The CMS Courier - Punahou School

Road Trip USA: Our Ginormous Carnival Issue!
The Case Middle School
Courier
Volume 4
Issue 3
February
2008
Produced by the Students of Punahou School, 1601 Punahou Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
The Josephine
Flanders Dance
Pavilion Debuts
The new dance pavilion.
Photo by C. Sameshima
See You Later,
Curriculum Day...
Hello, Piper’s Day!
Mr. Steve Piper at his last Carnival.
Photo courtesy of punahou.edu
By Colby Sameshima
T
he new Josephine Flanders
Dance Pavilion has just
finished construction and is big,
beautiful, and ready for dance
classes.
But before signing the construction over to Punahou,
the builders had to go
through a punch list with
Punahou, according to Charlotte Kamikawa, Punahou’s
Project Manager.
A “punch list” is a listing
of items that the owner or
owner’s representative wants
fixed. These are items that
are under the contractor’s
contract.
They can be as small
as repainting or repairing
scratches in a wall, or even
something bigger like replacing a
damaged window.
By Loren Dowd
W
ith Carnival this weekend,
everybody is putting all of
their effort into making it just as
great, if not better, than our previous Carnivals.
The PFA is working hard to get
everything done and students are
cramming to finish work before the
big weekend. We all need a little
break to relax and rest up before
we have to jump back into the
stress of school again.
We’re used to having a Monday
holiday after Carnival weekend,
usually called Curriculum Day. This
holiday is normally a student-only
holiday, meaning that teachers still
have to come to school.
This year, however, the holiday was put into the calendar as
“Piper’s Day.” It was named after
Steve Piper ’68, former Director of
Physical Plant and son of Leo Piper,
the man for whom Piper’s Pali is
named. In 1982, Steve Piper became Assistant Director, then later,
Director, and so the job of Physical
Plant Director was handed down
from father to son.
Wanting to make his father
proud, Mr. Piper threw himself into
the job, not only doing the work
that was required of him for the
Physical Plant, but he also organized everything that had to do
with the Punahou Carnival.
“His wisdom and expertise were
critical to the logistics of Carnival,”
says Karen Lovell, Administrative
Supervisor for Physical Plant.
At the end of last year, Mr. Piper
retired after 25 years of hard work
and dedication to this school. He
However, after the builders
went through the list and turned
the building over to Punahou, a
small problem was discovered
once they did a sound check.
Mrs. Charlys Ing, Punahou
Dance School Director, said that
when they did the sound check
and played the music in just one
room, it was so loud that instructors could barely talk over it.
To reduce the problem, some
padding was added on all the
walls; there is a possibility that
further soundproofing may be
done later on.
The debut of this new dance
space was on Fri., Jan. 18, as
students enjoyed the freshly furnished building.
According to Ms. Charlotte Kamikawa, this new dance pavilion
is 3,100 square feet larger than
the old one, and there will now
…continued on page 4
knew the campus inside and out,
having grown up right on the
grounds and following his father
around on the job and at the Carnival too.
He is now living in Oregon and
is coming back to the islands for
Carnival 2008: Road Trip USA.
In honor of his service and
leadership at Punahou, the idea
to change the day to Piper’s Day
came from Mr. Mike Walker, Junior School Principal. Mr. Walker
worked closely with Mr. Piper on
Case Middle School, as well as
other projects. He thought that it
would be a nice way this year to
thank Mr. Piper for all he’d done
for our school and the Carnival.
Next year, the day will be renamed “Punahou Recovery Day.”
This post-Carnival holiday was
put into place by Mr. Piper himself
in order to give work crews a safe,
clear environment to take down
tents, wash roads, dismantle rides
and so forth. They needed one
day where nobody was on campus
so that they could work without
getting in the way of passing students, teachers and faculty.
Back when the holiday was Curriculum Day, they still didn’t have
the guarantee that teachers and
staff wouldn’t be in the way of the
disassembly of Carnival.
Now, teachers will have an extra
day of rest to catch up on family
and excess work.
So, as you sit in front of a TV
or computer screen this Monday,
thank Mr. Piper for one less day
of school... as well as for the
successes of Carnival these past
25 years.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
The History
of Carnivals
By Lena Ketterling
M
Carnival at night.
Photo by Sterling
The History of
Our Carnival
any of us think of Carnival as
a big festival, a place where
you can stuff your face with cotton
candy, eat jams and jellies, and
ride on a Ferris wheel. But do you
really know where all of this comes
from?
Hundreds of
years ago, in
Italy, because
of the Catholic
religion, there
was a tradition
of a wild costume festival
before the first
day of Lent.
They called
their tradition
carnevale –
which means to
put away the
meat because
during Lent
Catholics are
not supposed
to eat meat.
The carnival continues to be a
celebration of life that is found not
only in America but many other
countries around the world. For
instance, the carnival was introduced to Trinidad around 1785.
Fancy balls were held where the
people would put on masks, wigs,
and beautiful dresses as they
danced long into the night.
The first carnival began on
By Mia Masuda
S
Carnival has always brought lots of
smiles to kids’ faces.
Photo by Sterling
ome may wonder, when was
the first Punahou Carnival?
Did it have a theme? And where
was it?
Well, Punahou Carnival began
1914 when Punahou was still
called “Oahu College.”
A carnival
week was held
where parents
and boarding
students could
rent rooms on
campus for a
small sum of
money.
But it wasn’t
until 1932 that
Punahou Carnival became
an all-school
event.
The reason
they started
it was to raise
money for the Oahuan—the Academy yearbook.
The Carnival was held on Middle
Field and sold hot dogs, soda, and
ice cream.
Events included a shooting
gallery, a bowling green, fortune
telling, a swordsman, a pie-eating
contest, horseshoe contests, and
tub races in the swimming pool,
and dancing for a nickel!
This carnival was very successful
and raised $240 for the yearbook.
Page 2
December 26th and ended on “Fat
Tuesday” more commonly known
as Mardi Gras. Everyone wore
masks and no one knew who each
other was so it allowed people to
mingle more free. The common
costume was a black silk hood, a
lace cape, a voluminous cloak (the
tabarro), and a three-cornered hat
and a white mask that completely
covered the wearer’s face.
You may wonder how the Ferris
wheel became apart of the carnival. The first Ferris wheel was
designed by George W. Ferris.
He built the wheel for the 1893
World’s Fair in Chicago (the same
World’s Fair that our sixth graders
recreate each year.)
He created it to compete with
the Eiffel tower which was made
for the Paris world fair in 1889.
The original Ferris Wheel was destroyed in 1906, but he started a
trend, and soon after Ferris wheels
were at theme parks and carnivals
all over the world.
African traditions have a big
influence on carnivals. In costumes
and masks they would parade
while moving in circles through
villages. Circling villages was believed to bring good fortune, and
to heal problems. Feathers were
frequently used by Africans in on
their masks and headdresses as
a symbol of the humans ability to
rise above problems. Now we use
feathers on our masks to make
them look pretty and to add color.
In 1936, the Parent Association
joined forces with the Juniors.
Together they introduced the
first Carnival rides, the merry-goround and the Ferris wheel, rented
from E.K. Fernandez.
Though there were no rides
between 1942 and 1946, the Carnival was expanded to a two-day
event in 1947.
Five-cent scrip, a sound booth,
and five new rides were introduced.
By the
mid-1950s, the Carnival
had outgrown Middle Field and
was moved to its location now on
Lower Field.
Students in grades 9 - 12 were
encouraged to try out for the
Variety Show, a medley of singing,
dancing, and musical comedy.
The show later became the job
of the senior class.
Although at least two earlier
carnivals carried “themes,” this
kicked into gear in 1968, and by
the early 1970s, Carnival “fabric”
was added to the tradition.
Punahou Carnival is the major
scholarship fundraising event.
What begins as fun for lower
school students grows into class
and community bonding and
school spirit building.
Carnival has always been a
great way for kids one to one hundred to have fun.
Info from:epunahou.punahou.
edu carnival history, and Ms. Kylie
Omo, Punahou Archivist.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Malasadas!
By Julia Lau
W
hat is a Punahou Carnival
without the famous Punahou
Malasadas! These sugar-coated
light doughnuts have been a hit at
the Punahou Carnival ever since
the first Carnival in 1932.
The malasada, or Portuguese
doughnut, was introduced to Hawaii from Portugal in 1878, when
immigrant workers came from
Portugal bringing their wonderful
recipes.
Since then, malasadas have become a hit in the islands and many
think the Punahou ones are some
of the best in Hawaii.
The recipe includes yeast, sugar,
water, flour, salt, butter, eggs, and
The Great
White Elephant
The Buzz on
Punahou Carnival
By Chloe Nobuhara
M
ost students have never been
to or know about “The White
Elephant.” And for the majority of
the people who haven’t been to
the White Elephant, it’s a room at
the Punahou Carnival that sells donated items and other things that
were lost and never claimed.
Other than the White Elephant
being a successful booth at the
Punahou Carnival, it is a legend in
Asia dating back to the 1800s.
During the 1800s to 1900s in
certain parts of Asia, a species of
white elephant was considered to
be a lucky animal that would bring
good news to the country.
Kings of countries like Burma
By Leigh Omizo, Kathy Lau,
Ariel McKenzie, & Paulina Reyes
E
veryone at Punahou knows
that the carnival is the biggest
thing of the year, right?
There’s lots of games, rides, and
good food: the type that will probably kill your arteries but leave
you in a brief moment of greasy
deep fried heaven.
Two Courier reporters checked
the scene with some 6th and 7th
graders. In 6th, the students of Mr.
Agena and Mrs. Yamamoto who
responded had some preference
for food and rides.
Rides
Zipper: 4
Pharaoh’s Fury: 1
Spinout: 5
Swings: 1
Bumper cars: 1
Music Express: 1
Cliffhanger: 1
Which ride do you prefer?
Photo by Sterling
Food
Malasada: 7
Icee: 1
Taco Salad: 1
Portuguese Bean Soup: 1
Terri Burgers: 3
Cotton Candy: 3
Fried Saimin: 1
Page 3
milk. All these simple ingredients
are jammed into these delicious
goodies.
Every year, an estimated
320,000 are sold, hand-made by
Punahou alumni in just two days.
Lines stretch across the campus
for these delicious treats.
There are also different versions
of the “malasada.”
There are the French beignets,
Okinawan andagi, Italian fritole,
Mexican buñuelos, Kazahkstan
baursaki, South African koeksisters, German krapfen, Hungarian
langos, and so many more!
Malasadas come in different
forms all over the world and the
Punahou version is just one of
them—and only cost 2 scrip each.
and Siam would capture white elephants and adorn the animals with
diamonds and gold. If the white
elephant died, it meant misfortune
to the country.
If it ever existed, the fabled
white elephant is long gone.
In reality, the “white elephant”
booth at Carnival is a great way
to buy second-hand things of both
good quality and price.
You can buy barely used and
new-looking accessories, furnishings, hats, clothes and more.
So if you get tired of the rides
and need a new necklace, you
know where to go.
Head on over to visit the White
Elephant to buy something nice, or
just buy back that hat you lost.
Two other Courier reporters
checked with both 6th and 7th
graders, surveying 40 students, 20
from 6th and 20 from 7th.
In this survey, for 6th grade,
the most popular ride was Pharaoh’s Fury with nine 6th grade
boys and seven girls choosing it as
their favorite ride.
The remaining four 6th graders
voted for Spin Out.
The 7th graders, however, chose
differently. For them, the best ride
was almost a tie between the Inverter and the Zipper, but by three
votes, Zipper was named the best
ride.
Five girls and six boys voted for
the Zipper and four girls and four
boys said that the Inverter was the
best.
One 7th grade boy voted for
Spin Out.
Overall, for both grades, the
percentages, out of 40, were:
Pharoah’s Fury, 40%
Zipper, 27.5%
Inverter, 20%
Spin Out, 12.5%
So, if you are planning to go
on either Pharaoh’s Fury, Spin
Out, Inverter, or the Zipper, be
prepared to wait in a long line, because those are the most popular
carnival rides.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Carnival’s
Hawaiian Plate
Entertainment
Mr. Smart & Puna Rock in action at
last year’s Hawaiian Plate.
Photo courtesy of Mr. Smart
By Bret Armstrong
T
he event every Punahou
student has anxiously been
waiting for is coming up in just a
few days.
IT’S CARNIVAL TIME!!
The time to go on thrilling rides,
win big prizes, and eat delicious
malasadas—
YUM!
