)
Q: How did you like Punahou
compared to your old school?
A: It was
fun.
Q: Did
you have
any problems with
Punahou?
A: I
didn’t like
the lunches, but other than that there
were no problems.
Bo Coolen:
Q: What did you like about
Punahou School?
A: Uhh.. Dan!
Nah, nah, just kidding.
I liked BK!
Ha ha, no, I liked the sports.
Separate, but Equal:
An 8th Grader’s
Perspective
Viewpoint by Ryan Adachi
S
ince we were in 6th grade,
we have been separated
based on our intellects, skills, and
preferences. Is this fair? Aren't all
individuals to be treated equally?
In 6th grade, we were separated into our music classes. We
could choose either choir, band,
orchestra, or music explorations.
They are all pretty equal, but
the students that are enrolled
in “music ex” are treated
as the students who aren’t
musically talented and
are slackers—not by the
teachers, but they are being labeled by their peers.
That makes the students in music explorations feel less important,
and not equal.
In 7th grade we were
separated by “skill” and “talent”
into our music classes.
For band, we become separated
into advanced band, intermediate
band II, and intermediate band I.
In orchestra, students are put
Page 8
Q: Ok. What
sports did you
participate in?
A: Baseball
and basketball
Claire
Steinemann:
Q: What
school did you
attend before
Punahou?
A: Le Jardin!
Q: How do you like Punahou as
opposed
to Le
Jardin?
A: I
think
Punahou
has better options for
kids
Oliver Lewis:
Q: How does Punahou compare
to Hanahau’oli?
A: Well, at Hanahau’oli I was
with the same kids for eight
years, and that was kind of brutal.
As a new
kid myself I
was petrified about
coming to
Punahou,
but right
from the
beginning it
started out
strong.
With new friends and new experiences everyone seems very
happy with Punahou.
into different levels, as in band:
advanced orchestra, intermediate
II orchestra, and intermediate I
orchestra.
The difference between 6th and
7th grade choir is, instead of there
only being one choir group, they
are separated into mixed choir and
treble choir.
And lastly, there is music explorations.
Not only are we separated by
our music choices in 7th grade,
but also by our musical “skill.’
The 8th grade isn’t much different from 7th grade, in terms of
musical “talent”, but we are further
separated into two different math
classes.
Your teachers in 7th grade
either recommend you for “regular” math or honors math, giving
us either Algebra One or Honors
Algebra in 8th grade. Honors is an
accelerated math course for the
students who are “gifted” in math.
Non-honors is for everyone else.
If you think it is bad now ... just
wait ’till high school and college—it
only gets worse.
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
May Day Is
Lei Day
in Hawai‘i
Summer Plans:
What Are You Doing?
By Kaylee Wedderburn-Pugh
& Tamara Ohta
P
unahou, a school that blends
the old and the
new, has been continuing the annual
festival of May Day,
a celebration recognized throughout
Hawai‘i.
Each year,
Punahou students,
young and old,
put on a Holokū
pageant showing
off their decorative
Hawaiian-patterned
dresses and the
Hawaiian customs
in honor of May
Day.
Four different performances
make up this May Day celebration,
and are performed by grades K-2,
3-5, 6-8 and 9-12.
For grades K-5, performing in
May Day is mandatory. However,
for grades 6 and up, participating
in May Day is voluntary.
In each of the performances,
there are princesses to represent
the islands of Hawai‘i as well as a
May Day queen.
Following Punahou’s yearly tradition, each princess must choose
a Kāhili bearer who will also represent the same island as his princess. Both the Kāhili bearer and
the princess will wear the matching royal colors of their island.
Being able to participate in May
Day is a great opportunity for each
of the students.
It helps them to be able to learn
By Hayley Morgan & Alanna Vance
S
chool’s almost out and all of a
sudden the question hits you:
what are you going
to do once school’s
out?
For some kids,
summer school
is not optional
because they use
summer school
for a way to get
education if they’re
behind.
For some of the
luckier kids, summer means a trip
either outer island
or outer country.
But other kids go
to summer school simply because
they have nothing better to do and
they can choose what they want
that’s fun.
To some kids, they dread summer school because they think
it’s all just about taking classes
that they normally take during the
school year. But it’s not all boring classes. There are really fun
classes like wood shop and sailing
and even making animated computer games that work!
So we interviewed some kids
Page 9
more about their culture through
singing and dancing. They are also
helping to revive the diminishing
Hawaiian culture in Hawai‘i.
Each of the dancers have put
forth so much effort throughout
this extensive process whether
it was through the diligence they
showed in learning their dances,
or the dedication they displayed in
giving up their Saturday mornings
for Holokū practice.
Every one of the Holokū participants would like to give their sincerest appreciations to everyone
who helped make this program
possible: Auntie Hattie, Uncle Pal,
the Academy and faculty directors, the musicians, and those who
worked behind the scenes.
Can’t get enough of the May
Day performances? Do you wish
that you could see them over
again? Well, you can find a QuickTime version of the videos available on http://www.punahou.edu/
page.cfm?p=1024 by clicking on
each of the links labeled by grade.
what they were doing for summer
and here’s what they said:
Erika Payne says, “I am taking
Math and MovieMakers.”
Shawn McCarthy
says, “I am taking
Math, Weight Training and Summer
Football.”
Mr. Wagenseller
says, “I will be
teaching seven
hours a day. I
will be teaching
TechnoScribes (two
sections in the
morning) and Two
Thumbs Up (one
section) in which
we will be watching
movies and critiquing them.
Kara Nystul says, “I am taking
math, cooking and Two Thumbs Up
(which is a movie course).”
Summer School for Punahou
starts on June 22 and goes until
July 24 for those people in grades
Kindergarten through eight grade.
For those students in Academy,
starts on June 16 and goes until
July 24.
Now you are probably asking,
“I know the times that Summer
…continued on page 10
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
Is Google Making
Us Stupid?
Nicholas Carr, author of “Is
Google Making Us Stupid”
4Summer School
…continued from page 9
Page 10
rantic, you jab at your computer, hurriedly trying to open
the lid of your MacBook. Tapping
on the space bar, you wait impatiently as the computer whirs sluggishly and the black screen reveals
your desktop. Flipping through
your folder, you
find last night’s
homework undone.
Well aware
of the fact that
in your science
teacher’s classroom, homework counts as
a major part of
your grade, you
open up Firefox. Immediately, you go to
the little box in
the upper right
hand corner and
type in Atoms. Clicking on what
appears to be an acceptable site,
you jot down information to fill out
the assignment sheet.
Remembering that your science
teacher required a book source,
you hastily grab your ScienceSarus
book and look at the index at the
back of the book, flipping to the
page filled with Atom information.
You stare at the couple pages you
have to read.
You groan and sigh at the sight
of such long paragraphs. It’s only
a few paragraphs, we hear you
saying. If so, then explain why our
generation hates reading so much.
You never would’ve guessed.
One word: Google.
People may not know that Google
is slowly eating up the patience in
your brain and planting dents of
laziness in the back of your head.
To raise awareness of these
hidden effects of Google, Nicholas
Carr wrote an article to the Atlantic magazine stating that Google
promotes laziness and might have
an effect on your reading abilities.
To much dismay, Google is not
the only thing that could possibly
make you more vulnerable to illiteracy. The internet, though very
useful and efficient, also creates a
barrier between us and what might
seem like long and boring words.
Another thing to consider is the
way the internet, including Google,
teaches skimming.
It is a useful skill to
know when
wanting to
know a brief
summary
on particular things.
However, you
could, in fact,
skip over an
important
note because
you read the page too fast.
As you can see, skimming cannot be used for everything.
Another question to ponder
upon is “Why is it that every time
we need information, we go online
to google?”
People born the year 1993
after are considered the, “Google
Generation.” This phrase refers to
generations which have lost the
ability to read and understand. As
put by the article “Is Google Making us Stupid?” it says, “Reading,
explains Wolf, 'is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It’s
not etched into our genes the way
speech is. We have to teach our
minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the
language we understand.’”
But get real. Do we need another uninformed citizen in this
country? We have too many people
that can’t think for themselves and
believe anything people tell them.
Get off your computer and get
into the real world.
School, but what kinds of classes
can you take?” Well, here are
some examples of what you can
take:
You can take a lot of things from
art to music and woodworking to
swimming. You can take almost
any courses. You can even take a
driver’s education course! Here’s a
little interview of Mr. Schwengel:
Is your other name Dr. Traffic?
Dr. Traffic: “It is. Also, Vanilla
Thunder.”
How old do you have to be to
take Driver’s Ed?
Dr. Traffic: “The state does not
specify, but 15-year-olds take the
course.”
Are you the instructor?
Dr. Traffic: “Yes, I am.”
How long?
Dr. Traffic: “Four years now.”
Can you tell us a little about the
course?
Dr. Traffic: “It teaches responsi-
bilities, liabilities, laws, and consequences.”
Why did you start teaching?
Dr. Traffic: “I have always been
terrified about driving and riding in
cars, so that drives my passion.”