While you’re
there, you
should also
watch this carnival’s exciting
Hawaiian Plate
entertainment.
The Hawaiian Plate up at
the Cafeteria is
going to have
some great
shows this
year like Puna
Rock, the Opihi
Pickers, Danny
Carvalho,
Punahou’s jazz
band, plus the
Makaha Sons
and lots of other great talent.
This is the full schedule:
Fri., Feb. 1, 2008
12 - 1 • Punahou Jazz Band
1 - 2 • Young & Crazy
2 - 3 • Steve Mai‘i and Steve
Brown
3 - 4 • Hoku Zuttermeister and
Friends
4 - 5 • I Ku Mau Mau
5 - 6 • Danny Carvalho
6 - 7 • Puna Rock
4Dance Pavilion
…continued from page 1
The new pavilion is cooled by many
windows and large fans.
Photo by C. Sameshima
be three classrooms as opposed
to just two, like the old one.
Also, the building is now made
“slab on grade”, which is concrete,
while the old one was built “poston-piers”, which is wooden.
The only challenge in building
the new dance pavilion and the
design phase was trying to ac-
Page 4
7 - 8 • Manoa DNA
8 - 9 • Sammy Solatorio and
Harmony
9 - 10 • The Kapakahi Band
Sat., Feb. 2, 2008
12 - 1 • Punahou Jazz Band
1 - 2 • Punahou Alumni Glee
Club
2 - 3 • Na Kama
3 - 4 • Hapa Folk
4 - 5 • The Keawe Ohana
5 - 6 • George Kuo, Aaron Mahi
& Keith Cockett
6 - 7 • Makaha Sons
7 - 8 • Leo Kane & Friends
8:30 - 9:30 • Opihi Pickers
10 - 11 • Kaipo
Carnival has had Hawaiian
Plate Entertainment for at least 20
years now and is organized by Lyle
Hosada.
Mr. Hosoda has also done peformances in the Hawaiian Plate
entertainment since 1984.
Many groups have a connection
to Punahou like students, alumni,
and friends.
Even though most of these
talented peformers have to give up
their time because they don’t get
paid
“It is a time were we in the
Punahou can all come together
and kind of be like kids again” says
Lyle Hosada.
Punahou Carnival is going to
have great rides and games and
some delicious food but every once
in a while take a break and come
down to the Hawaiian Plate Entertainment to watch great entertaining shows and hear some awesome music.
commodate the ADA wheelchair
ramp, especially because of the
doubled size.
While the new pavilion is 3,100
square feet larger than the old
one and concrete, it’s also very
sustainable.
Rather than air conditioning,
huge ceiling fans, 8 feet in diameter, cool each room.
Also, the walls are insulated,
and the windows, which are LowE Double Paned glass (the same
ones as in Case Middle School),
will help keep the building cooler.
Besides the three classrooms,
the new pavilion also consists of
two changing rooms, an office,
two rest rooms, a private rest
room with a janitor’s closet, and
an exterior seating area that will
soon hold some benches.
The building was dedicated to
the memory of Josephine Flanders, founder of the Punahou
Dance School, who also taught
there for 30 years.
So in the words of Chaplain
Medeiros at the Dance Pavilion
Blessing, quoting from Ecclesiastes 3:1 in the Old Testament:
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose
under heaven — a time to mourn,
and a time to dance.”
The CMS Courier
February 2008
And the Oscar
Goes to...
Makana and Leigh!
Here are three screen shots of the
winning video.
Punahou Students
Win Video Contest
on Innovation
Team Kaizen, l. to r.: Ryan Catalani, Kevin Lee, Jonathan Santiago,
and Ashley Nabeshima.
Photo courtesy of Iris Catalani
Page 5
By Maile Blume
O
kay, I lied, they didn’t win
the Oscars...but they did win
the Punahou Carnival 2008 PSA Ad
Contest! (Wow, that’s a mouthful!)
Makana Williams and Leigh
Omizo, two sixth graders in Mr.
Agena’s class, had originally
collaborated to
work on a science
iMovie.
“Making the
movie was a lot of
fun and Leigh and
I thought it would
be really cool if we
made a PSA for
the carniva,” said
Makana.
When asked
how long the commercial took to
film, Leigh told us
that it had taken
two days of filming
and three days of
editing by Makana.
Of course the
girls had the assistance of family!
Makana’s father was the camera
man and an assistant editor, and
the three boys you see in the car
and other scenes are Makana’s
adorable brothers, Micah, Noah,
and Matthew.
And Makana’s neighbors also
played a part in acting in the commercial.
When they found out they won,
the girls, like any girls, went ballistic!
Makana said, “Leigh and I were
really excited. I called her that
night and we were screaming into
By Caldwell Marchant
T
eam Kaizen of Punahou school
place in the top five best videos submitted to answer one question: “How can you improve your
world through innovation?”
Team Kaizen, consisting of
current freshmen Ryan Catalani,
Kevin Lee,
Jonathan Santiago, and Ashley Nabeshima
was one of
many different teams that
put together
a video on Innovation.
The team
found out
about this contest from one
of their former
teachers.
They became interested in this
fun topic and
started brainstorming soon
after.
“It took about a week to make,
sometimes it was fun, and sometimes it wasn’t” said Ashley, one
the phone. It was very funny.”
When not making winning videos, Leigh likes to play with her
golden retriever, Kalu, loves playing tennis, making crafts, watching
TV, and listening to music.
But did you know she also plays
music? “I play the flute and piano,”
said the eager sixth grader.
Makana also plays piano, but
instead of flute, she plays viola.
She too loves to listen to music
and watch TV. Her little brothers
enjoy soccer.
So someday when you’re watching the Oscars, you might just find
these two getting an award for
directing...or their little brothers
for acting!
of the team and an actress in the
video.
Ryan said that they had considered a number of different ideas at
the start.
“We had a couple ideas actually,” he said. “One of them was
based on a rolling backpack.”
After some talking, the team
came up with the idea to show
multiple ways to show innovation,
such as record players vs. iPods,
and walking vs. cars.
The team’s video was then selected as one of the top five videos
on innovation.
They each received over $1600
worth of prizes: an iPod nano,
iWork, and iLife software, and Final
Cut Studio Pro 2 video editing
software. The Studio Pro software
itself is worth $1300 and the total
worth of all their prizes came up to
around $6400.
But what is the team working
on now? What will the world throw
at them next? Team Kaizen is now
working on a 10-minute video
about the effects of “evil” music
on high school students, due on
March 21st.
Their winning video, Innovation:
Technology Through Time, can be
seen at http://edcommunity.apple.
com/innovation/contest.php.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Mrs. Saito:
The New Face
of Social Studies
Mrs. Lorelei Saito
Photo by H. Oshiro
The Founder of
a Middle School
Newspaper
Above, l. to r. Mrs. Fujioka and
Speech Team 7 members Maiya
Smith, Kelly Langeslay, Maile
Blume, and Olivia Barahal.
At right, Mrs. Fujioka.
Photos by R. Henry
By Harrison Oshiro & Justin Lee
“S
tudents don’t care what you
know, until they know you
care.”
This is one of Mrs. Saito’s
favorite quotes that she lived by
while teaching as the 7th grade
Social Studies teacher for Punahou
School for Team 7Y.
The Courier was given an opportunity to interview Mrs. Saito to
ask her questions about her teaching career and her personal life.
Here is what she had to tell us.
Q. What schools did you work at
before you came to Punahou?
A. I taught at Waianae High
School and Mililani Middle School
as a P.E. and Social Studies
teacher.
Q. What do you consider to be
your achievements?
A. I was a state resource
teacher that assisted brand new
special education teachers at Waianae coast schools. But overall,
my biggest achievement is teaching at Punahou.
Q. Why do you like to teach
social studies?
A. I like to teach social studies because I always thought that
history was interesting and I enjoy
By Courtney Kosaka & Rebecca Henry
D
o you like reading the CMS
Courier? Well, if you do, give
thanks to Mrs. Fujioka, the English
teacher on Team 7X.
Mrs. Fujioka has taught at
Punahou since 1980. She first
taught English to grades
7 and 8 up until 1984.
Then she went to the
Academy and taught
English there until
1990, after which
she returned to
the Junior School,
teaching English
again to grades 7
and 8.
In 2000, Mrs. Fujioka left Punahou.
She thought she
was going to come
back the next year,
but she had adopted
a child in Japan, so she
was very busy.
Mrs. Fujioka finally
came back to teach English again at Punahou this year,
replacing Mrs. Otsuka who retired
last year.
Mrs. Fujioka came up with the
idea of a newspaper for the middle
school because the school needed
more electives.
In 1992 she gathered a group
of kids and formed the elective
now called News Journalism. At
that time, only the Academy had a
newspaper, named Ka Punahou.
When the newspaper for middle
schoolers was finally published, it
was called Ka Leo o Pihopa (The
Voice of Bishop).
Page 6
the many aspects of the Hawaiian
Culture.
Q. Do you have any goals for
the students at Punahou?
A. I want my students to develop critical thinking skills and
become lifelong learners.
Q. How do you like Punahou
and the facilities?
A. I love working at Punahou.
The facilities and unlimited resources provide the ideal working
and learning environment.
Q. Did you always want to become a teacher? If not, what?
A. I originally wanted to become an accountant and follow in
my father’s footsteps.
Q. Can you tell me about your
family?
A. Well, my husband, Reid, is an
optometrist and a 1990 graduate
of Punahou. My daughter, Chloe,
is a student at Central Union Preschool.
Q. Do you have any interests
or hobbies you would like to share
with us?
A. I paddled the Moloka‘i Channel last September. I dance the
hula and have gone to the Merrie
Monarch three times, in ‘96, ‘97,
and ‘98. Also, I love to read historical fiction books; my favorite is
Rena’s Promise.
The new paper was xeroxed on
legal-sized paper.
Each issue ran about 14-20
pages and about 375 newspapers
were printed.
This was all before digital photography, and the Ka Leo o Pihopa
was all black and white. After
Mrs. Fujioka left Punahou,
Mr. Wagenseller took
over the class.
When the Case
Middle School was
built, middle schoolers were taught in
these new buildings.
Now that middle
schoolers moved
to the Case Middle
School, their newspaper name was
changes to The CMS
Courier.
Other than teaching English and creating the newspaper and
elective, Mrs. Fujioka
also was the advisor for
many clubs.
She advised the Yearbook
Club for Junior School and Academy students, and other clubs
focusing on community service, poems and stories, and debate. This
year, Mrs. Fujioka is guiding the 7th
grade speech club.
Mrs. Fujioka also has some
amazing relatives. One of her
sisters, Mrs. McLaren, also teaches
here at Punahou School in the
fourth grade.
Their father, Dr. Richard Mamiya,
was a famous doctor in town and
the Science Center in the Academy
was named in honor of her parents.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Barack Obama...
Former Oahuan,
Our Next President?
Blast from the past. Bottom row,
l. to r., Eric Kusunoki, Amy Boardman, Brian Wright. Top, Vernette
Ferreira, Billy Stoner, Whitney Kahoohanohano, Byron Ho, and Barry
Obama. At right, Barry Obama
scoring high, playing for the
Punahou Basketball team...1979.
Photos provided by Mr. Kusunoki
World of
Ron-Paul Craft?
By Lauren Stollar & Kara Tsuzaki
B
arack Obama... a name many
of us have heard from the
news and at school.
He has become a “hot topic” to
talk about. He has even appeared
on YouTube in a song and video
starring “Obama Girl.”
Almost everyone in the
USA knows he
is running for
president, but
did you know
he use to go
to Punahou
School? And
that some of
his old teachers
are still teaching today?
Mr. Eric
Kusunoki,
a dedicated
study hall advisor, keyboarding mentor,
football and
baseball coach
at Punahou
was Mr.
Obama’s advisor during the
four years “Barry” spent in high
school.
So we got the scoop on Barry’s
early years.
Mr. Kusunoki described him
as a very positive, outgoing, and
respectful man.
As far as Mr. Kusunoki knows,
Mr. Obama was a good student,
he never received any interims,
and had a very close knit group of
friends.
They all shared a favorite past
time, basketball, and truly enjoyed
the sport, though like most people,
they forget people from their past
By Jordan McCreary
P
residential candidate Ron
Paul is planning to use the
MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer
Online Role-Playing
Game) World of
Warcraft to acquire
more supporters
for his presidential
campaign.
He is using forums and a simple
web site to organize a “World of Warcraft” march in
support of his campaign.
The website is “www.ronpaulforums.com”
A group of players in a “guild”
will march from Ironforge to Stromwind (two cities) spreading the
message.
But this isn’t the only time politics have intertwined with World of
Warcraft.
Already Barack Obama, Mitt
Romney, John McCain, John Edwards, and Fred Thompson have all
used the game to advertise their
Page 7
and rarely keep in touch. The last
time Mr. Kusunoki spoke to Barry
was two years ago, when he came
to speak at a chapel.
At that meeting, the two longtime friends reminisced on past
times when Mr. Kusunoki brought
out the “Old Maroon Scrapbook”
filled with pictures from Mr.
Obama’s high school year.
Students of Punahou, be kind to
all your classmates, for you never
know...you could be sitting next to
America’s future President.
campaigns, and with World of Warcraft’s over 9 million subscribers,
it’s not such a bad idea.
World of Warcraft was made by
Blizzard Entertainment Inc. The
game was made
for players to step
away from reality
for a while, and
some say that politics doesn’t belong
there.
“Real world politics should stay out
of the game,” wrote Gamespy’s Allen Rausch. Gamespy is a web site
that reviews and tracks games.
“We play World of Warcraft to get
away from the real world, though,”
Rausch wrote. “So whether you’re a
Republican or Democrat, blue-stater
or red-stater, liberal or conservative, let’s leave the sloganeering and
yelling on Rush Limbaugh’s show
and in Michael Moore movies where
they belong. In World of Warcraft,
we should all come together for just
one political purpose—beating the
snot out of the gnomes.”
The CMS Courier
February 2008
For the Class of 2013,
Who Will Be Your Prez
the Next Four Years?
Webkinz:
Furry Friends or
Fluffy Fiends?
By Claire Feeley & Casey Matsumoto
S
ome of us at Punahou (faculty, staff, and administrators) are legally eligible
to vote at our state
polls for the presidential candidates that will
represent their party for
the main presidential
elections.
The main candidates
from the Republican
party were:
• Mike Huckabee
• Mitt Romney
• Rudy Giuliani
• John McCain
The main Democratic candidates
were:
• Hillary Clinton
• Barack Obama
• John Edwards
Obama, as we all know, is a
previous graduate of our beloved
school. He won the Iowa Caucus
with 38% of the population and lost
the New Hampshire Primary with
37% of votes. He just took South
Carolina with 56% of the vote.
Hillary Clinton lost Iowa with
29% of the votes and won New
Hampshire at 39%. She had just
over 26% in South Carolina.
John Edwards is trailing far be-
By Jackie Emley
W
ebkinz are plush toys you
buy at a store and then
bring home.
Around the neck or the paw of a
Webkinz is a tag with a secret code
inside that unlocks a virtual world.
Here you can take care of your
pet, you can shop, play games,
and decorate your room.
Though it is harmless, it is timeconsuming and addictive.
Webkinz are also expensive:
they cost from $12 to $14.
The Lil’ Kinz, (the smaller version of Webkinz) are $8 to $12.
We asked some people who
have Webkinz a few questions.
Do you think Webkinz is
safe enough?
I think that Webkinz isn’t the
safest website. – Makana ’14
Yes. It is a safe website. –
Bethany ’14
Yes, they are safe because they have a limit on
what you can say. - Jasmine ’14
Webkinz is a program
that does not let you actually talk to someone. You can’t
say “meet me here,” you can
only say things like “hi.” So yes,
it is safe. – Erika ’14
Yes, because you can’t type in
whatever you want. - Tai ’11
Are you ever addicted to
Webkinz?
Yes, I am a webkinz addict. –
Bethany ’14
I think I go on too often. – Megan ’14
Page 8
hind with the percentage of 30%
in Iowa and 17% in New Hampshire. He had a similar 17% in
his home state of South Carolina.
Edwards has since abandoned his bid.
On the Republican
side, John McCain was
leading. In New Hampshire, he received 13%
of the votes in Iowa and
in New Hampshire 37%.
In South Carolina, he
had 33% of the vote.
Mike Huckabee won
Iowa with a stunning
34% of the votes. In
New Hampshire he only received
11% of the votes but in South
Carolina he came in second with
almost 30%.
Mitt Romney came second in
both Iowa with 25% and in New
Hampshire with 32%. He won
Nevada, but was fourth in South
Carolina.
Rudy Giuliani received 4% of
the votes Iowa, 9% in New Hampshire and did poorly in Florida. He
dropped out on Jan. 30.
The Democratic National Convention with be held in Denver,
Aug. 25-28.
The Republicans will meet in
Minneapolis-St.Paul, Sept. 1-4
Yes, because I come on at different times to win prizes. - Tai
’11
No, because my account is
about to expire. – Makana ’14
Yes. – Lauren ’14
I used to be addicted to it but
now I am not. – Jamie ’14
Do you think webkinz are
too expensive?
No, considering how popular
they are it is a pretty reasonable
price. – Bethany ’14
Webkinz are too expensive. –
Megan ’14
Yeah, 12 dollars is too much! Jasmine ’14
Yes, they’re too expensive. –
Lauren ’14
Stores label their products differently so it depends on which
store you got to. – Erika ’14
What is your favorite thing
about Webkinz?
I like to shop and design my
room it makes me feel like a designer! – Bethany ’14
Playing games with other
people. – Megan ’14
The W shop. - Jasmine ’14
They are fuzzy and cute. – Erika
14’
Mostly everything!!! - Tai ’11
What is your least favorite
thing about Webkinz?
That you have to buy certain
stuff to go places. - Jasmine ’14
How you only get a little kinzcash money from playing games.
– Lauren ’14
I don’t like that it can take a
long time to load. – Makana ’14
The CMS Courier
February 2008
From 3,850
Miles Away
The students from Tamagawa during their January visit.
Picture from january08visit.blogspot.com
Teachers’ Pets
and Pests,
the Most Extreme
Top, an axolotyl; middle, a boa;
bottom, a squirrel monkey.
Photos courtesy of the Internet
By Shanni Yamaki
alking down the hall recently,
you might have heard a stuW
dent say: “にほんご を はなしますか。”
For those that can’t speak or
understand Japanese that phrase
means, “Do you speak Japanese?”
Japan is about 3,850 miles away
from Hawaii. Students from Japan
took a plane overseas to visit us
for an exchange trip. Their school,
Tamagawa, is our “sister school.”
Tamagawa goes from Kindergarten
to graduate school.
The exchange trip goes two
ways: Tamagawa to Punahou and
Punahou to Tamagawa. The first
trip is usually held when the 8th
graders go to camp but this year,
it got held back. This year, the visit
was from Jan. 4 - 9.
On their first day here, the visitors had a campus tour. After that
they met up with their host families. The Tamagawa students were
Hikaru Hayakawa, Hirotada Utsumi, Keijiro Ishii, Takahiro Yamada,
Kaoru Mikami, Kei Kumonaka, and
Aiko Monoi.
By Jessica Chang & Ella Ito
W
hen we think of our teachers we probably think of
responsible people with rulers and
pencils. But if we reconsider, it may
occur to us that these adults have
lives outside of school. They have
houses and maybe even pets.
And now, we present Teachers’
Planet, the Most Extreme Pets and
Pests.
Mr. Gaudiano and Mrs. KawanoChing tie for tenth place. Mr. Gaudiano owns a faithful dog named
Lucy. Mrs. Kawano-Ching also has a
dog by the name of Emi.
Ninth place is Mrs. Chang, sixth
grade, who has three cats and one
dog. Two of the cats and the dog
have medical problems that require
daily medicine and care. The other
cat is described as, “fine, just loud
and bossy.”
Number eight is Mrs. Jamile,
eighth grade, a cat lover. Her
current cat, Sally, is all black and
trusts no one. According to Mrs.
Jamile, Sally is a definite pest.
Coming in seventh is, coincidently, a seventh grade teacher, Mr.
White. He has three mice— stinky
but are pets none the less.
Next, in sixth place, is Mrs.
Saito, a new seventh grade teacher,
with a fish, a cat and a dog. Her
fish is named “the Saito Fish” and
is described as a “suicidal hopping
fish.” Her cat is “the Saito Cat” and
can you guess what the dog’s name
is? That’s right: it’s “the Saito Dog.”
Fifth place is a tie: Mrs. Kano
and Mr. Tuttle. Mrs. Kano, sixth
grade, has chinchillas and “five
irritating yappy dogs.” Mr. Tuttle,
eighth grade, has a cat named
Indiana.
At number four comes Mr. Earle,
seventh grade. He used to have a
classroom fish—a small-mouth bass
Page 9
The Courier interviewed two
of the students. Readers should
understand that these students are
currently studying English and are
not yet proficient.
Q. What is your name?
A. Hikaru Hayakawa
Q. Who was your host?
A. Joel Albus
Q. What do you think of
Punahou?
A. I like.
Q. What was the most enjoyable
thing you have done here?
A. Hiking.
Q. What is your name?
A. Takiro.
Q. Who was your host?
A. Nishikawa Michael.
Q. Why did you choose to come
to Hawaii?
A. Because I want to go to
Hawaii.
The exchange program is open
to 7th & 8th graders and they
don’t have to be taking Japanese.
About ten students come here and
ten Punahou students go to Japan.
The Punahou students will leave on
Feb. 1, Carnival Day.
named Poseidon. Poseidon was a
predator and enjoyed eating other,
smaller fish. Eventually Poseidon
grew too big for his aquarium and
was returned to the stream where
he was found.
And now we come to the three
finalists: Mrs. Lyman-Mersereau,
Mr. Young-Kingsbury, and Mrs.
Robinson.
Eighth grade teacher Ms. LymanMersereau had a squirrel monkey,
Menehune. Menehune lived in a
cage with his pet rabbit. Everyday,
he liked to cruise neighbors’ yards
and their fruit trees. He also “was
very fond of sipping from my mother’s martinis and eating the green
olive—he’d spit out the pimento,”
Ms. L-M said.
Mr. Young-Kingsbury, eighth
grade, had a boa constrictor named
Rodney. Rodney was adopted when
he was only eight inches long. He
grew fast—too fast—over six feet.
His diet consisted of live mice and
rats.
Mrs. Robinson is a seventh grade
teacher. In high school, she experimented with fruit flies. When
she was teaching in Australia, she
had numerous pets and pests in
her biology classroom, including
a parakeet, a blue-tongued lizard
and tadpoles. She raised a migiro
(rice bird) while she was teaching
biology in the Academy. But what
takes the prize is her axolotyl, a
carnivorous juvenile salamander.
So folks, who do you think is the
most extreme?
In third place, Ms. L-M and her
squirrel monkey, Menehune. In
second place comes Mr. Kings with
his boa constrictor, Rodney.
And last, in first place (drumroll
please) is Mrs. Robinson with her
nameless axolotyl.
Thank you to all the teachers
who entered your pets/pests!
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Ryan Higa:
A Local Celebrity
Top Picture: Ryan Higa; Below:
Ryan and his friend Sean in a
video.
Photo from YouTube
Frank De Lima:
Big Talent,
Big Heart
By Kika Masunaga, Nicole Kim,
& Liana Lau
I
f you happen to hear the name
Ryan Higa, most likely you will
recognize it. Ryan Higa, a.k.a.
“Nigahiga,” has become one of the
most popular YouTube video stars.
Best known for his “How to be
Ninja,” “How to be Gangster,” and
his one of his most recent videos,
“How to be Emo,” his videos have
become so popular mostly because of the incredibly hysterical
lines and actions.
Along with his friend, Sean
Fujiyoshi, who has appeared in a
few videos with him, Ryan Higa
actually is currently living right
here in the state of Hawaii, in Hilo
on the Big Island.
He is a 17-year-old student at
Waiakea High School.
Ryan’s hobby is creating videos,
because he loves making people
laugh. The 5’ 8’’ Junior gets his
ideas whenever something pops
into his head.
He says that he just writes it
down and expands or they just
come up with ideas on the spot.
We wondered if his parents
knew about his videos.
Ryan replied, “Yes, my parents
know about my videos but they
never film around them.”
He currently now has 38 funfilled videos on YouTube, and because of them, they were recently
sponsored by The KayTee Group,
an advertising and marketing
group.
The purpose of The KayTee
Group is to help smaller businesses to grow and prosper. They
“provide dynamic solutions toward
the progress and prosperity of
your business.”