Can you tell us a little about
yourself and your family?
Dr. Traffic: “I am 38, but look
28. I am married, have 2 kids, like
sushi, long walks, and LOVE Kevin
Bacon films. (Not movies.)”
What was the worst thing that
ever happened to you in traffic
with a student? Any other scary
stories?
Dr. Traffic: “It would have to be
almost dying. I was on the freeway with a student and I told her
to slow down but she slammed on
the brakes IN THE MIDDLE OF THE
FREEWAY! That’s why I decided to
only teach the classroom part of
the course. There are too many
other stories for me to recount.”
By Emily Okikawa & Naomi Yau
F
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
The Unkindness
of Humankind
First the horses
were hit in the
forehead until they
were (hopefully)
unconscious. Then
their hind legs were
shackled and the
horses were lifted
into the air upside
down to have their
throats sliced.
By Kela Ladd
A
nimal Cruelty … it’s a big
thing.
Did you know that the Humane
Society rescues over 6 million
dogs alone from horrible situations caused by animal cruelty and
abandonment every year? And
those
are
only
the
lucky
ones.
Millions of animals are mercilessly
beaten and slaughtered for dog food,
not winning at a
show, or not winning
a race every year.
Have you ever
seen cruelly treated animals? It’s
terrible and it needs to stop.
Cosmetic companies kill millions of animals just to test their
products. The companies say they
test on animals to make sure their
products and ingredients are safe
for consumers or customers.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, does not require animal testing for cosmetics
and other testing methods, some
say, are very available and have
more reliable results.
Hundreds of companies, including Avon, The Body Shop, and
Mary Kay already use humane
non-animal testing methods to ensure the safety of their cosmetics.
Product testing is commonly
performed on animals to measure
the levels of skin irritation, eye
tissue damage, and toxicity caused
by various substances used in the
manufacture of cosmetics.
In the Draize test, the products
are placed in the eyes of conscious
rabbits to figure out how much
damage this does to the sensitive
eye tissues.
This is extremely painful for the
rabbits, and they often scream
when the products is applied and
sometimes break their necks or
backs trying to escape the restraints used to keep them still.
Not only is animal testing inhumane; it is very inaccurate. For
example, lethal dose (LD) tests do
not measure human health hazards, but will only determine how
toxic the product is to the type of
animal it was tested on.
Test results cannot be the same
for a mouse than a rat, let alone
from a rat than a human. Each
species reacts differently to various substances.
Moreover, LD test results can be
affected by the age and sex of the
animals tested, their housing and
nutritional conditions and how the
compound is administered.
Non-animal testing methods
that are more reliable and less
expensive have been developed.
These make use of cell and skin
tissue cultures, corneas from eye
Page 11
banks, and sophisticated computer
and mathematical models.
Some companies avoid testing altogether by using non-toxic
natural ingredients or those that
have already been safety-approved
by the Cosmetics, Toiletry and
Fragrance Association.
Regulatory agencies don’t require animal testing of cosmetics,
and the effectiveness of non-animal product testing methods has
been thoroughly demonstrated.
In 2003, the European Union
passed a ban on the use of animals in cosmetics
testing starting in
2009, and a complete
sales ban will be effective in 2013.
Corporate legal
departments typically
use animal testing as
a way
to get
around
liability
in the
event of
a lawsuit.
However, consumers who purchase products from companies
that test on animals are also partly
responsible. Compassionate consumers must use their purchasing
power to send a strong message
to cosmetics manufacturers that
testing on animals is cruel and
unacceptable.
Slaughter is also a big problem,
but we don’t need to stop slaughter completely. We just need to
stop slaughtering innocent horses,
dogs, and other animals just for
having a small problem with their
health, or for not winning.
Pigs, chickens, and turkeys are
mostly bred for meat, but horses,
dogs, bunnies, and etc. are killed
mercilessly every year and for
what? Just because they have a
small problem, don’t win, or do
something wrong! Over 10 million
innocent animals are put down
every year in the U.S. alone.
Pet food companies in the
United States can no longer use
horse meat, according to the
Equine Protection Network, which
is a group dedicated to making a
difference for abused, neglected
and slaughter-bound horses.
The main reason for this is because U.S. companies make more
profit by selling it to countries
where people eat the meat.
I have heard that horse meat is
used in dog food, and it wouldn’t
surprise me if some form of horse
“by-product” legally makes its way
back to the United States to be
thrown into pet food. The only way
to be absolutely sure horse meat
is not used in your dog’s food is
to read the label and avoid buying
foods that say “animal by-product,” which could be any animal.
The best brands of dog food do not
have any ingredients listed as “ani…continued on page 12
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
I’ll Ride My Llama,
You’ll Ride
Your Ostrich
Are you waiting for rail? Why wait?
Here are some alternatives that
only require a bit of feeding and
some unusual sitting positions.
Photos courtesy of messybeast.com
4Animal Cruelty
…continued from page 11
Page 12
hen you think of riding an
animal, you think of riding a
horse, possibly a mule or a donkey.
Not a zebra, deer, moose, yak,
llama, or an ostrich. When you
think of pack animals, you think of
mules, donkeys, oxen. But do you
think of pigs, too?
In the 19th
and early 20th
century, zebras,
deer, moose, yak,
llamas, ostriches,
and pigs were
all recognized as
animals for
working.
The first
doctor in Nairobi, Kenya,
went by the
name Rosendo
Ribeiro. Ribeiro
bought a
zebra in 1907,
and became
famous for riding his
zebra
when
going
to visit
his patients.
In
the
1800s,
it was
considered “fashionable” to train zebras
to pull carriages, and in the 1890s
zebras were being entered in show
jumping.
In the early 1900s, attempts
were made to tame the wapiti
(elk), and to use them for carriage
and riding animals. Reindeer have
often been used to transport small
animals and luggage.
There are pictures and documents from 1900 of families in the
Russian Republic riding yaks.
In some parts of the world in
1910, the mounted police group
didn’t ride horses, but llamas.
About the same time as the
mounted llama force, England was
training their pigs
to pull small carts.
Along with pigs
and carts, llamas
and police, America was training
their ostriches as
riding and cart
animals.
At a
contest in
New York,
an ostrich
beat a horse
at a trotting
match.
In
the
1920s,
ostriches
were
being
ridden
and
raced
in
Czechoslovakia.
South
Africa was
ahead of the
game, having
trained ostriches in harnesses in the
late 1800s.
In the late 1900s till today, our
main riding animal is the horse,
and in other parts of the world the
donkey, mule, and camel.
mal” by-products. Instead, they
list specifically what animal it is,
for example, chicken by-product.
The reason the horsemeat issue
is in this article mainly is because
legislators in North Dakota are
sponsoring a bill that could lead
to the building of the only horse
slaughterhouse in the United
States.
A North Dakota plant would
slaughter horses.
“Plant may slaughter horses …”
What bothers me is that horses
can be slaughtered in our country
and the way it would be done.
The EPN describes on its web
site the way horses were killed in
our country up to 2007 when the
last two U.S. horse slaughterhouses closed.
First the horses were hit in the
forehead until they were (hopefully) unconscious. Then their hind
legs were shackled and the horses
were lifted into the air upside
down to have their throats sliced.
This all happened after the
horses were shipped for sometimes thousands of miles and then
lined up into the slaughterhouses.
I hate to think of how horses
are killed in Mexico and Canada,
which is where the U.S. currently
ships its horses for slaughter.
Something tells me that if you
are a horse going to be slaughtered, you’re better off being
killed in the United States than in
Mexico where horses are stabbed
to death.
In 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an act to ban
horse slaughtering. But it failed
in the Senate, making it still legal
in our country. The North Dakota
plant would slaughter horses that
are no longer used for recreation,
farming or racing.
Slaughtered horses are used for
meat, gelatin, glue, pet food and
leather products, according to the
article.
Would you care if your dog’s
food had horsemeat in it?
What do you think about
slaughtering animals that aren’t
bred for food like pigs, and should
it be done in our country or elsewhere?
By Kapri Lisehora
W
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
The History of
Nothing… That Is
The Ancient Art
of Tai Chi
By Brad Kawano
I
t’s difficult to explain the history
of zero. Long ago, there was
no such thing as a zero, let alone
negative numbers. How could you
show the great difference between
100 and 1, if both are written 1 and
1? If not for the work of mathematicians, the philosophy of “nothing”
would never have advanced.
The Babylonians and the Greeks
were the first contributors to zero.
The Babylonians used two apostrophe marks (‘‘) as a placeholder
(e.g. 1”1 is 101), but this sign was
never used at the end of any number, so 100 and 1 were still indistinguishable.
The Greeks did not have a placeholder system, but it is theorized
that the Greeks used the letter
omicron (O) to represent zero as a
number, not a placeholder. However, there have been claims stating
that the Greeks could never have
used Omicron. At this point, the
philosophy of nothing had stopped.