Ryan and Sean plan to keep
creating more of their videos in
By Alison Nichols & Sarah Hasselman
F
rank De Lima, one of Hawaii’s
most popular comedians, came
to Punahou Chapel recently to talk
about responsibility. He has been a
comedian for 32 years, doing what
he loves by making people laugh.
One of his specialties is translating present issues into makeovers
of hit songs such as “Bad Day”
where he talks about the 40 days
of rain and the power outage.
“What June Jones, You Going Leave
Us Now?” is about June Jones leaving Hawaii.
A few other songs that he has
redone are Beethoven’s Fifth, Lucille, Johnny Angel, The Greatest
Love of All, Gilligan’s Island, Battle
Hymn of the Republic, and I Love
it, I Like It.
His sidekick singing duo are David Kauahikaua and Bobby Nishida,
who help create his parodies.
Frank De Lima gets his inspirations from everyday life, what’s on
the news, and the jokes he hears in
circulation.
His favorite part of telling jokes
Page 10
the near future. With their videos,
they have connected with their
viewers through humor.
They have become well known,
especially here at Punahou. If you
haven’t seen any of his videos,
we highly recommend you watch
some. Just go on YouTube.com
and search Nigahiga. You will soon
be laughing your head off. Be
advised that some content may
not be suitable for your younger
brothers and sisters.
For more information about
their sponsorship, you can go to
www.thekayteegroup.com.
We were able to contact Ryan
and asked him a few questions:
When and why did you start
making your first videos/ what
gave you the inspiration?
I first started making videos
to entertain friends and family. I
think my inspiration would be the
slow paced / boring life style of
the Big Island. By that I mean,
there’s nothing fun to do here, so
I decided to make videos to keep
myself occupied.
Tell us about your how you
were sponsored and what
does it mean to you?
As our subscriptions and views
began to grow, more and more
offers were sent to us. People
wanted to use our popularity to
advertise their companies. We decided to go with The Kaytee Group
because they are located on the
Big Island and I found them to
be more trustworthy. To me, I
believe that being sponsored for
YouTube is pretty unheard of and
cool. However, I don’t make a big
deal out of it. It doesn’t affect the
quality or quantity of our video
production.
…continued on page 13
is “hearing the laughter,” says the
comedian.
As a Hawaiian, he has been
closely watching the Warrior football team this season. When we
asked him how he felt about our
final battle at the Sugar Bowl, he
said, “[I feel] disappointed but
proud for our Warrior team for a
great season.”
Frank De Lima enjoys coming
to schools and talking to students
because he enjoys “being able to
share my gift that God gave me to
help make life a bit better for students in a very challenging world.”
He does this as part of an enrichment program to help Hawaii’s
children understand the importance
of reading, studying, family, and of
course, laughing. This program also
helps students through hard emotional times and life transitions.
De Lima visits over three-hundred and fifty schools every two
years, and Punahou is one of them.
Frank De Lima will continue
to visit Punahou and many other
schools, to make the people in
Hawaii laugh.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Mr. Tsujimoto:
Reaching for
the Heights
By Leilani Riahi & Aubrey Thomas
“I
Above, Mr. Tsujimoto in
a good mood.
Photo by CMS staff
A Chat with
Montmorency Author,
Eleanor Updale
Renowned author
Eleanor Updale.
Photo courtesy of the Internet
t’s a great feeling when you
can be of service to people
through your stories.”
This is how eighth grade teacher
Mr. Tsujimoto described the feeling
of connecting with a wide range of
individuals through his writing.
Mr. Tsujimoto has recently finished writing a collection of short
stories titled Morningside Heights:
New York Stories, which will be
released sometime in Mid-April.
This book is about an JapaneseAmerican boy named Kenji growing up in New York City during the
50s and 60s.
When talking about this book,
Mr. Tsujimoto admits that Morningside Heights was inspired by his
life, although most of the stories
are fictitious. For twenty years,
Mr. Tsujimoto has been stringing
together this collection of short
stories, while following through
with the same main character.
After finally completing Morningside Heights, Mr. Tsujimoto
realized that even though he has a
By Dakota Anderson
I
n the book Montmorency, a
common thief is transformed
into a gentleman with a filthy
double-life when he falls though a
window in Victorian London.
After his release from prison
and using knowledge gained from
prison and in scientific lectures
where he was shown off as a trophy, Montmorency becomes both
the rich gentleman “Montmorency”
and his thieving servant, Scrapper.
This book is a must read. The
twists and turns of the plot make it
a gripping tale.
The author of the Montmorency
series is Eleanor Updale. She has
been writing the series since 2001
of which Montmorency is the first
of four books.
Montmorency started out as a
bedtime story Mrs. Updale told to
her children. Later, as she worked
on her degree, she wrote it as a
book.
The Courier garnered an exclusive interview with Mrs. Updale.
Q: Where did you get the inspiration for Lord George Fox-Selwyn,
Montmorency’s friend?
A: When I first thought of
George, he was much more of a
stereotype figure than he becomes
in later books—he was more of
an upper-class buffoon than he
becomes later, only really giving
a hint of his inner depths and his
concern for the welfare of the nation towards the end of Book One.
I never expected him to be part
of more than a few scenes—but he
grew on me.
When I first named him, I gave
him a fairly straightforward name
(I can’t remember what it was),
which I then changed to Fox, because I thought he was quite sharp
Page 11
passion for writing, it was a painful
journey.
“Writing can be painful,” he
said. “It is like opening your veins
and letting the blood pour over
your paper.”
Nevertheless, he has finished
this book, and it is expected to do
very well on the shelves.
About future book sales for
Morningside Heights, Mr. Tsujimoto
said that even though he’d like
the sales to be high, “the return is
modest for the human investment.”
This collection of short stories
is recommended for ninth graders
and up, due to its strong language,
violence, and sexual content.
Through years of effort, Mr. Tsujimoto has created an entertaining,
deep, and compelling novel about
growing up, finding yourself, and
dealing with the problems along
the way.
In another 20 years, we hope
that Mr. Tsujimoto releases yet
another book, so that his strong
legacy of writing, entertainment,
and passion will continue for ages
to come.
and cunning, like the animal.
But I also wanted to get across
the idea that he was a bit of a
gambler—a chancer.
About that time we moved
house, and the next road to ours
is called Selwyn Avenue. I thought
at once that the name Selwyn was
a good one for George’s character,
and hyphenating the two worked
well.
When I came to write the second
book, I gave George a bigger role,
looking after Montmorency, and
in a way acting as his conscience,
even though he still has an endearing, funny side of his own.
By the time Book Three came
along, I really loved him. I was
as devastated as anyone to see
him die, but I had to kill him off
because of a flip remark I made
towards the end of Book One.
Q: When you wrote the book,
where did you find the time to
write?
A: I have always worked at
funny times. The first draft of Book
One was finished when we were
on a family holiday in Crete, and I
stayed up late most nights, when
it was cool, using my husband’s
laptop. He had just written a book
(a non-fiction book, about Tony
Blair and Gordon Brown) and I was
very jealous of him.
I finished that draft on my
knees in the departure lounge at
the airport on the way home.
My husband goes out to work at
night, and I do a lot of my writing then. It’s much easier to work
when the phone doesn’t ring, and
the family doesn’t demand attention.
Until this year, I was also working on my Ph.D. (now finished)
and so I had to fit the fiction in
when I could.
…continued on page 12
The CMS Courier
February 2008
A Long
Way Gone...
Photo courtesy of pambazuka.org
The Nene Award
Book Contest
4Updale & Montmorency
…continued from page 11
Review by Keli‘i Ke
A
book that I recommend for
the students of Punahou is A
Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy
Soldier by Ishmael Beah.
This outstanding and life changing book tells about the devastating conflict in Sierra Leone between the Government, and the
Revolutionary United Front.
It also tells how both sides use
child soldiers as their forces by
brainwashing children with drugs,
power, and fear.
The author, Ishmael Beah, used
to be a child soldier himself, until
he left the country. This story is
a dark chapter in the conflict of
Sierra Leone.
I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.
In his biography, Beah was 12
years old when his village was destroyed by rebels in Sierra Leone.
Now a refugee with his brothers,
they become enlisted in the army
for three years.
Later, he runs into a UNICEF
Rehabilitation center.
Things get more serious when
Page 12
the Rebellion hits the Capital of
Sierra Leone.
Now 17, Ishmael flees to the
United States.
When he flees, he loses contact
with his siblings who are presumed
dead.
The following excerpt is a short
part of the book when Ishmael is
already in America in 1998.
New York City, 1998
My high school friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them
the full story of my life.
“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”
“Because there is a war.”
“Did you witness some of the
fighting?”
“Everyone in the country did.”
“You mean you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”
“Yes, all the time.”
“Cool.”
I smile a little.
“You should tell us about it
sometime.”
“Yes, sometime.”
very year, children in elementary schools vote for their
favorite fiction book, through the
Nene Award Book contest.
Children from grades 4-6 can
vote for the books. The Nene
Award contest generates reading. Kids vote during January or
February, and the ceremony takes
place during May.
The University Elementary Lab
School started the contest. The
children submit nominees. Usually,
when a nominated book does not
win one year, it is again put on the
list the next year. Students can go
to the Julia Ing Library to ask Mrs.
Johnstone if you can vote.
Last year, the book Boy at War
won the contest.
Children can write essays
about what they thought about
the book, what the book inspired
them to do, and about what the
book taught them, and enter the
Nene Award Essay Contest.
Also, they can enter the digital arts contest, where they use
computers to create a digital arts
project. There is also a poster
contest as well as one for the performing arts
There is a 2008 recommended
book list. One of the books is
called The City of Embers. It is
about two people in the city of
Embers who are told to discover
the secret to this mysterious
land. Another is called The High
Power Of Lucky. It is about a girl
who wants to run away. There
are many awesome books. Just
search the Nene Award, and click
Nene award booklist.
If you want to find out more
about the contest, ask the librarian, Mrs. Johnstone. Usually, she
will tell the class about the recommended list, and will greatly
encourage the class to all vote.
There is also a poster in the
Ing Library about the books.
Students can go to the library
and get a sheet of paper to vote;
it’s really simple. To enter any
contest, just ask Mrs. Johnstone.
The contest is supported by the
libraries.
The academic work introduced
me to the joy of working in reference libraries, and I still do that.
I’ve just spent the whole of today
sitting in the library working on
my next book, and loving every
minute of it.
Q: Will you be publishing any
more books after Montmorency’s
Revenge?
A: The next book to be published will not be a Montmorency
book. I’m dying to write the next
episode, and have lots of ideas for
it, but my publishers want me to
show that I can do other things
first. There’s a little book coming
out in Britain this year. It’s set in
the present day and is about a boy
who has to challenge his parents’
ideas to save his sister’s life.
The book I’m writing at the moment is set in England between the
two world wars. I also have some
short stories coming out in collections which will published in Britain.
(Note: the BLC has two of the
four Montmorency books, the 1st
and the 3rd. The 2nd has not yet
been ordered. )
By Anna Winnicki
E
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Multiply Your
Resources by Adding
to Your Knowledge
4Ryan Higa
…continued from page 10
By Sijing Qiu
I
f you’ve ever made fun of
math geeks...YOU SHOULD BE
SO ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!
After all, a math geek might
eventually become a teacher, and
teachers help students just like
us expand our reach on our education by providing us with more
resources—and that includes
clubs like Math Club.
The thought that’s probably
killing you inside is, what is the
purpose of Math Club?
Team 7X’s very own math
teacher, Mr. Heffernan, has been
ever so kind as to talk about
Math Club from his point of view.
The purpose of Math Club is
simply to create an environment
where those who enjoy math or
those who want a greater challenge in math all come together.
The Math Club explores items
not taught in class, and does
problems that are more difficult.
They also play games and can get
more math help if needed.
The warm-ups that are done in
Math Club are the tools for Math
Team which competes in competitions against other schools.
It’s just a great place to make
friends sharing a common interest.
Mr. Heffernan has been teaching full time for six years in Case
Middle School, and three years in
the academy for Summer School.
In Mr. Heffernan’s opinion,
knowing how to do math is considered an essential ability in life.
Of course you will need to know
how to do 1+1=2, but there’s a
Besides making videos,
what other hobbies do you
have/ what else do you like to
do? (sports, community service, chores, etc.)
Other hobbies I do would be
wrestling and judo. I also volunteer at the Hilo Medical Center
in the radiology dept and like
any other kid, I have chores like
cutting the grass, taking out the
trash, cleaning my room, “you
know the drill”.
What are you thinking of
making your next video on?
Could you give us a synopsis
of the steps you take in making one?