Thankfully, three Indian mathematicians, Brahmagupta, Mahavira,
and Bhaskara, wrote books that
explained the uses of the number
zero and negative numbers.
Essentially, Brahmagupta lays
out the basics we know about adding and multiplying with zero and
negative numbers. However, he
was unable to write anything for
numbers being divided by zero.
Brahmagupta wrote (n=a number)
By Alexa Ito
R
elaxation, exercise, meditation. Tai Chi is an ancient
version of mild Chinese martial
arts. Not only does it help you get
in shape, but it also reduces stress
and has many health benefits.
The construction workers building our very new Kindergarten to
First Grade practice Tai Chi every morning. This is because the
owner of the company requires
this for all his workers.
Reduced
stress improves
anybody’s work
ethic.
When people
feel
overwhelmed,
they lose confidence and become irritable or
withdrawn, making
them less productive and effective and
their work less rewarding. With less stress,
people worry less and
able to focus better on
their work.
In 6th century BC, a man
named Lao Tsu wrote this. “Yield
and overcome; bend and be
straight” and “He who stands
on tip toe is not steady. He who
strides cannot maintain the pace.”
Then during the time between
220-265 AD Hua-tu’o began studying the movements of the five
animals, tiger, bear, ape, deer, and
birds. He then taught copies of the
Page 13
n/0 = n/0. Of course, this wasn’t
very useful.
Mahavira added subtraction, but
stated “a number divided by zero
stays unchanged,” while it was
known then that a number divided
by one remains the same.
Bhaskara correctly added the
knowledge that zero raised to any
power, and that every root of zero,
is zero. However, Bhaskara states
that n/0 = all real numbers. It
wasn’t till later when mathematicians finally discovered that n/0 is
undefined.
At some time in 665 ACE, the
Mayan people came to use the
number zero as a placeholder. However, this amazing breakthrough
did not influence other people.
Thankfully, the brilliant work of
the Indian mathematicians spread
to the Chinese, who used the symbol 0 for zero.
Fibonacci helped spread the new
number system in Europe, which
also let him complete his famous
Fibonacci Sequence, which started
with zero.
However, the number zero has
still caused problems to people
who use it around the world. When
everyone celebrated the new year
of 2000, they actually celebrated
1999 years, since there was never
a year 0. Also, people still have
trouble understanding why the 21st
century and 3rd millennium start
on 2001, and not 2000, so zero is
still causing us problems.
moves because he believed that
they were good exercise for your
joints. It is said that this is the
earliest teachings of Tai Chi.
Meditation is good for the mind,
body and spirit. Relaxed people
create happier atmospheres making other people around them
happier. It is even proven by brain
scan that meditation is healthy for
you. Meditation helps people pay
attention to their current thoughts
and keeps them in tune with their
bodies.
Our very own librarian, Ms.
Ohta, takes Tai Chi classes outside
of school. She has been taking
them for three to four years in
Hawai‘i Kai and Kapahulu. Her
teacher, or “Sifu” is named Sifu
Andrew Lum. She says he is not
only a great teacher but also very
nice, sincere, and friendly.
She says she feels relaxed after
doing Tai Chi. “It’s a constant flow
like a dance,” she said. “It has
specific steps and motions and you
do them in a particular order like
learning a dance. Your breathing is
coordinated with the movements.
It’s about directing your energy.
And I definitely feel relaxed after
doing Tai Chi. The main focus of
Tai Chi would be to join the mind
and body much like yoga. It also
keeps you in shape.”
Tai Chi is the art of the ages. So
next time you’re feeling stressed
or overworked, take a break with
some meditating Tai Chi.
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
Page 14
Just in Case: Our students speak out
Just in Case:
What Are You Doing
for Summer Vacation?
By Kendrick Leong
& Shawn McCarthy
The question for this Just in
Case was: What are doing for
Summer Vacation?
Zach Puetz, ‘13: “I’m gonna
listen to music and hang out with
friends.”
Nikolai Bulanow, ‘13: “I’m
Jessie Torres, ‘14: “I’m going surfing, then I’m going to
the Philippines for a month, and
when I come back, I’m going to
basketball and volleyball clinics.
Jared Caputy, ‘14: “I’m going to relax and sleep, then lift
weights for football.”
Leilani Bostock, ‘15: “I’m
going on the East Coast trip,
playing football.”
Ronson Ige, ‘14: “I might
be going to the Big Island during
Summer Vacation.”
then I’m playing Hawaiian Island
water polo, doing Musical Theater, and going to the Big Island.”
Lia Mausolf, ‘15: “I’m going to Arizona, Kaua‘i, and Hilo.
Then I’m going to shop a lot at
Ala Moana, and then I’m working
at a preschool.”
Hank Bluy, ‘15: “I’m playing
a lot of soccer.”
Tim Lucas, Seventh Grade
Supervisor: “I’m going to be a
‘Dean of Students.’”
Clockwise from
top left, Zach,
Nikolai, Ronson,
Jessie, Jared,
Leilani, Mr.
Lucas, Hank, &
Lia.
Photos by K. Leong
Just in Case:
What’s Your
Favorite Movie?
or this version of Just in Case
we interviewed students from
the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades.
Our question of interest was
about film: What is your favorite
movie and why? We had a bunch
of different responses, mostly from
guys and one brave girl.
Tomoki Kobayashi, ‘14
What: The Day the Earth Stood
Still
Why: “Because it was so horrible, it was good.”
Luke Auten, ‘15
What: Elf
Why: “Because it’s so stupid and
funny.”
Cade Brittain, ‘15
Here are their answers:
Dylan Shen, ‘14
What: Star Trek
Why: “Because Spock is totally
awesome.”
Jonathan Dang, ‘14
What: Pokémon The Movie 3,
Spell of the Unknown
Why: “Isn’t it obvious?”
What: The Dark Knight
Why: “Because there is lots of
actions and surprises.”
Kela Ladd, ‘15
What: Black Beauty
Why: “Because it is really mysterious.”
Renesh Wainscoat, ‘13
What: Blades of Glory
Why: “Because it’s uber funny.”
Ezra Varady, ‘13
What: Watchmen
Why: “Because I loved the
comic books.”
Jensen Wakayama,13
What: The 300
Why: “Because it’s inspiring
when people are running around
with 6 packs.”
By Mykah Fujiwara & Matt Shimura
F
Clockwise from
top left, Dylan,
Jonathan, Tomoki, Luke, Cade,
Kela, Jensen,
Ezra, & Renesh.
Photos by M. Shimura
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
Are You Ready to
Be a Parent?
Above, three happy rice babies. At
right, the twins Cameron and Tate.
Photo by T. Dinman
Some Nice
Rice Advice
“...(R)ice babies help
reinforce making
good choices and
good values, to learn
about the dangers
of teen pregnancy
—Ms. Hipperson, 8Y
By Tara Dinman, Jenna Nishida,
& Courtney Kosaka
E
ighth grade holds many special traditions such as Camp
Mokulē‘ia, 8th grade dance, and rice
babies. With the end of the year
approaching, eighth graders found
themselves as new parents—of a
5-lb. bag of rice.
For about one week, each student must take care of his or her
rice baby. Each team decides how
many students in the team get twin
rice babies and only one student in
the whole eighth grade will receive
triplets.
Each student is told the gender
of the baby and christens the baby
with a name of his or her choice.
Each student must treat the rice
baby as if it were a real human
baby. That means students must
take care of their babies with love
and care. If a teacher finds a baby
left alone without anyone watching
it, the baby will get confiscated and
points will be taken off of the parent’s grade.
Anytime when students are not
able to take care of their babies,
By Shannan Yamamoto
& Maddie Wilson
O
ver the last month you may
have noticed all 8th graders carry around decorated and
clothed rice bags for their social
studies “Human Sexuality: Values And Choices” projects better
known as “Rice Babies.”
The project was that each student would have to carry a 5-lb.
bag of rice around everywhere or
find someone to baby sit for them
during times they cannot watch
them.
They also were not allowed
abuse their babies, leave them in a
room unattended, or be more than
an arm’s length apart.
When we first asked the 8th
graders most of them said they
couldn’t wait for rice babies and
dressing them up in little clothes it
will be so cute.
We asked Ms. Kori Hipperson,
8th grade Team Y social studies
teacher, her opinion on rice babies:
Q: What do you think is important about rice babies?
A: For us to explore values and
making choices, rice babies is an
experience as opposed to writing
a paper: an experience that helps
Page 15
such as when they go to P.E, wood
shop, or after school sports, they
must find baby-sitters to take care
of their babies.
They should make sure that they
can trust their baby-sitter to handle
their rice baby with care.
When the project is over, teachers inspect each student’s rice baby
for signs of mistreatment or abuse.
Here are some student’s and
teacher’s thoughts on the rice babies.
Hayley Haythorne was the mother of twin rice babies in Team Z.
She has one girl and one boy. The
names are Cameron and Tate. She
says that it was more of a burden to
have to carry around two rice babies
rather than one. She likes the fact
that she has one boy and one girl.