I’m not quite sure what my
next video is going to be at this
current moment. Usually an idea
just pops up in my head out of no
where and I just write it down on
a piece of paper. From there, I
brainstorm and expand my idea.
After I create the basic idea or
script, I let Sean know what I
want to do and we plan a day to
film.
While we film, we don’t always
follow the exact script, we like to
improvise or make it up as we go
along. After that, we just edit the
video to the way we want it. This
Page 13
greater reason for why math is
essential: finding patterns. Finding patterns in life is an absolute
necessity because it help makes
sense out of basic chaos.
It’s the process of learning
how to do math that is more
important, the study habits, and
the way you apply what you’ve
learned to not only your work but
your life, which makes life easier
and clearer.
Math helps you balance logic
with creativity, and works not
only the left side of your brain,
but the right side of your brain as
well.
While everything in Math Club
seems so great and dandy, there
is a down side: those people who
make fun of the people in Math
Club. In Mr. Heffernan’s eyes, it’s
simply a 7th and 8th grade maturity social mechanism.
Since when is being smart,
trying hard, and doing your best
become uncool?
You should remain humble in
the greatest of times, even while
people try to tear you down because it seems “uncool.”
Math Club is for those who
want to go more further in math
by using their resources. It is
very admirable.
You should give Math Club
a try—try something new, you
might like it one day, and you
might not like it another.
Use all your resources, and
keep on learning.
Whether you want to just hang
out, or expand your knowledge,
try Math Club, and it’ll be an
awesome experience.
entire process I’d say would probably take about 8-12 hours total.
Out of all your videos, which
one do you like the best or
which one was the most fun to
create? Why?
Out of all the videos I think our
most recent video was the most
fun to make because it our own
song. I wrote the lyrics to “Asian
Boy...” and Sean and I sang it
together. It was pretty cool how it
actually sounded like a real song
(although not a very good one).
You are getting a lot of attention from your videos: in
what ways has this affected
your life?
Well a lot of people recognize
me wherever I go. I’ve had people
give me Christmas gifts, pay for
my Starbucks, take pictures of
me, or just approach me and I’ve
never met them in my life. At
times it can be bit scary, I don’t
want people treating me like I’m
some kind of celebrity.
I’m just another average kid
from Hawaii who has chores,
homework, and sports like everyone else, but in my free time,
instead of going to the movies,
I’m creating movies.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Dress Code
through the Ages
Chinese
New Year
By Aubrey Thomas
I
t is followed by many, and broken by quite a few. It’s often
viewed as unreasonable, unfair,
and just plain annoying.
That “it” can only be one
thing...Dress Code!
Many students have broken
dress code more than once, but
what about students from previous years? Years in which students
wore pleated skirts, bell bottom
pants, and the infamous poodle
skirt.
From the time Punahou began
admitting both male and female
students, there was a dress code
in place to help the students as
well as teachers.
Yes. Even teachers had a dress
code, and they still do.
Years ago, boys were only allowed to wear “long pants and
long sleeved shirts” and girls
were only permitted to wear long
non-form-fitting dresses, which
covered them from neck to feet.
Girls couldn’t wear anything that
showed their ankles, wrists, or collarbones.
According to Ms. Kylie Omo, archivist for Cooke Library, “religion
influenced the dress code greatly.
Since Punahou was a school established for missionary children, they
were greatly influenced, in every
aspect of their lives, including
dress and attire.”
Almost 120 years later, dress
By Malia Staab
D
id you know that the Chinese
New Year is not on January
1st? It isn’t even on the same day
each year.
Last year it was on February
18th and this year it is on February 7th.
The Chinese New Year and
their calendar are different
from ours. It follows the cycles
of the moon, therefore some
times called the Lunar New
Year.
Our year follows the movement of the sun.
Chinese New Year is the biggest Chinese celebration. They
do not celebrate Christmas,
which is a normal school day
to them. They don’t celebrate
our New Year much, but on
their New Years they go all out
with fireworks on every corner.
They start to celebrate
with firecrackers early in the
day and there is no school all
around China and giant firecrackers go off all around you.
This Feb. 7th starts the Year
of the Rat, and for most students
in sixth grade it will be their 12th
birthday this year, and they are
rats.
The Year of the Rat is the first
in the twelve-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, followed by the Year
of the Ox and then Tiger, Rabbit,
Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep,
Page 14
code was almost an 180º flip, from
the “very conservative” style of the
mid 1800’s.
Now female students were allowed to wear “appropriate Bermuda shorts” and no longer were
they confined to the stifling hot
apparel of the conservative age.
Even to this day students are
expected to follow the enforced
attire policy. According to Ms. Omo
“Punahou always had a standard
expectation for how they dressed
for school.”
She also said “this is a learning environment. Punahou was
and still is a business for learning.”
Much like a business, there are
stringent rules students and teachers must follow.
However a survey taken from
the Ka Punahou newspaper (circa.
1974) revealed that most students
from those times (for the most
part) thought that the dress code
should remain “as is”—an attitude
almost foreign to today’s times.
So what brought on this newer,
more strict dress code?
The new dress code that became prominent a few years ago
resulted from a progression of
years of ideas, meetings, and collaborative thoughts from students,
teachers and faculty alike.
Some might say there is even
a link between how a student
dresses and behavior and academic success. So it actually helps you
in the long run with school.
Monkey, Rooster, Dog and last the
Boar or Pig.
Therefore those of us who are
Rats have lived through a whole
zodiac cycle of twelve years, the
next time it is a rat year, we will be
twenty-four!
Rats are said to be imaginative, charming and generous to
the ones they love. They are also
said to be forthright, honest and
easy to get along with. They are
supposed to have sharp mental
powers, but can be self-absorbed
too. They are good writers, critics
and publicists.
The month leading up the Chinese New Year is a very busy time
of the year, with families leaving
the big cities where they work
back to the countryside to see
their family.
Some of them left their children
with other family members when
they work in the cities, or haven’t
seen their children for almost a
year! Since most stores and businesses are closed for a month,
many families also use this time to
travel, to see important sights.
Chinese New Year’s Eve is even
noisier than ours; there is much
more smoke and since the air is
already polluted in the cities, the
air is just awful.
The fireworks are splendid
though and very close; colors
shooting everywhere and people
visiting each other with presents.
It is a magical time of the year.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Wacky
Holidays
Did you dress up your puppy on
Jan. 14?
Valentine’s Day
History
By Joylen Nakagawa
M
ost people only know about a
few holidays in January.
For instance, there’s Martin
Luther King, Jr. Day on the 21st.
And of course, there’s always New
Year’s Day (New Year’s Eve is in
December of the prior year.)
The ones that do not appear
on calendars do not become very
famous. But if you do know about
them, you know that these are not
your ordinary holidays.
Here are a few:
January 2nd • Run up the
Flagpole and See if Anyone Salutes
Day
This day is for being creative
and finding new ideas and concepts to test out. The phrase itself
is an expression often used in
advertising.
January 9th • Play God Day
No one seems to know what
this day is about, but you can do
something that will help someone.
January 11th • Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day
This must be a day that people
who live in warmer climates, like
Hawaii, have to celebrate. In the
North, there’s probably more ice
than puddles.
January 12th • Feast of Fabulous Wild Men Day
We don’t want to know what
this day is about!
January 14th • Dress Up Your
Pet Day
By Megan Lau
T
here are many different histories of Valentine’s Day.
My favorite one tells of when St.
Valentine was waiting in jail to be
executed.
Valentine started talking to his
jailer, Asterius, and found that he
had blind daughter.
Valentine asked if he could
heal his daughter. Luckily,
he did.
Before he was executed, he asked if he could
write a farewell letter
to her and signed it
“From Your Valentine.”
From then on everyone signed letters just
like he did.
Another story about
Valentine’s Day is that
it came because young
Roman boys and girls were
kept separated. But, one of the
customs was that on the festival of
Lupercalia, the names of the girls
were written down and the put in
a jar.
Then the boys would go around
and pick a name out of the jar.
They would spend one full year
with the girls and then marry
them.
Here are some statics on Valentine’s Day: 188 million cards
are exchanged, 1,241 of locations
producing chocolate and cocoa
products, and 28,772 jewelry store
Page 15
Basically, this is a day to dress
up your pet. Don’t try this on your
goldfish; a goldfish is really hard
to dress up!
January 17th • Ditch Your New
Year’s Resolutions Day
That’s self-explanatory. What
took you so long?
January 20th • Penguin
Awareness Day
To celebrate Penguin Awareness
Day, why not watch one of the
recent penguin movies, like Surf’s
Up, Happy Feet, or March of the
Penguins. Also, you should dress
up in black & white.
January 21st • Squirrel Appreciation Day
Why should penguins have all
the fun? Get a little squirrelly!
January 27th • Chocolate Cake
Day
We don’t know the origin of this
holiday, but we don’t care. We
should eat cake!
January 28th • Fun at Work
Day
It’s a day, not only to get your
work done, but to have fun doing
it. So don’t cry over your homework today; instead, you should
go back to eating chocolate cake!
Do not worry these holidays are
completely real. You can find out
more by going to www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/january.
htm.
So remember, the holidays on
your calendar are not the only
ones you can celebrate.
in the United States.
It has been customary to give
flowers on Valentine’s Day. Flowers
are the most popular gift given on
Valentine’s Day.
The most common flower given
on Valentine’s Day is roses, especially pink or red. Roses are the
symbol of love since the Victorian
times. Roses stared becoming
popular because red roses were
Venus the Roman goddess of love
favorite flower.
There are many different kinds
of roses, each meaning something
else. White roses mean truth, innocence, and silence. White roses
are meant to say “I Miss You.”
White roses are used in weddings
and also in funerals.
Yellow roses mean friendship,
joy, and hope. Sometimes they are
used to say “Let’s Be Friends.” If
you want to have a long romantic relationship, don’t send yellow
roses.
Pink roses are also used a lot in
Valentine’s Day. There also used to
say “Thank You,” “You’re So Kind.”
On Valentine’s Day peach roses
convey a message of excitement.
Sometimes they are used to express appreciation, gratitude, or
sympathy.
Lilac Roses show that the
sender has had love at first sight.
Coral roses show desire with their
passionate color.
Dead roses clearly convey, “It’s
Over!”
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Be Green:
It’s Easier
than It Seems
The Wii: Fun Game or
Dangerous Weapon?
By Nina Oishi
E
verywhere you look these
days, you see things
that remind you of Punahou’s
Sustainability goal. From the posters to Buff + Blue = Green banner
outside Punahou’s main gates to
the eco-friendly design of
Case Middle School, you
can see that our school is
trying its best to be environmentally friendly.
But even though the
school is making a big
difference in trying to be
green, as students we
need to help too. It may
seem like a huge job to
change the world’s conditions, but there are so
many small things that you
can do... it’s easier than it
seems.
Take a look around the
cafeteria: it’s a great place
to begin. For starters,
instead of using paper or
plastic bags to carry your
home lunch, use reusable
cloth bags. You can buy
stylish insulated lunch bags
at stores—much better
than brown paper.
Put your lunch in reus-
By Scout Shutter & Kenny Yamashita
T
he Wii is the new interactive
video game that has been out
since Nov. 19, 2006.
By Dec. 16, 2007, before Christmas last year, Nintendo sold over
981,000 copies of the Wii making
it nearly impossible to get as a
Christmas present.
Since its release it has also
broken many TVs, lights, fans,
and walls.
Is it a fun game or dangerous weapon?
Without using the wrist
strap, the Wii remote can
easily fly off your wrist
and hit a TV, light, wall.
It can also injure
the user or the user’s
partner.
Games like “Wii
Sports” and “Cooking
Mama” are the most
deadly.
Analysts say that
the interactive Wii is so
popular because it allows
players to get up and
right into the action of the
game.
As you might know
already, the Wii remote lets you
control the moves of your character on screen in real-time.
The Wii also lets you create
your own character or “Mii” to look
like yourself in the game. You edit
everything about your Mii from
the color of the hair to the type of
eyebrows.
The Nintendo Wii remains the
leader of the next generation gaming console sales, while the Sony
Page 16
able plastic containers and don’t
throw them away—that way, at
home, you can wash the containers and use them again and again.
Don’t throw away those empty
water bottles. There are many
water fountains all over campus,
so instead of throwing your bottle
away you can instead fill it up
there instead.
Another great, easy way to
help the environment is carpooling. If you have a friend who lives
nearby, you can go to school in the
same car... and your parents will
love the fact they have to pay less
for gas and you get to talk with
your friend all the way to school.