When picking her baby, she had
a feeling that she was going to pick
twin rice babies because she was
one of the last ones to choose.
At first she was sad that she got
twins but she still liked her rice babies and realized that she would feel
the same way about her rice babies
if she had only one.
We also interviewed Ms. Marion
Lyman-Mersereau (Ms. L-M) about
the rice babies. We found out that
she was actually the one who
started the whole sexuality unit in
1988/1989.
She began the whole program
with hard boiled eggs, but one year
she had two students that were
sisters that had a mom who was
Buddhist. She wouldn’t allow her
children to carry around eggs for
the project because of her religion.
Instead the girls decided to carry
…continued on page 16
reinforce making good choices and
good values to learn about the
dangers of teen pregnancy.
Q: Do you think rice babies are
a good way to learn these values?
A: Students learn best when
they actually get to do something,
but I do think that there are some
limitations to the project.
We get out of it what we put
into it. It’s a student controlled
project. I can’t tell if you are abusing the baby at home or even taking it places with you.
Q: What is your personal opinion on rice babies?
A: I think that, in its ideal, the
rice babies project has sound objectives.
However, it is a teacher’s responsibility to guide students to
discover these ideals.
For example, I do not want
my students to come away from
the project simply thinking that
children are burdens and have to
carry them around.
Q: Do you think your students
take it seriously?
A: Some, I think the kind of
social aspect of naming, dressing
such but when the responsibility
of the project hits and the initial
excitement is gone the students
either take it seriously or not.
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
The Origins
of Rice
Da History
of Sushi
4Rice Babies
…continued from page 15
By Nicholas Muneno
H
ave you ever had questions
about a common starch we all
know as rice?
As you all should know, our recent “babies” were filled with this
food product, which made them
have a baby-like appearance (or so
our teachers thought).
This important food source
known as rice is part of the grass
family of gramineae.
Although there are many types
of rice, the two dominant domesticated species of rice are known as
oryza sativa and oryza glaberrima.
Oryza sativa is the most commonly cultured rice, being grown
in many areas such as Asia, Africa,
and America.
Who exactly grew rice first?
The answer would be: the Chinese.
It is not currently known just
Page 16
where exactly rice was first grown,
but archaeological evidence points
to an area next to the Yangtze River in central China about 11,000
years ago.
Later in history, this major
food source spread to many other
countries in the world, and is now
currently the world’s most valuable
food source.
Also, in today’s modern world,
rice is grown in over 50 countries,
having its biggest rice producer
(Southeast Asia) make an annual
amount of 9-23 million metric tons
of rice each year.
Truly, without this major food
source, our world would be
changed negatively.
Famine would take over many
parts of our world, we would not
have many of our favorite foods,
and we wouldn’t have the joy of
carrying around a bag of rice as a
baby!
irst of all, what IS sushi? Is
sushi similar to raw fish?
WRONG, raw fish in
Japan is called
sashimi and
sashimi and
sushi are not
the same.
According
to the information that
I have found,
sushi indicates
different foods
mixed with different
types of sweetened rice.
There are tons of different ingredients to mix with rice
to create sushi but raw fish is the
most popular ingredient of them
all —but there are some kinds
of sushi that do not include raw
fish. Some of those kinds include
cooked fish, shellfish, and eel. Raw
fish is called sashimi in Japan.
Even though sashimi is the most
popular ingredient, Japanese sticky
rice is the main element of sushi.
Believe it or not, the
origin of sushi is NOT
Japan—sushi was introduced to Japan in
the 7th century from
China. Sushi was
made to preserve
fish by fermentation
when there were no
refrigerators.
In conclusion, sushi
is low in fat, very
nutritious, and a greattasting food.
The fish in sushi is rich in
protein and the vegetables are a
good source of vitamins. The rice
provides carbohydrates so you are
getting healthy while eating great
at the same time.
around Christmas ornaments.
Ms. L-M decided that carrying
ornaments was a better idea than
carrying eggs because the eggs
turned stinky after a while and were
just wasted in the end.
The ornaments seemed like a
better idea but if someone dropped
their baby, the ornament would
shatter and glass would go all over
the floor.
Because of this problem, students were next given 5-lb. rice
bag babies to carry around rather
than ornaments. If someone were
to drop a rice baby and break it, the
rice would be easier to clean up.
Ms. L-M said that most teens give
birth to premature babies. Premature babies usually weigh about
5-lb. so that is why Punahou uses
5-lb. rice bags.
A plus factor of the project is that
homeless shelters can receive the
rice after the project is done.
If students wished, they could
eat the rice themselves. In fact,
this year, Ms. L-M noticed that there
were fewer rice bag baby donations. She thinks this is because of
the falling economy. Some parents
might feel that if they bought the
rice, they should eat it themselves.
At the end of this project, Ms.
L-M had the students of team Z rate
their parenting skills. The ratings
were:
If students were neglectful or
abusing, then they were a 1-2.
If students were sometimes
loving, sometimes neglectful, they
were a 3.
If students were responsible and
concerned parents, they were a 4.
If they were loving, responsible,
and very concerned, they were a 5.
Ms. L-M said that the objective of
this project was to make students
realize that they are not yet ready
for the responsibility of a baby.
By Max Abcede
F
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
Cupcakes: They’re
Not Just a Kid Thing
Because in this economy, who can
afford whole cakes?
Photo courtesy of honolulumagazine.com
By Ruby Masciangelo &
Mary Gusentine
A
lthough wedding cakes may
be their specialty, Mary Catherine’s Bakery or Cakeworks, as it
is now called, is a local favorite.
It is right across from the Humane Society, at 2820 South King
Street. Some may argue
that their cupcakes are
way too sweet, but that’s
not always a bad thing.
Although they don’t
have as many flavors as
some of the other bakeries, (only vanilla, chocolate and red velvet) the
frosting is very rich and
the cake is moist, which
is not always easy to find.
They are super casual
and you usually don’t
have to call in for orders,
but if you have a particularly complicated order
their number is 9464333.
But be prepared,
because the parking is a
huge situation.
Hokulani Bake Shop in Restaurant Row is one of the most
popular and expensive bakeries in
Hawai‘i. However, their cupcakes
are arguably some of the most
adorable and delicious.
They have very many different
Cupcakes with a Cola Surprise
If you are interested in making a unique
flavor of cupcake yourself, here is a recipe
for making Coca-Cola® cupcakes, a southern
favorite.
Belly Coca-Cola Cupcakes
Ingredients:
* 2 cups self-rising flour
* 2 cups granulated sugar
* 3 tablespoons cocoa
* 1 cup Coca-Cola®
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
* 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup buttermilk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar;
set aside.
3. In a saucepan, combine the cocoa, CocaCola®, butter and marshmallows. Bring to a
boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Pour the boiled mixture over the flour mixture
and stir to combine. In a small bowl, beat the
eggs, then stir in the buttermilk and vanilla.
Stir into the flour mixture; stir well to combine. Pour the batter into cupcake pans lined
with foil or paper cups, filling each 2/3 full.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until a tester inserted
in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.
4. Per cupcake (with frosting): 342 calories
(percent of calories from fat, 49), 4 grams
Page 17
flavors of cupcakes, something different everyday.
But certain flavors tend to sell
out very quickly. Some of the
favorite flavors include carrot
spice cupcake, Guittard chocolate, southern red velvet, paradise
coconut cupcake, Madagascar
Bourbon vanilla cupcake and Lillikoi with lemon cream cheese.
You can also customize your
own cupcake, but that costs even
more.
Meet another type of couture,
Cake Couture.
Cake Couture has been voted
the best of Honolulu 2008 for best
cupcakes.
These are no ordinary cupcakes,
these cupcakes are sleek, they are
sophisticated, they are couture.
The frosting of these delectable
cupcakes could be lemon curd or
marshmallow.
But the fun doesn’t stop there.
Cake Couture has a variety of
flavors, such as vanilla, chocolate,
lemon, coconut, orange creamsicle, carrot, black and white,
chocolate mint, red velvet, peanut
butter, chai spice, mocha, cookies
and cream, and strawberry.
The flavors are available on
different days of the week, but
vanilla and chocolate are always
available. Cake Couture is located
in Aina Haina Shopping Center
Courtyard.
protein, 41 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams
fiber, 19 grams fat (10 grams saturated), 54
milligrams cholesterol, 211 milligrams sodium
5. Whipped Fudge and Coke® Frosting
6. You can use any combination of chocolate chips, as long as you have a total of 1 2/3
cups.
7. Tester’s note: Keep a close eye on the
frosting as you beat it. One trick is to use the
electric beaters until the mixture begins to
lighten in color and texture, and then finish
beating it by hand to the right consistency. If
the frosting becomes too stiff to spread, use a
spatula that’s been held under hot water and
dried off to frost the cupcakes.
8. 1 cup heavy cream
6 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup Coca-Cola®
1 cup milk chocolate chips
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup coarsely chopped Planters peanuts
9. In a saucepan over medium-high heat,
combine the cream, corn syrup and Coca-Cola® and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and
add the chocolate chips and butter, stirring until melted and smooth (if the chocolate doesn’t
melt completely, return the saucepan to low
heat and stir constantly until melted). Pour the
mixture into a mixing bowl and chill for 1 hour.
10. Using an electric beater, preferably with
a whisk attachment, beat the mixture until it
is light and fluffy but still spreadable. Do not
over-beat, or the frosting will become too stiff
to spread. Use immediately to frost the cooled
cupcakes, and then sprinkle them with the
chopped peanuts.
Recipe from foodclassics.com/re3424/recipes.php
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
The Counter:
A New Take on an
Old Favorite
You can’t judge a
book by its cover,
or, for that matter,
a burger by its bun,
so I went inside.
Get ready for some ono grinds at
The Counter: Custom Built Burgers—and a whole lot more.
Photos by J. Belding
By Jake Belding
T
he Counter: Custom Built
Burgers, located in Kahala
Mall, has received no shortage
of hype. But is it really all that? I
decided to find out.
Located in a prime location:
the corner of the mall facing the
official entrance, The
Counter has a lot going for it appearance
wise. Its design, colors and sign are edgy
and immediately
stand out in comparison to its mellow,
island-themed surroundings.
The Counter is
notoriously known
for its long waits but
after the first couple
months the staff
began pulling things
together and gradually reducing the
waiting time.
In fact, when I
went there at noon
on a Saturday there
wasn’t anyone waiting outside at all.
Already things began
looking good for The Counter,
but you can’t judge a book by its
cover, or, for that matter, a burger
by its bun, so I went inside.
The Counter’s ambiance has
both an urban and industrial chic.
The walls are painted in a cool
pastel grey, modern metallic chairs
sit at every table, large tubular
vents decorate the ceiling, and the
back wall is lined with skateboards
painted with contemporary urban
designs. Even the menus matched
the industrial theme, handed out
on clipboards.
There’s also a full bar which
lines the sidewall and provides
extra seating for eager diners.
The menu at The Counter offers both a set list of items and a
signature “Build Your Own Burger”
option. The latter is impressive,
boasting four different types of
patties, 10 types of cheeses, 29
toppings, 18 sauces and three different types of buns. Besides that,
there are three different sizes: 1/3
pound, 2/3 pound, and 1 pound
and a “Burger in a Bowl” option
that replaces the bun with a bed of
lettuce or mixed veggies.
Prices are reasonable, considering the size of the burger, with a
1/3-pounder, including all the trimmings, costing $8.95.
After a while of debating, I
decided to go with a simple burger
made with Tillamook Cheddar,
grilled onions, lettuce, and mayonnaise. My dining companions
ordered a turkey burger and a
“Burger in a Bowl” with chicken.
We also decided to split a
fry trio, a popular staple on the
regular menu. It came with classic
fries, sweet potato fries, and fried
onion strings.
After a brief wait of about 15
minutes our food arrived.
The burgers looked great and
with a little bit of ketchup, mine
Page 18
was ready to go. The first thing
that you taste when biting into one
of The Counter’s burgers is the
meat. The beef was cooked just
right and emitted an artful savory
flavor, complemented by a blend
of just the right seasonings, which
is hard to come by in most burger
joints.
The mix of the
toppings and sauces
enhances the taste of
the burger, with the
grilled onions adding
an extra kick.
The slightly doughy
bun tied everything
together with an interesting and intriguing texture. Overall
the burger had great
flavors and a unique
taste, making it well
worth the money.
The turkey burger
won a less glowing
review. It was a little
dry, but the mix of
cheese and roasted
garlic aioli sauce still
made it a solid choice.
The chicken bowl was
a both a flavorful and
healthy option.
The fries came out with a combination of three sauces on the
side: barbeque, ranch and horseradish mayo. The fries themselves
were not very warm, which was
disappointing considering how
good the meal was going so far.
The original fries tasted like any
other type of French fries and
lacked the culinary innovation that
makes The Counter unique.
The sweet potato fries, on the
other hand, were a whole different
matter. They were refreshing and
offered naturally sweet taste that
paired perfectly with the horseradish mayo.
Finally, there was the fried
onion strings. They were probably
the best out of the three, blending
crunchy, golden-brown batter with
succulent and savory onions, all of
which was truly brought out by the
barbeque sauce. The only problem
with the onion strings was they
were on the greasy side, but such
is expected from fried foods.
I decided to wrap my meal up
with a classic chocolate milkshake.
The shakes are made from scratch
and come with whipped cream,
which is optional upon request,
but, in my opinion, adds a pleasant airiness to the dessert.
The shake itself was surprisingly
thick and maintained that pure,
frosty taste of ice cream which is
all so elusive now days.
It was a delightful way to end
lunch and added to the overall
experience.
All in all, The Counter: Custom
Built Burgers is a contemporary,
family-style restaurant with an
edgy and unique atmosphere that
is matched only by their burgers
and wide variety of choices.
Though it’s not perfect, the
Counter is pretty darned close
and is definitely one of the better
burger joints on the island.
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
The Reason Why
You Should Buy
the Nintendo DSi
Above, the Nintendo DS Lite; at
right, the “original” DS; below, the
new Nintendo DSi.
By Sean Ching
F
inally, on April 5th, 2009,
Nintendo released the Nintendo DSi into North America. This
system became the third version
of the DS sold in stores across
the globe. The DSi has the most
extreme changes since it was first
released as the original DS: many
of these changes were actually
pretty major.
The DSi’s most noticeable
feature is its two-way built in
camera. The first camera is
inside the DS, when you
open it up—this camera
is in the middle
of both the top
screen and the
lower touch screen.
This camera can be
used to take pictures of
yourself, or people sitting
next to you. You can position
where the camera will shoot by
looking onto the bottom screen,
where you will see yourself.
Of course, taking pictures of
yourself can become quite
boring on its own, so Nintendo designed a camera
on the outside of the
system as well. When
you open up the
DSi, and enable the camera mode, you
may switch to
the outer camera,
meaning that when
you look into the bottom screen, you won’t see
yourself, but what is right in
front of you. You then can position the camera and then take a
picture whenever you’re ready.
However, like all technologies
in the world, there are some flaws
with the camera.
First of all, the camera has
no flash, so taking pictures in
the dark is impossible. Also, the
Prologue
On November 21st, 2004, Nintendo released
the very first Nintendo DS into North America.
This system became a revolutionary breakthrough:
it had become the very first handheld gaming console
to feature a touch screen, a display on the bottom
portion of the system that reacted to touch. Nearly
a month after its release, over two million of these
consoles were sold across the globe.
The Nintendo DS came in only one color: silver,
and it was the second system created by Nintendo
that folded in half, so that people could fit it in their
pockets, and travel with it. Aside from being portable, the system also folded in half if it needed to
be put on stand-by mode, and folding it in half also
helped protect the screen from dirt. Being the ambitious sort, Nintendo did not stop thinking of ideas.
On June 11th, 2006, (about one and a half years
after the release of the original DS) Nintendo released the Nintendo DS Lite, a slimmer and more
elegant Nintendo DS.
This system featured many minor changes compared to the first. Although these changes were
Page 19
camera will not recognize very
dark black colors, and instead will
change them to a light green color
when the picture is taken.
Lastly, taking pictures using
either camera really drains the
DSi battery, so it is not advised to
leave the DSi on at all times: you
should probably turn the system
off between pictures.
There are also other changes
that occurred between both the DS
Lite, and the
DSi.
As
mentioned
previously,
the DS
Lite has
a power
switch that
slides sideways to turn the DS on
and off. However, Nintendo was
obviously not content with this
feature, so instead, they changed
the power button on the DSi to be
a lot like the very first DS: you had
to push down on the power button
to switch it on and off.
However, unlike both previous
systems, the DSi has a menu that
can be accessed without having
to turn the system completely off.
When you want to turn off the
system, you hold down the power
button, however, when you want
to return to the menu screen, all
you have to do is lightly tap the
power button, thereby sending you
back to the menu.
There have also been many
changes to the menu as well.
The DSi menu now features
many of the photos that you take.
…continued on page 20
unanimously considered minor, they were nonetheless important.
Some of these changes took place in the actual
design of the system: the screens were made larger than the original DS, and the overall “body” was
smaller. The system was also much lighter than the
original DS, and the stylus holder appeared on the
right hand side of the system, versus appearing in
the middle, in the original DS.
Lastly, the stylus’ were made much bigger, the
screens were made much brighter (with the option of
changing lighting preferences) and the power switch
was changed from a button that you pushed down,
to a button that slides sideways.
The DS Lite came in two colors when it was first
released: black and white, however during the next
two years, the DS Lite would be made into many different colors, including Cobalt blue, Crimson Red and
Coral Pink.
Demand for both the Nintendo DS and DS Lite
became outrageous, and while Nintendo did release
another best-selling console (the Nintendo Wii) they
were still coming up with many more ideas on expanding the famous “touch screen console.”