Plus, make sure your teacher
turns off the lights when your class
leaves the classrooms...this saves
energy, too.
But even if you already know
about all these ways to be greener,
don’t forget to tell your friends.
Imagine how much less trash and
energy Punahou will be having or
using if everyone tries their best to
be more environmentally friendly.
And while you’re at it, look
around. Maybe you’ll be the one
to pioneer a brand-new green
scheme that makes your world
a better place. Remember, being
green is easier than it seems.
PS3 may be catching up.
But still remains our question:
is the Wii a fun game or dangerous
weapon?
Let’s turn to the experts for this
one. Some say that soon Nintendo
will be sued for the Wii being too
dangerous.
Here is a story that was posted
on a forum. A gamer claimed that
when he and his friends were playing the Wii, they played it almost
nonstop for 24 hours.
Then, while playing a game of
bowling on Wii Sports, the gamer’s
friend wound up to roll his ball
and felt the controller slip from his
hands. Instead of the strap preventing the controller from flying,
it snapped.
After this story, some gamers
responded saying that this would
be the end of the Wii and that
Nintendo had take these accidents
into consideration.
One expert on techkills.com
responded to this accident saying
that Nintendo didn’t make their
products fool-proof and the Wii
remote didn’t break the TV, the
friend did. He believes that this
issue will have no effect on Wii
sales. Nintendo can’t be held liable
over game actions.
So there we have it, the Wii
found to be a fun game and not a
dangerous weapon. But next time
when playing with your friend,
make sure you wear the wrist
strap before you find yourself buying them a new TV.
Check out some of the videos
online (PDF version only):
Video 1
Video 2
The CMS Courier
February 2008
The iBook and
Its Features
By Carole Kau & Joanna Lee
O
n the 21st of July in the year
1999, the Apple Computer
company (now just Apple) brought
forth a new kind of invention. Their
idea of a better, smaller, and more
efficient laptop was brought to life.
Laptop users all around the
world were given even more features than before.
It was the iBook.
With its 50 watt-hour-rated six
lithium-ion cells, the iBook provided up to six hours of operation.
And its built-in microphone was
useful for recording. But these are
not the only features the iBook
has, there are much more.
People all around the world love
the iBook and its great features.
Many even prefer the iBook to
the HP laptop from the HewlettPackard company that also sells
computers.
Here
we have
a quote
from a
blog and
the person’s opinion about
the iBook
From “PassTheLoot”: I would
sell my hp laptop and throw in
a scanner/printer and a ton of
software for one. Anyone want to
trade ???
Literally, that mostly says it all.
The iBook is also very popular
with schools as learning tools for
students. Not only is it useful for
finding information for research,
but the laptop’s programs can be
used for student projects. These
include Safari, GarageBand and
iTunes. These programs are also
the most popular, and the most
used by student laptop users.
Let’s talk about them, shall we?
Safari on the iBook became the
most used internet browser next
to the Internet Explorer some time
ago. It has an search field in its
window’s upper right-hand corner
that lets you look for information
straight from Google.
You just type what you want,
and it automatically searches it.
And another feature of Safari is
its bookmarks folder. It’s great for
organizing and placing sites that
you want to save so you can refer
to it again for homework.
GarageBand is another one
of Apple’s ingenious inventions.
Its great feature lets you record
your voice, music, or whatever
you want to record. And you can
modify the recorded sound with
the “vocal transformer.” This lets
you change your voice to whatever
you desire.
You can even change your voice
to a male or female voice.
GarageBand is great for making podcasts and other cool school
projects.
And let’s not forget iTunes. It
became, without a doubt, the
greatest and most popular computer music player of all times.
It lets you copy your music from
your CDs onto your computer. And
it also lets you shop on the iTunes
store for only a dollar a song.
Page 17
iTunes also includes a shuffle
feature where you can shuffle
all your songs into a completely
random order, so the order of the
songs can be changed whenever
you want.
Despite all these cool and useful
laptop programs, the one program
suite used constantly by students
is Microsoft Office.
Microsoft Office comes with a
bunch of different programs for
students to make their projects.
One is Microsoft PowerPoint.
This is where you can make slide
shows and presentations.
And don’t forget Microsoft
Entourage: great for email and
calendars and appointments and
practically everything you need.
Another one is Microsoft Excel.
This one lets you organize your
information, which is most useful
for making tables and graphs.
Another one, and the most
used program of Microsoft Office is
Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word is
great for writing documents, book
reports, stories, and much more.
Punahou pays a special fee to
Microsoft that allows Office to be
used on all machines at the school.
As you can see, the iBook
has proven to be very popular
in some schools, and it just so
happens that Punahou School
started using iBooks as learning tools for students in the year
2000 for its 4th grade pilot laptop program.
Here we have a few words from
Mr. Tedd Landgraf as he expresses
his opinion of the iBook as a learning tool.
“I believe the laptop is a wonderful learning tool for students
because it connects students to information, helps them process and
understand it, and gives them the
ability to demonstrate their knowledge and facilitate the creative
process through multimedia,” Mr.
Landgraf said.
As you can see, the iBook is a
great laptop with cool features and
tons of cool things to do on it. But
wait until you see the greater invention that came after the iBook
in our next part of our article.
Five years after the iBook was
brought into the world, a new type
of invention was made.
In the year 2006, the MacBook,
and later, its brother, the MacBook
Pro, was introduced to all laptop
users around the world. This new
laptop was flatter, longer, wider,
and with even more upgraded
features that left everyone flabbergasted. It overwhelms us with its
new technology.
Let’s talk about these new features, shall we?
Top of the list: a new 13.3
inch glossy screen, plus a built in
camera to take pictures of yourself
wherever you may be.
It has a new, powerful, 250GB
hard drive. It is powerful, with an
Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a
speed 2.2GHz. Every computer has
a performance of 4MB and shared
L2 cache.
In addition to this, every Mac…continued on page 18
The CMS Courier
February 2008
One Way or
Another of
Pakistan
The differences between Pakistan
and Hawaii are numerous, size
included. Pakistan is 880,940 km2
while Hawaii’s land area is just
29,311 km2.
4The iBook and its features
…continued from page 17
Page 18
was recently in Pakistan so
these differences and similarities are fresh on my mind.
I was also there when Benazir
Bhutto got assassinated. For me it
was two days spent hiding in the
house and watching TV.
For others
it was time
to go out
and start
riots.
Living
there, you notice
many differences.
For instance, if you
wanted to catch a bus here
in Hawaii, you go to the bus
stop. To get off, you ring the bell.
In Pakistan, if you want to get
on a bus, you wave your hand
in the middle of the road, jump
on the bus and hand a guy your
money. When you want to get of
you wait until the bus has slowed
down and you jump.
Some other differences are the
people who live in your house.
Here most people have just family
or maybe a nanny or a renter.
But in Pakistan, you would have
a cook, sweeper, duster, driver
and if you have an older person in
your house, you would probably
have two or three people to take
care of him or her.
We would probably think people
in Pakistan must be very rich to
have all those servants. Well there
are not that many people who are
as rich as people in Hawaii. There,
it is not unusual to have servants.
Also, instead of having grocery
stores like Star Market, Safeway
and Times, they have people on
the streets selling things when
people stop at traffic lights. They
have other grocery stores that
don’t have fresh food.
Also, here there are no camels
roaming around the beach but
there are camels roaming around
the beaches in Pakistan. If you go
to the beach, you will see camels
and horses that you can ride.
Now that you know the differences you should think of the
similarities.
Both Pakistan and the U.S.
have presidents. The president of
Pakistan is President Musharraf.
In Pakistan President Musharraf is now unpopular and in the
U.S. President Bush is relatively
unpopular according to Google.
Another thing that is the same
is that both places have social
clubs.
If you have ever been to the
Pacific Club or the Honolulu Club,
you would know kind of club the
Sind Club is like.
The Sind Club has a pool, fitness center, tennis and squash
courts. Like most social clubs in
Hawaii, you must be a member to
come in.
So here are some similarities
and differences. I hope you got a
look into Pakistan and its culture.
Book comes with “iLife ‘08.” As we
talked about earlier in the article,
Apple’s programs are amazing by
themselves. But what happens
when you twist them, and shape
them to something else?
The new feature in iPhoto?
Making calendars, and cards, out
of your photos. You can also show
off your pictures in a slide
show.
This cool new upgrade
can even organize your
photos depending on
what day you took them.
Last but not least on our
favorite news on iLife, iMovie. You
have ten new animated themes. If
you haven’t used these
before, you’ll be surprised how much they
add. They’ve made iMovie
respond faster to every click,
and made your DVDs hold more
quality.
GarageBand has also been
given a new look. You can now see
the instruments play on a virtual
stage.Another mind-boggling new
feature takes picture taking to a
new level. Featuring: Photo Booth.
With its tons of cool picture effects, it makes picture taking funnier than ever. And it’s also easy to
operate so anyone can use it, even
without an instruction guide.
Our friends have often spent
half an hour sitting in front of our
laptop, making funny faces. We
enjoyed it, but do others enjoy the
MacBook just as much?
“I love it.” said Mr. Tedd
Landgraf, Tech Resource Teacher.
“It’s an even faster computer than
the iBook that allows me to do
whatever I need or want to do better and faster.”
The MacBook and iBook are
identical on the outside, all except
for the wider screen on the MacBook, which is also thinner. But,
just like with people, you have to
look inside to find the difference.
The MacBook is made out of a
more advanced material than the
iBook.
In the future, we hope to type
by speaking, rather than using our
fingers. For instance, you could
say words, and they could appear
on the screen as you type.
As of now, a modern keyboard
hinders laptop redesign, as without
it, we could probably make tiny
little laptops.
Right now however, we look forward to seeing more of the MacBook, as it’s been predicted to stay
around to the future.
The MacBook itself costs $1099
dollars. The MacBook Pro comes
with everything above and more,
but costs $2000 dollars.
Expensive? Maybe. But was it
worthwhile? The people at Apple
think so.
If you want one of these technological wonders, you’ll have to
wait. Only the new students get
them.
By Mahina Husain
I
The CMS Courier
February 2008
BaKawk!
The Chicken
Pox Returns!
By Maile Blume
M
Graphic from
sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com/photos/illustrations/
Trivia Facts and
Interesting Statistics
ust...not...itch! Voices of kids
everywhere repeat the saying, though resisting the itchy red
bumps that are the chicken pox is
very difficult.
This virus has been going
around Punahou lately, and
though it is hard to track down
where someone may have gotten it, there are ways to ease
the itch.
1. Calamine lotion—this
lotion not only eases your itch, it
makes the bumps crest
faster and therefore stops
them in their tracks.
2. A baking soda or
oatmeal bath—though
this sounds rather odd,
it really does soothe
your skin.
3. Benadryl—a pill
that helps you become
less itchy, very helpful
when trying to sleep.
Chicken pox can be a
pain, but it usually only lasts a
week. And although most people
By Jackie Thomas
T
rivia is popular all over the
world. People somehow enjoy
being tested on random facts in a
short amount of time. Trivia is a
great way to learn something new
and test the far regions of your
memory.
Interesting facts can
be a good “uncomfortable silence filler” when
you have nothing to say.
Random facts can come in
handy anytime anywhere.
Expand your repertoire
of knowledge and test
your memory with the
interesting facts below.
Six degrees of Separation: It turns out
that it really is a small
world after all. Not many
people know of the Six
Degrees of Separation
theory. In that theory
every single person on
our planet is connected
by no more than six people. For
example, if your sister’s friend’s
cousin’s teacher knows the Queen
of England then you are only four
“degrees” away from knowing the
Queen of England.
Love: Sometimes you see
couples that look a lot like each
other, almost looking like brother
and sister. Scientists at the University of Liverpool have done test
on why this is. Participants in an
experiment were given a number
of digitally altered images of human faces, 200 of them were more
attracted to the faces with the
features they found most like their
own or their family members.
Education: Sometimes we really take advantage of our learning
opportunity. Before you judge your
own situation compare it…the chil-
Page 19
only get chicken pox once in their
lives, it is possible to get it twice.
Chicken pox is much worse to
get if you are an adult bringing
another disease called shingles.
Shingles starts with red bumps,
but unlike chicken pox, it doesn’t
stop there.
Bumps become blisters that
can burn, and these blisters form
rashes all over your body.
The rashes go away in about a
week, but the pain can last for up
to 3 months.
The good news is that you can
only get it if you are over 50 years
old (or bad news, if you’re old!)