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
Best Game to Buy
for the Summer?
Try Halo Wars!
4DSi
…continued from page 19
Page 20
around
the real
Halo trilogy,
which
is one of the amazing things about this game. It
shows about the alien Covenant
and what the UNFC has been doing
before Halo 1.
The game starts with you, the
commander, finding the Covenant
on a planet called Harvest. You
find a shrine there that tells of
some major thing that is close to
Earth. Your job now, is to find out
what the “thing” is before the Covenant has a chance of using it.
Anyways, the gameplay is
splendid! It’s easy to control all of
the available units that you have
and it’s not that easy to win.
If you are the type that wins
computer games by massing the
most powerful troops together,
then you have a problem coming your way—depending whether
you put it on easy, which you can
slaughter your opponents with
ease, or legendary, which goes the
opposite way around.
The unfortunate flaw of the
game is the skirmishes.
After a while with beating the
CPU senseless, you get tired of
playing and most people give up.
Even when turning all of the skulls
on to make you weaker and make
the CPU on Legendary, it barely
balances out.
However, trying the online battles, it’s really a blast. If you do
the same thing as your opponent,
then your chances of winning is
pretty low, because then they can
outsmart you the same way you’d
try to outsmart them.
Online games are probably
more of a challenge than playing
by yourself.
Some of the gaming magazines
and web sites rated it an average
of a 9 out of 10 for the quality, but
that’s to be expected from Microsoft. So, what are you waiting for?
Get some friends, grab a soda,
and blast your way through one of
the most challenging and addicting
games ever!
This means that if you take a
photo that you like, you can actually feature it on the menu, and
whenever you open up the menu
screen (if you’re going back from
a game, or turning the system on)
the DSi menu will display one of
your designated photographs.
The last crucial update regarding the menu screen has to do
with switching game cartridges.
When you want to switch a game
cartridge, you don’t have to turn
the system off anymore.
All you have to do is eject the
cartridge, and put another one in.
This means that the menu will not
suddenly freeze up if you eject a
game while in the menu.
There is one last feature that
has been added to the DSi: the
Nintendo DSi shop. When using
this feature, you may purchase
games and tools for the Nintendo
DSi over the Internet.
(These new games/tools are
called DSiware.)
To purchase these games, you
will need Nintendo points (previously known as Wii points.) You
can get Nintendo points by purchasing a Nintendo points card, located at many participating stores.
When you go online, you add
the points on the card using the
card’s serial number. Once the
points have been added to your
account, you may purchase games
or tools over the Internet.
Some of these game or tools
might even be free.
For example, the Nintendo
DSi browser (which is available
now) can be downloaded free of
charge, and can be used to surf
the Internet.
Speaking of free, there is also a
promotional offer that is currently
being offered. If you purchase a
Nintendo DSi, and log onto the
DSi shop by October 5th, 2009,
Nintendo will give you 1000 Nintendo points for free.
You can use these points to
download as many games as you
can afford for 1000 points.
The Nintendo DSi is currently
being sold for $169.99, (depending on the store) plus tax, and
comes in black and light blue
colors.
With newer features and crucial
changes, the Nintendo DSi would
be a pretty good choice for any
gamer, be they new or old, and
with this new system, comes a
new message: the world of gaming is still evolving, and as time
flows, so shall the development of
newer technologies exist…
By Thomas Pang
H
ow many of you are going to
be bored senseless during
Summer Vacation? Do you have
friends going on trips around the
world, leaving you behind? Well,
I’ve got news for you! If you own
an XBox 360, then you should purchase the new Halo Wars!
Halo Wars is a strategic action
game that demonstrates how to
use your brain from training Spartan soldiers with rocket launchers
to building a massive swarm of
tanks to upgrading them to make
them nearly invincible. It’s a mindblowing sensation that will take
up you entire vacation trying to
beat this game.
This
game revolves
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
Summer TV
Shows Coming Up
Britain’s
Got Talent
By Kenta Palma
W
hat are you gonna do this
summer, sit around and
watch T.V. all day? Well, if you are,
I’ve got some new shows coming
out for you.
The eighth and final season of
“Monk” comes with new episodes
debuting in Summer ’09.
“Monk” is about Adrian Monk
who is an obsessive compulsive
detective who is a part of the San
Francisco Police Department.
He became OCD after the unsolved murder of his wife Trudy.
But because of OCD, he has
had his badge stripped from him
because his case of OCD was that
serious. He now solves the cases
that no one else can, hoping he
can get his spot back on the San
Francisco police force.
Another show coming out this
summer is “Harper’s Island.”
By Alayna Kobayashi
T
At right, the Escala performers on
their unique electric string instruments. Below, the YouTube sensation, Susan Boyle.
Photos courtesy of dailymail.co.uk
& assets.nydailynews.com
Page 21
he show “Britain’s Got Talent,”
is a program where many hidden talents have been discovered
and YouTube videos have been
created.
An electric string quartet was
discovered in 2008 and they found
themselves
basking in
the glory of a
standing ovation
and hearing the
words, “It was
just fantastic”
come out of
Simon Cowell’s
mouth. This
group’s name is
Escala.
They wowed
the judges in
an outstanding
performance
and found
themselves performing the same
song on the season finale of “Britain’s Got Talent.” Escala is coming out with their first album May
25th.
Along with the amazing talents
that are discovered, this show also
tells inspiring stories.
One of the latest stories is
about a 48-year-old woman named
Susan Boyle.
Susan Boyle was an unemployed cat owner that only sang in
her church and small local plays.
As a child,
she was constantly bullied,
she suffered
from learning
problems and
has never been
close to getting
married. When
she first stepped
onto the stage,
the audience
sneered and
laughed at her
appearance.
As the weddings begin, secrets
are exposed as a murderer claims
victims, one by one, turning the
week of celebration into a struggle
for survival.
In every episode, someone is
killed. By the end of the 13 episodes, the killer will be revealed
and only a few will survive.
But the room silenced when
the beautiful, strong sound of her
voice filled the air.
Her video on YouTube received
over 20 million hits and her single
song she sung as her audition became number 38 on the top songs
list on iTunes.
Her video received a shocking
72,656 comments and a viewer
who named herself “mamachar1”
wrote, “Susan is Beautiful - both
inside & out! She’s kind, gracious,
classy, with an incredible ‘real’
heart too! There should be more
good people on Earth just like her!
She blesses all people she comes
in contact with! Susan is an awesome gift to all of us. Thank YOU,
GOD - Thank you, Susan!!! GOD
bless you & GOD speed - today
and always!!!”
Actress Amanda Holden says
that she doesn’t want Susan to
change her appearance. She also
says, “Whether she knows it or
not, she is standing for the average person in the street.” Susan
did change her wardrobe and her
hair color.
As her new look continues to
surprise millions of Susan supporters, she is still a competitor in
the game show and many people
around the world are supporting
her in the competition that has led
many to fame and success.
Good luck Susan Boyle!
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
Sixth Grade’s
Fav Artists
Some Awesome
Summer Movies
By Kala’i Santos
W
ho’s the sixth grade’s
favorite music artist? I
asked 50 sixth graders their
opinions.
Who was the most
popular is it T-Pain,
Soulja Boy, Akon, Flo
Rida, Fiji, Rebel Souljaz or 50 Cent.
Well, according to
iTunes the nation likes
Eminem, Kid Cudi, Flo
Rida and Pitbull.
While the top song
in the nation is
“Boom Boom
Pow” by the
Black Eyed
Peas, also
noteworthy
are “Day
N Nite” by
Kid Cudi
and “Sugar”
by Flo Rida
and Wynter.
The top album
in the U.S. is “Losing Sleep” by
Parachute.
Well, let’s see what the 6th
grade thought—here are the
results.
In first place receiving eight
By Travis Hayashi & James Farmer
S
ummer’s almost here, and
with summer comes some of
the greatest movies, sequels, and
flicks. Some of the most anticipated movies are:
✪ X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
This tells the story behind
Wolverine before he joined
the X-Men, how he got
his amazing powers, and
the reason why he can’t
remember anything.
✪ Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.
This is the sequel to the
first Transformers movie.
This time, Decepticon
forces return to Earth on a
mission to take Sam prisoner. When Sam escapes,
he learns the truth about
the ancient origins of the
Transformers.
He joins Optimus Prime in the
mission to protect mankind in one
final epic battle to the end.
✪ Harry Potter and the Half
Blood Prince.
The sixth installation of the
Harry Potter series. Harry Potter
begins his sixth year at Hogwarts.
During the school year, Harry becomes Dumbledore’s star pupil. He
teaches Harry about Voldemort’s
dark secrets and past in an attempt to figure out his true weakness and to defeat him once and
for all.
If all fails, Hogwarts will fail and
they will be doomed forever!!
Page 22
votes was Eminem who is making a recent comeback, some of
his top songs are “Beautiful” and
“We Made You” featuring Jessica
Simpson.
Followed closely by rapper Li’l Wayne with
seven votes. His
top songs are
“Prom Queen,”
“Lollipop” and
“Fireman.”
Third is
recently convicted T.I.
with five votes
whose songs
are “Whatever
You Like,” “Slide
Show” feat John Legend, “My Life Your Entertainment” feat Usher
and “Dead and Gone”
feat Justin Timberlake.
In Fourth is TheDream with four votes.
His songs are “Rocking
That Thang” and “Falsetto.”
Also receiving votes, T-Pain,
Akon, 50 Cent, Beyonce, Kanye
West, Maoli, Jay-Z, Ekolu, Three
Plus, Taylor Swift, Gwen Stefani,
Rebelution, Pink, Kanye West,
Green Day, Collie Buddz and Sara
Bareilles.
✪ Terminator 4 Salvation.
Set in 2018, John Connor is the
man to lead the human resistance
against Skynet and its army of evil
Terminators. As Skynet prepares
its final onslaught, Connor sets off
on an adventure that takes them
into the heart of Skynet’s operations Here is where they uncover
the horrible secret behind the annihilation of all mankind.
✪ Land of the Lost.
On his latest expedition, Dr. Rick
Marshall is sucked into a spacetime vortex alongside his research
assistant and a redneck survivalist.
In this parallel universe, the trio
makes friends with a half monkey, half human creature named
Chaka. Chaka is their only ally in a
world full of dinosaurs with personalities and other fantastic and
kinda creepy creatures.
Can they all make it back to
our world alive, and if so, will Dr.
Marshall go from zero to hero with
his amazing discoveries?
✪ Night at the Museum: Battle
of the Smithsonian.
The Museum of Natural History
has been closed for renovations
and all of the inhabitants move to
the famous Washington museum
for so-called safekeeping. But, all
is not well at the museum. Once
Larry Daley becomes the new night
guard, an evil pharaoh tries to take
the tablet that brings the museum’s
inhabitants to life.
An all out clash begins between
the good and evil people in the
museum, one side led by Larry and
the other by the Pharaoh.
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
New Fiction Books
Now in the BLC
The Pendragon Series
Finally Complete
Page 23
By Tom Sullivan
T
his week the BLC has added
many new fiction books to the
library.
The new books are placed
along the front shelves in the
library and you can find the titles
of these books on the BLC web
site.
One of the new books the BLC
has is Chains. Chains tells the
story of a teenages slave named
Isabel who along with her sister
is sold into the ownership of a
wealthy Manhattan family.
One day while she is running
errands she is confronted by the
Rebels.
They tell
her if she
spies for
them, they
will help
free her
and get
her sister
back.
Another story
is The
Christopher Killer.
This one
tells the
story of a
17-yearold girl
who is
working
By Michael Tome
O
n May 12, 2009, the 10th
and final book in the Pendragon series, The Soldiers of
Halla, was released.
The Pendragon series, initiated in 2002, is the story about
a 14-year-old boy named Bobby
Pendragon.
As the basketball star of
his school and
all-around good
guy, he thinks
all is going well
for him.
But when he
finds himself
being whisked
away to the reality that he is
a traveler trying
to hold “Halla”
together, it
might be too
much for him to
handle.
The books
were written by
D.J. MacHale,
who produced
corporate films
and television
for kids before
becoming a
writer.
He enjoyed writing screenplays
in his spare time, and when he
came up with the idea for the
for her dad (a coroner) as an assistant.
Cameryn uses her knowledge of
medicine to find the person who
killed her friend and puts herself
in danger at the same time.
Finally, Whirlwind tells the story
of Jack who returns to the town
he grew up in after a five-month
leave and finds his girlfriend PJ
missing and his family killed.
To make things worse everybody thinks he is responsible for
this. He must go on a dangerous
adventure to find the killer and
save his girlfriend.
As you can see there are many
good books in the library. Perhaps
you should go and check one out?
Pendragon series, he decided to
write the books.
Bobby’s mission in the series
is to stop an evil traveler named
Saint Dane from destroying Halla.
Halla is, basically, as Bobby’s
Uncle Press says, “Everything
that ever was, is, and always
will be.” There are ten territories
in Halla, all of
which Bobby
will have to
fight Saint Dane
for.
How do travelers get around
Halla? They use
things called
flumes, crystal
tubes that travel between territories, which
are marked by a
star somewhere
near them to
alert the travelers of their
existence.
All of Bobby’s
tales of his
adventures are
sent back to his
home territory,
Second Earth.
These journals are the basis of the Pendragon books. The
Pendragon series has been on the
New York Times list of bestselling
series for 72 weeks
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
The ABCs of the
MTV Movie Awards
By Shannon Hennessey
I
n 1992, the MTV Movie Awards
premiered.
Now, 17 years later, the MTV
Movie Awards still debut with fun
and exciting categories (including
this years’ new categories—Best
‘WTF’ Moment and Best Song From
A Movie), unique nominees, and
mind-blowing winners.
(See related story below for the
Best Villain nominees.)
This year, the MTV Movie
Awards with kickoff on May 31,
2009 with nominees such as:
Best Movie: The Dark Knight;
High School Musical 3: Senior
Year; Iron Man; Slumdog Millionaire; Twilight.
Best Male Performance:
Christian Bale (The Dark Knight);
Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man);
Shia LaBeouf (Eagle Eye); Vin
Diesel (Fast & Furious); Zac Efron
(High School Musical 3: Senior
Year).
Best Female Performance:
Angelina Jolie (Wanted); Anne
Hathaway (Bride Wars); Kate Winslet (The Reader); Kristen Stewart
(Twilight). Taraji P. Henson (The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button).
Best Comedic Performance:
Amy Poehler (Baby Mama); Anna
Faris (The House Bunny); James
Franco (Pineapple Express); Jim
Carrey (Yes Man); Steve Carell
(Get Smart).
Best Fight: Anne Hathaway vs.
Kate Hudson (Bride Wars); Christian Bale vs. Heath Ledger (The
Dark Knight); Robert Pattinson
And the Best Villain
Award Goes to ... ?
Dwayne Johnson gets smarter next
to Steve Carell.
Photo courtesy of the Internet
By Ian Ingoglia & Aaron Hidaka
T
he MTV Movie Awards will be
airing on May 31 2009.
The host will be Andy Samberg
who is know for his comedy acts
on SNL and on also on YouTube.
The MTV Movie Awards first
started in 1992 and has had famous guests hosting the show up
to 2009.
You will probably have to record
Page 24
vs. Cam Gigandet (Twilight); Ron
Perlman vs. Luke Goss (Hellboy
II: The Golden Army); Seth Rogen and James Franco vs. Danny
McBride (Pineapple Express).
Best Kiss: Angelina Jolie and
James McAvoy (Wanted); Freida
Pinto and Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire); James Franco and Sean
Penn (Milk); Kristen Stewart and
Robert Pattinson (Twilight); Paul
Rudd and Thomas Lennon (I Love
You, Man); Vanessa Hudgens and
Zac Efron (High School Musical 3:
Senior Year).
Breakthrough Performance,
Female: Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia!); Ashley Tisdale (High
School Musical 3: Senior Year);
Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire);
Kat Dennings (Nick and Norah’s
Infinite Playlist); Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana: The Movie); Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical
3: Senior Year).
Breakthrough Performance,
Male: Ben Barnes (The Chronicles
of Narnia: Prince Caspian); Bobb’e
J. Thompson (Role Models); Dev
Patel (Slumdog Millionaire); Robert
Pattinson (Twilight); Taylor Lautner
(Twilight).
Best WTF Moment: “Peeing
In The Sink,” Amy Poehler in Baby
Mama; “Curved Bullet Kill,” Angelina Jolie in Wanted; “Jumping In
The Poop Shed,” Ayush Mahesh
Khedekar in Slumdog Millionaire;
“Tasting Decapitated Head,” Ben
Stiller in Tropic Thunder; “Naked
Break Up,” Jason Segel and Kristen
Bell in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Best Song From A Movie:
A.R. Raham “Jai Ho” (Slumdog
Millionaire); Bruce Springsteen
“The Wrestler” (The Wrestler);
Miley Cyrus “The Climb” (Hannah
Montana: The Movie); Paramore
“Decode” (Twilight).
Don’t forget to vote for your
favorite nominees at: http://www.
mtv.com/ontv/movieawards/2009/
categories.jhtml
And check out the winners on
May 31, 2009!
it because it will be showing at 10
o’clock on Sunday.
We thought that we should talk
about one category and tell you
who’s in the running. We chose
the Best Villain award because villains make a movie interesting.
First, the some of the wellknown winners from past Best
Villain awards are Johnny Depp
from Sweeny Todd (2008), Jack
Nicholson The Departed (2007),
Hayden Christensen Star Wars
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
(2006), Ben Stiller, Dodgeball: A
True Underdog Story (2005).
The nominees for best villain
are Derek Mears from Friday the
13th, Dwayne Johnson from Get
Smart, Heath ledger from The
Dark Knight, Jonathon Schaech
from Prom Night, and Luke Goss
HellboyII: The Golden Army.