If you are recovering from
chicken pox, you should not return
to school no matter how much you
are dying to, unless your bumps
have crested or they are starting
to go away.
Be patient with yourself, your
pox will soon be disappearing.
Keep yourself clean and don’t
share food or drinks with anyone.
Chicken pox has a reputation for
being extremely contagious, you
know!
dren in Mali spend only two years
in school. Sadly more than half of
them start working between the
ages of 10 and 14.
Money: A dime has 118 ridges
on it. Dollar bills are made out
of cotton not paper, (that’s why
money doesn’t dissolve when it’s
in your jeans in the washing machine.)
Russia and the USA: Russia
has about twice as many judges
and magistrates as the USA. Surprisingly though the United States
has eight times as much crime.
Sharks: All of you ocean people
should pay attention to this one.
It turns out that besides a sharp
sense of smell, sharks also have
extremely good hearing. Sharks
can detect sounds a lot lower than
humans can. Some sharks can
hear sounds more than 700 feet
away. Some scientist believes that
hearing is the first sense a shark
uses when detecting its prey. (So
basically don’t be splashing a lot in
the water.)
Paper: When you recycle one
ton of paper you save: 17 trees,
6,953 gallons of water, 463 gallons
of oil, 587 pounds of air pollution,
3.06 cubic yards of landfill space,
and 4077 kilowatt hours of energy.
Its pretty amazing what a little bit
of recycling can do.
Memory: When your teachers
tell you review materials as often
as possible, the truth is that helps
nothing. The truth is frequent
repetition of learning materials is
a waste of time; it also keeps you
from getting an effectively strong
memory. The best way to memorize and build long-term memory is
to review your material in a certain
determined moments of time.
In conclusion, I suppose the
saying is true, you learn something new everyday.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Horsing
Around
Harry Potter
on DVD
Review by Kenneth Li
H
ave any of you people seen
this movie? Well, I think it
was a good movie and you should
try to see it.
The strange story begins in
Scotland with an old man telling a
boy and girl a story. The real story
begins back in WWII Scotland with
a young boy named Angus MacMorrow on a beach.
Angus was a boy who was fascinated by the sea, though he was
always afraid of the water, thinking
that he would drown.
Angus loved collecting seashells
as he remembered his father who
told him that in the seashells,
there was power.
Unknown to Angus at that time,
his father had died in a shipwreck,
as his father was a soldier.
Angus then found a “rock” that
was covered with seaweed and
moss.
Angus brought the rock home
into his father’s workshop and
he washed the “rock” and found
something blue covered in the
moss and seaweed so he got a
knife and pried off the moss and
found a blue egg. He left the egg
on a counter and left to help his
mom.
He then noticed military arriving and had wondered if his dad
was there. The military apparently
needed to secure the loch from
German submarines. They chose
to stay in Angus’ house, as his
house was actually a mansion.
After helping the soldiers, he
went to sleep until he remembered
the egg.
Review by Byeong Yun Kim
O
ne of the awesome movies that came out last year,
Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix, came to theaters in July
13, 2007. There are many reasons
why people liked this movie, and
they are written below.
The first
reason is that
the book of this
movie was well
written. This
book was better
than other Harry
Potter books and
this made the
movie fun and
fantastic.
The producers
also did a good
job on not making the movie
too long. This is
because the book
was the longest
book in the Harry
Potter series
(870 pages).
But some of the things that
were taken out were important.
For example, in the book a house
elf name Dobby finds a place
called the Room of Requirement
Page 20
He found the egg on the ground
and some animal had escaped
the egg. He looked around and
saw a little figure running around
the place breaking many jars and
bottles along the way.
He went outside where it was
raining and saw the creature.
It was a small creature that was
bluish gray and had something on
its head like horns, ears, or antennas.
He went to the main house to
fetch a potato and chopped up the
potato to feed to the creature. At
first the creature was wary but it
gave in and ate the potato.
As it turned, Angus noticed a
cut on its back and went to give it
a band-aid.
There still is a lot more but to
get to interesting parts, we have
to skip ahead.
After Angus names the creature
Crusoe, he meets Lewis, the new
servant who tells Angus that Crusoe is a “bloody water horse” and
tells Angus a legend about a past
water horse, how only one could
exist at a time, and how it could
grow 12 feet a day.
After Crusoe grows too big, they
release “him” (it’s actually male
and female) into the loch.
Then when military bombed the
loch as a test run, things changed.
Will Crusoe survive?
What will happen to Angus, and
who is the old man telling this
story?
This movie is rated PG and
it’s great to watch with family,
just make sure that the youngest person can stand mildly scary
features.
for Harry to hold his meetings of
Dumbledore’s Army. But in the
movie, Neville finds the Room of
Requirement.
Also, when Harry was battling
the Death Eaters, Dumbledore
came and fought Voldemort. He
wrapped a giant fire snake of
Voldemort’s in a circling globe of
water and made a shield to protect
Harry from Voldemort’s spells.
But in the book, it said that
while Dumbledore was rescuing
Harry from Voldemort’s spells,
Voldemort cast a killing spell on
Dumbledore and Dumbledore’s
phoenix, Fawkes, sacrificed itself
for Dumbledore. Since Fawkes is a
phoenix, it’s immortal.
So this is where the producers
did a good job in replacing some
scenes from the book with the
ones in the movie.
Another reason is that the computer graphics and the music were
really awesome.
The spells that the people cast
in the movies were of superior
quality of graphics. There were
various colors of spell ranging from
red to green.
Also, the Patronus charm that
the students were practicing in
the Room of Requirement was way
…continued on page 24
The CMS Courier
February 2008
The Right Rat
at the Right Time
“You must not let
anyone define you
no matter where
you come from.
Your only limit
is your soul”
—Auguste Gusteau
Movie Reviews:
National Treasure 2
and Enchanted
Review by Kyra Ing & Kc Lee
O
n June 29, 2007, the cutest
rat movie ever was released
in theaters.
A little rat named
Remy loves to cook
and becoming a
famous chef is his life
long dream.
Unfortunately, his
father is the leader of
their clan and once
he found out that
Remy had a highly
developed sense of
taste and smell, he
wanted his son to
have the job of poison inspector.
But even though
he knew his father
wouldn’t approve and
knowing that he is
only a rat, didn’t hold
Remy back from accomplishing his goal.
Remy’s idol, chef Auguste
Gusteau, keeps Remy’s hopes up
high with his famous quote, “You
must not let anyone define you no
matter where you come from. Your
only limit is your soul. What I say
is true. Anyone can cook. Only the
fearless can be great.”
With the inspiration of Auguste
Gusteau, every day Remy secretly
goes into the kitchen of an elderly
lady’s home and grabs ingredient
to make his food tastier.
But Remy was soon separated
from his family, when he was careless and was seen by the elderly
lady.
He was lost in the drains of
Reviews by Natalie Moore
& Juleen Wong
N
icholas Cage entertained
audiences all over the country
with his stunning performance in
National Treasure.
He just came back to the big
screen to film a sequel, National
Treasure 2: Book of
Secrets. Juleen interviewed Natalie about
the movie:
J: How would you
describe the movie?
N: I would say
that it was very good.
There were several
suspenseful moments
throughout the
movie. Also, it was
very interesting to
see how all the clues
fit together, and to
watch the characters
decipher them.
J: Can you make a
quick comparison of
the original?
N: Well, in the first movie we
were learning about the characters. It was a good lead-off to the
sequel, in which we are introduced
to Ben’s mother, and his greatgreat-grandfather. It had more
Page 21
Paris and when he was looking
around, he had found Gusteau’s
restaurant. There, he meets a garbage boy named Linguini.
While Remy was fixing one of
the soups in the kitchen, Linguini
found him and discovers Remy’s
special talent, cooking.
Together, they figure out a way
Remy can control Linguini to cook
Remy’s dishes and together they
create some of the best dishes Auguste’s restaurant has ever had.
Kyra and I have learned that,
with a big dream, a lot of believing,
and a little of luck you just might
get what you’ve always wished for.
Ratatouille is on DVD, and in
stores now! Buy it and see that
anyone can become a chef.
The DVD has deleted scenes,
a small animated show of “Your
Friend The Rat” and much more.
action, but the actors were just as
good.
J: Would you recommend this
movie to others?
N: I would recommend this
movie to other people, especially
anyone who has seen the first
National Treasure movie. It was
a great sequel, and it kept me on
the edge of my seat the whole
time.
Natalie then interviewed Juleen
about Enchanted:
N: What did you think about the
movie?
J: It was pretty good. It was
funny, too. It was interesting to
see how they turned a fairy-tale to
real life.
N: Was it like a standard fairytale, with a happy ending and all?
J: No, because it was in real
life, modern day situations. It still
had a few fairy-tale elements, like
a beautiful princess and a handsome prince. And, of course, a
“bad guy.”
N: Would you recommend it to
other people?
J: Yes, because it is very funny
and it’s great to watch. It’s like
a twisted fairy-tale. It was also a
good story, and it was pretty interesting. I think most people would
like it.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
A Frightful Scare for
Every Movie Lover
Man’s best friend is his dog, for
Will Smith in the thriller, I Am
Legend.
The Lovable
P.S. I Love You
Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank in
P.S. I Love You.
Review by Jamie Chan
& Selena Montania
T
he movie I am Legend, on the
whole, was a great thriller. The
effects of the movie were outstanding, but the plot was a bit of a
disappointment.
The setting takes place in New
York City, in 2012. Actor Will
Smith portrays the main character, Doctor Robert Neville.
In the movie, Robert
Neville gets up every morning, eats breakfast, exercises,
listens to music, and also
takes his dog Sam out to a
walk while he gathers supplies
for living conditions.
As far as Robert knows,
himself and Sam, a German
Shepherd, are the only living
beings on the planet. This
knowledge implies that Smith
will have a tough time acting
alone, that maybe the movie isn’t
what we thought it to be, but Smith
does a great job anyway as a one
stage man.
At night, strange mutated creatures surround Sam and Smith, the
infected’s regular routine being to
come out of barren buildings and
search for victims. He and Sam are
the only survivors left in Manhattan,
and have been living alone now for
three years.
In the beginning of the movie,
a clip or recording from 2009 runs,
showing a scientist named Dr. Kripper (Emma Thompson) discovering
a cure for cancer. But, instead of
curing people, the virus has effect to
mutate humans into a strange form,
killing off millions of people with its
Review by Sienna Aczon
& Katherine Lee
A
re you a sucker for love stories, sad stories, or romances? If you love excitement, riveting
suspense, and a happy ending, go
and see P.S. I Love You!
It’s a heart-warming, mixedup love story that starts
with a twist, but ends with
wonders of life, and the
ultimate question… “What
are you doing with your
own life?”
Are you living life to the
fullest or scared to be free?
This movie will share with
you the ups and downs of
a relationship.
The movie starts out
as a romance between
two lovers, Holly Kennedy
(Hilary Swank) and Gerry
Kennedy (Gerard Butler).
Everyone knew them as
the ultimate couple with love and
passion.
Sometimes they fought, what
kind of couple doesn’t? But they
resolved their problems over having children, buying a new home
and more worries that couldn’t
break the love that they had for
each other.
Page 22
airborne and contact strains.
As the plague spreads, the government orders Manhattan to be
locked down, with only the uninfected being allowed to leave.
There is an air of panic as the
uninfected try to evacuate, Robert
Neville being one of them, attempting to lead his family to safety out
of the city, but eventually, everyone
that he knows will be dead.
So in 2012, after all of this has
happened, Robert Neville is determined to find a cure for the man
made virus. The charm and bravery
that Smith carries around with his
character throughout the movie,
draws the audience in every detail
of every scene.
Robert knows that he is immune
to the virus, although he doesn’t
know why.
He has a lab in the basement
of his house where he tests various strains, which, by the way is a
breed, stock, or variety of an animal
or plant developed by breeding, and
also tests solutions of his blood on
infected rats.
He only hopes he can start testing on humans, to move one-step
closer to curing the mutants…
Although we did not like this
movie very much, you might have
a different say. The movie didn’t
have a real plot to it, but gave us a
frequent scare every now and then.
The effects of the movie were
great, and very realistic. Overall, for
those who like Sci-Fi-Action-Thriller
movies, then we would definitely
recommend this movie to you.
But for those who are easily
scared, you might just want to stick
to Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Right out of the blue, a breathtakingly horrible thing happened; a
death that will never be forgotten.