Enjoy the show and we hope
you vote.
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
I Would Pay
Money to See
17 Again Again
Around Campus:
Snapshots of Life
Here at Punahou
Review By Megan Lau
T
he film 17 Again is a comedy
for teenagers. 17 Again is
a classic tale of someone who is
unhappy with their life. Here is a
brief summary:
Mike O’Donnell is a teen with
everything he wants. He has
a great girlfriend, he’s a
good basketball player, and
is one of the
most popular
kids in school.
Mike is at
one of the
most important
game of his
basketball career. If he does
well, a college
scout will give
him a full ride
to his dream
school.
Right before
the game he
receives some
news from his
girlfriend that
could possibly
change his life
forever.
At that moment he has to
choose between his basketball
career and his future family.
He chooses his family. Flashforward twenty years into the
By Sean Ching & Jake Belding
A
s the school year is wrapping
up, we decided to go around
the campus and take a few snapshots of life at Punahou.
The first one, at left, is a picture
of Rice Field, most commonly
known as Middle Field.
Many students walk across this
field everyday, to get to and from
different classes, including P.E.,
Band and Language.
Just a short walk from Middle
Field reside the Winne Units.
I was able to get a photo of a
group of third graders practicing
‘ukulele there.
They’re pretty good!
All the way at the bottom of the
school lies Palm Drive.
Many students take buses for
field trips from here.
The last photo that taken was in
Page 25
current day. Mike is working a
boring job, his wife is leaving
him, he is living with his best
friend, and his kids barely talk to
him. His life has really changed.
As he visits his old high school
he sees a picture of himself at
the infamous game. A janitor
asks him if he could do it all over
again would
he? He says,
“You got that
right.”
On his way
home he sees
a man on top
of the bridge.
He looks like
he is trying to
jump in. When
Mike tries to
help the man,
Mike suddenly
falls into a big
whirlpool. Once
he washes all
of the mud off
of himself he
sees he is seventeen again.
After about
20 minutes of
freaking out.
He realizes he
was sent back
to this age for a reason.
He thinks he was sent back
to seventeen so that he can go
back to high school and fix all the
…continued on page 26
Case Middle School, in one of the
Team 8Z classrooms.
The Team 8Z teachers were gracious enough to allow a photo to
be taken of them during a meeting. Dr. Todd Chow-Hoy (better
known simply as Doc) is on the far
left. (He is the math instructor.)
To the right of him is Ms. Traci
Young, the English teacher, and
to the right of her is Ms. Marion
Lyman-Mersereau (Ms. L-M), who
teaches social studies.
Last, but not least is Mr. Dario
Salgado on the far right of the picture, and he teaches science.
Also, what should be noted is
that Mr. Tedd Landgraf is not in
this picture, but he was also attending this meeting.
And that concludes “Around
Campus”, brought to you by Sean
and Jake from the 8th grade News
Journalism class.
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
The View from
Castle Hall
417 Again Review
…continued from page 25
From the Editor
T
he Castle Cartoon Club will
soon be on summer hiatus
but they had one more submission
before the school year ends.
This last one shows a bit of
“gallows humor,” a bit of social
commentary, and just a touch of
mistakes he made
His first day at the high school
doesn’t go great. He keeps forgetting that to everyone around
him he is a seventeen year old
which causes a few awkward
scenes between Mike and some
of the students.
He soon realizes that he
wasn’t sent back for himself. He
was sent back to help his kids.
He decides he will help teach
his son, Alex to become a better
basketball player and be a friend
to him.
His daughter Maggie is a little
bit more troubled than Alex.
She is dating a bad guy who
is mean to everyone and she is
willing to throw away a great
school to be with him.
But there is still something
missing from his life. He starts
falling for his ex-wife Scarlett.
Only problem is that Scarlett
thinks he is just a friend of her
son and only seventeen.
What will Mike do? Will he
stay a seventeen year old forever?
Page 26
Castle Hall whimsy.
This semi-scary vision comes
from three girls: Ellia Bower,
artist, Amber Chong and Robbie
Bickerton, writers.
Ellia is a member of Mr. Barry
Luchenbach’s fifth grade class;
Amber and Robbie belong to Mrs.
Robin Kelleher’s fourth grade class.
This movie teaches many lessons like family is one of the most
important things in your life and
every decision that you make has
good and bad consequences. Another lesson this movie teaches is
to enjoy what you have now.
This movie stars Zac Efron
(High School Musical) as the
teen Mike, Matthew Perry
(Friends) as adult Mike, Leslie
Mann as Scarlett, Thomas Lennon as Mike’s best friend Ned
Gold, Sterling Knight (Sonny
With A Chance) as Mike’s son
Alex, and Michelle Trachtenberg
(Ice Princess) as Mike’s daughter
Maggie.
The same movie plot has been
used many times throughout the
years. In this movie they try to
add a new twist to cliched plot.
This movie is rated PG-13 for
some inappropriate language. I
give this movie two thumbs up.
This movie was so funny that
I almost fell out of my seat
laughing. I recommend this
movie to anyone who enjoys a
good laugh.
The CMS Courier
May/June 2009
2009 NFL Draft
By Rykley Lynch
T
he 2009 NFL Draft on April 25,
2009 was full of big coaches
making big picks. The Draft started
around noon. The seniors from all
over the country were watching
and waiting to hear their names
called or their phone to ring.
The 2009 Draft started with the
Detroit Lions,
which finished
their 2008 season with a record
of 0-16 (0 wins
16 losses). They
picked Georgia’s
star quarterback Matthew
Stafford. In
Stafford’s 2008 collage career he
completed 235 passes out of the
383 he threw, for 3,459 yards and
a completion percentage of 61.4%.
The next team up was the St.
Louis Rams. Last year the Rams
finished off their season with a
3-13 record.It wasn’t the season
they had hoped for, but hopefully
after the draft, that will change.
The second pick of the 2009 NFL
Draft was Jason Smith. Smith was
born in Dallas Texas and went to
W.T. White High School in Dallas.
NBA Playoffs
By ‘Eleu Akimseu
B
asketball is one of the most
famous sports in the U.S.
With the NBA Playoffs going
on, only two teams are going to
be playing for the championship
trophy on June 4th.
Some teams just blast through
their opponents while others take
seven games to win.
For example, everybody
thought that the Boston Celtics would beat the Bulls in four
games.
I guess not; they had to play
seven games.
Unfortunately, the underdogs
lost and Boston headed to the
East-finals against the Orlando
Magic.
Orlando crushed Boston in
seven games and is playing
LeBron James and the Cleveland
Cavaliers for the East Finals.
Cleveland and Orlando are
battling to play in the championships.
LeBron James averages 32.9
points per game.
Orlando’s scoring machine,
Dwight Howard averages 19.6
points per game.
The Cavs has an advantage
over Orlando but I’m thinking
Page 27
He was the NFL’s official 2nd pick
witch makes him one of the top
picks for the 2009 NFL.
In the Draft his 40 yard dash
time was 5.22 seconds, 33 bench
press reps, and 24 in. on the vertical jump.
Kansas City Chiefs were up
next. They picked up defensive
end, Tyson Jackson from LSU. In
2008, he had 36 tackles, 10 for
losses and 19 sacks. He played 13
games in his 2008 season.
Because of his performance, he
is one of the 2009 top NFL Draft
picks.
The fourth pick in the NFL
Draft—by the Seattle Seahawks—
was Aaron Curry, an outside linebacker straight out of Wake Forest.
He finished the 2008 season
with 105 tackles, 45 for losses, 9
sacks 12 punt blocks, and 6 interceptions.
Next came the New York Jets.
The ets lost their star quarterback
due to retirement, so they needed
a quarterback fast. The fifth person drafted in the NFL Draft was
Mark Sanchez.
In Sanchez’s 2008 year, he
was 241 for 366 in passing for a
completion percentage of 65.8%.
This junior left USC early to be
in the draft. He
threw 34 touchdowns in his
2008 career. His
overall rating
is 164.64 as a
quarterback. He
was drafted by
the New York Jets
and he is in the
big leagues now.
that this series is going to seven
games.
Jameer Nelson (from the Orlando Magic) tore his right labrum
and is out for the season.
He averages 16.7 points per
game, which is a big loss.
On Wednesday, 5/20/09, Orlando Magic was down the whole
game until the 4th quarter.
That is when they made a
comeback and beat the Cleveland
Cavaliers for the 1-0 series lead.
In the West Finals, The Denver
Nuggets beat the Dallas Mavericks and move on to playing the
Los Angles Lakers who beat the
Houston Rockets in seven games.
The Los Angles Lakers shot
41% from the field while Denver
shot 48% from the field.
Magic Johnson says that the
Los Angles Lakers front line
scored only 26 points while Denver’s front line scored 68 points.
Denver needs to figure out
how to stop Kobe and pull away
from the Lakers when they have
the lead.
In my opinion, I think that the
championships are going to Los
Angles Lakers playing the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavs will win it all and will
get the first NBA title.