Holly’s husband Gerry passed
away. He was a perfectly fine man,
until his brain tumor came… His
life, and Holly’s, went downhill
from there.
Gerry knew that his death was
not a punishment for bad behavior
but the start of an adventure for
his wife and her two best friends,
Denise Hennessey (Lisa Kudrow),
and Sharon McCarthy (Gina Gershon).
Many months after Gerry’s
death, Holly still found herself
sulking over the fact that her husband was gone.
On the day of her 30th birthday,
a surprise arrives, one that no one
would have ever suspected.
At first, Holly, dumbfounded and
speechless, thought that it was
a set-up from one of her friends.
Holly didn’t know that this present
would change her life forever…
The movie concludes with an
unexpected twist that would shock
anyone.
All in all, it was a tremendous
movie filled with love, adventure,
and may leave you in tears. This is
a perfect date movie for you and
your loved one.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Book Review:
On My Honor
The Honolulu
Marathon: An Interview
with the President
Above, Dr. Jim Barahal, center,
with reporters Olivia, left, and
Kelly, right. At right, some runners
pose for a shaka shot.
Photos courtesy of Dr. Barahal and AIMS Association
Review by Damon Clark
I
am doing a book review on the
Newbery award book called On
My Honor by Marian Dane Bower.
It’s about two boys named Joel
and Tony. They were going to go
to a park about 10 miles away, on
bikes, and Joel promised his dad
they will go nowhere else.
But Tony, being outgoing and
daring, as usual, decided to go
down to a river near the path
when it got hot. (Tony actually
planned to free-climb Starved Rock
Cliff, which was in the park.)
But it was the Vermillion River.
It was known for its flash floods,
raging waters, whirlpools and sink
holes. It was a dangerous rushing
void even for pro swimmers, and
they were just two kids.
Joel tried to stop Tony but he
dashed downhill for the river. He
even left Joel’s bike on the open
road. Joel carefully hid Tony’s
bike—Tony had switched bikes
with him, because Joel’s was more
flashy. (Tony had a gray, hand-medown bike).
Joel, knowing that there was no
way to talk Tony out of it, decided
to join him.
Joel got into the bloody red water with Tony.
After a bit of fighting, yelling
and something about Tony’s mom
being useless, Joel proposed a
downstream race to a sandbar
about a hundred feet away.
By Kelly Langeslay & Olivia Barahal
O
n December 11th, on the eve
of the legendary Honolulu
Marathon, the CMS Courier interviewed Honolulu Marathon Association president, Dr. Jim Barahal.
Dr. Barahal has been president
of the Marathon for 20 years, and
in that time the Marathon has tripled in size
and earned over 1
billion dollars for the
state’s economy.
Two years ago, he
was inducted into the
Marathon Hall of Fame.
When we asked him
how he made it into the
Hall of Fame he replied
with a wink, “I’m the
president. I can induct
myself into it if I
want to.”
We also asked
Barahal about his
worst Marathon
experience.
“It was 1987,”
he replied, “and
hundreds of
runners got food
poisoning at the pre-race
dinner and were unable to
run. It had also rained tremendous amounts that year
and the wheel-chair race
had to be cancelled.”
Despite bad luck that
year, the Marathon has also
Page 23
The contest started, and both
boys dashed off.
Joel did pretty well for the first
half while Tony was grunting and
struggling. The rest of the time
Joel didn’t see Tony at all; he
planned to apologize to him when
the race was over.
Joel reached for the sandbar, “I
Win!” He looked back for Tony but
saw no one. He screamed for Tony
but saw nothing. Tony, he thought
was playing a prank.
Joel yelled “TONY!!!! If you
mess with my clothes…!”
But Joel saw his clothes right
where he had dropped them. No
cars were on the road: everyone
knew that the Vermillion River was
forbidden. Nothing and no one
was allowed in the river. Joel got
out and looked for Tony… nothing.
Then he found Tony’s clothes right
where they’d been left.
Even Tony, the prankster that
he was, would never play a prank
without his clothes on.
Then Joel got worried. He dived
in for Tony, searched everywhere
for him. He went past the sandbar,
his lungs bursting … nothing.
He inhaled the sweet oxygen, as
he came onto shore.
Tony had drowned in the river.
Joel threw up, and tried to think…
he threw up again.
Joel tried to get dressed and
threw up.
After he got dressed, he walked
up the hill to possible help.
had its triumphs for Barahal.
“My favorite years were probably in the 80s when I was training
with Ibrahim Hussein. We ran and
trained together and he broke the
course record back when he was
running the marathon, with 2:15,”
Barahal said. “Also, one of my
memorable experiences was my
first year at the Marathon. No one
thought I could do it but it ended
up very successful.”
The morning after the interview,
at Kapiolani Park, the first finishers
were coming in.
People crossing the finish line
were greeted by their family and
friends.
Some people crossing the finish
line were even in costumes.
Wheel-chair contestants, too,
rolled across the finish line.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Jessica Oda, Our
Own Judo Champ
“A value that I
learned is that if
you train or practice
really hard and put
in 110%, something
great will happen.”
—Jessica Oda
At right, Jessica Oda.
Photo by CMS staff
Martial Arts
4Harry Potter DVD
…continued from page 20
By Leilani Riahi
“I
felt excited and happy when
I won, because I knew that
all of my training partners and my
teachers helped me train and compete at my best ability.” —Jessica
Oda, sixth grader at Punahou
School.
During the Jita Kyoei
Cuo in Lima, Peru
on Nov. 3, 2007,
Jessica, a Judo
competitor, earned
a gold metal in
her 12 and under
division.
While developing as a person
and a Judo master,
Jessica felt like
this journey, and
Judo altogether, has
altered her life.
Jessica has been
practicing Judo since she
was six years old, influenced
by her older brother, Ryan Oda, to
start training.
Ever since then, Judo has been
her passion, because of not only
learning about this ancient art, but
making a lot of friends as well.
While learning something new
four times a week, Jessica is developing and coming further and
further throughout this sport.
“I can see how far I’ve come
over the six years I’ve been doing
judo, and there is still so much to
Page 24
learn,” says Jessica.
To prepare for this competition, Jessica went to Judo practice
every day, and all of her hard work
finally paid off when she finally
got to journey to Peru, which was
the greatest benefit of the Judo
competition.
Jessica also enjoyed this
competition not only
because she won, but
because she got to
train with the U.S.
Judo Team, getting
to visit Machu Picchu, and meeting a lot of new
friends in Peru.
The real importance of this lifechanging adventure
was that it changed
Jessica Oda’s perspective on life.
“My experience in
Peru changed my perspective on life because I’m more
thankful for where I live and
how lucky I am to go to a great
school!” Jessica Oda said.
After all of her efforts, Jessica Oda finally came back to the
United States with a gold trophy,
a smile pasted onto her face, and
knowledge about Judo, sportsmanship, and Peru.
“A value that I learned is that
if you train or practice really hard
and put in 110%, something great
will happen,” Jessica said.
ung-fu, Judo, Capoeira, and
Karate, are all Martial Arts,
but found in different parts of the
world.
Martial Arts are sports using
various skills. Usually, you use
Martial Arts for defense.
Siddhartha Gautama, a prince
that was brought up at Nepal,
Lumbini. He was taught the ways
of a warrior so he could grow up to
be a strong and powerful king. He
eventually became the Buddha.
Siddhartha needed some form
of excises to keep him in shape
and defend himself in open combat
with no weapons. When he developed this new way of combat,
he named it Martial Arts. Today,
many forms of Siddhartha Gautama’s way of combat are taught
to people around the world.
Some Martial Arts are uncommon but known in other parts of
the world: Capoeira (Brazil), PekitiTirsia Kali, (Philippines) or the
Krav Maga.
Although there are probably
many lesser-known Martial Arts,
you can learn all the well-known
ones. There are even classes at
Punahou that teach Martial Arts.
There are many professors or
instructors that are masters at the
Art. Learning exercises that keep
you in shape but at the same time
teach you how to defend yourself
is a wonderful pass-time activity.
better than the Patronus charms in
the third movie.
The shapes of the animals that
the charms took were clearer than
in the third movie.
And the headquarters of the
Order of the Phoenix coming out of
an apartment was cool and funny
in some ways.
The firecrackers and the listening ear that Fred and George used
were very nice ideas from the
producers.
The music that came from the
movie when the situations became
desperate or bad for Harry was
awe-inspiring.
Although some of the music
sounded like a ghost might pop
out, it was still fine.
So all of these elements made
this movie, now on DVD, almost as
great as the book.
But in general, people should
read the books first before watching the movies.
However, it depends on what
you want to do first!
By Jacquelyn Ho
K
The CMS Courier
February 2008
Aloha Nui Loa,
June Jones
June Jones and his Warrior team
did pretty well this year.
Photo or graphic credit goes here
The Rise and Fall
of the UH Warriors
Dynasty
By Maddie Wilson & Gracie Kimura
O
n January 7th, a beloved
football coach left O‘ahu
heading for the lone
star state (Texas),
leaving many disappointed sad and
even angry friends
and fans behind.
Although SMU is
giving June Jones
the equivalent of ten
million dollars over
a five-year span of
time, Coach Jones
claims to be leaving because of the
inadequate working
conditions at the
University of Hawaii.
“There’s absolutely no comparison,” Jones said in
a joking tone, when
asked by the Star-Bulletin about
why he was leaving. “In Hawaii,
the office that I sat in was the
same office that Dick Tomey used
in 1986. Even the carpet was the
same.”
Although things at UH weren’t
great, June Jones did love Hawaii.
In a letter written to the University, Coach Jones expressed how
hard it really was for him to decide
to leave Hawaii.
Here is part of what the letter
said about Herman Frazier and the
University:
“It is been very hard the last
few days thinking about the decision to leave a place that I love
greatly—but you and I have talked
many times about things that
Analysis by Ryan Reyes
J
ust last year our Hawaii Warriors went 11-3 throughout the
season.
This year we went 12-1 while
playing in the Sugar Bowl against
the Georgia Bulldogs.
In the 2008 Sugar Bowl, Georgia romped over Hawaii 10-41 at
the end of the game.
It left Colt Brennan with tears in
his eyes.
Some people
say that the
Warriors were
mismatched
with a better
team, others say
that Colt Brennan
wasn’t on his game.
But was this why June Jones left
the UH Warriors?
One reason why June Jones
could have left the Warriors is because our facilities.
Another reason why he left
is because of the low recruiting
budget that UH has to attract good
players.
The last reason why June Jones
could have left is because of the
amount he is getting paid now.
Last year he was only getting
paid $800,000 a year. But at SMU
Page 25
have concerned me. None of those
things that concerned me were addressed in this offer....
“I guess all I can say is that the
way my contract talks have been
handled, is kind of the reason I am
tired and why I just need to go.
He says it is a generous offer. But,
it would have meant a lot to me,
had this offer come after the bowl
game last year or even before the
season—or had it come to me as
late as the Washington game, it
would have said to me ‘Thanks,
June, for a job well done’.
“There would have been no
negotiating. I probably would have
signed it and never let it get to
this point.
“Hawaii will always have my
heart and that is why this is so
hard for me but just the fact I am
going to get on that plane to Dallas says it all.
“I do not want to go—believe
me but it is time to go.
“Mahalo, June.”
Most people blamed Herman
Frazier for Jones leaving but Artie
Wilson, one of Jones’ best friends,
responded to the letter.
“(The letter’s) gotten out now
and people are using it for their
own benefit as a ‘Get Herman’
thing,” Wilson said. “The worst
part is that it doesn’t help us to
keep June.”
Although it seems Hawaii Warriors finally got to the top, now
they have to start over with new
coach Greg McMackin on hand
and ready to keep UH going
strong.
All we say now is “Mahalo, June
Jones.”
or also known as Southern Methodist University he will be getting
paid $2,000,000.
However, I think that June Jones
left UH mostly because of the budget that he has to recruit players.
I think that, because if he
doesn’t have enough money to
recruit good players, he wouldn’t
have a good team.
In one of his quotes, he clearly
stated that
his future is
at Southern
Methodist
University.
Ever since
June Jones
decided to
leave Hawaii
to go to SMU,
a lot of the good players have also
left the state.
Davone Bess left to go to the
NFL because he heard that he was
going to be a second round draft
pick.
Ryan Grice Mullins also left the
Warriors and CJ Hawthorne and
Jason Rivers had to leave because
they were seniors.
Even though our four best receivers left UH we still hope that
our Warriors will go undefeated
next year.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
UH Football:
Bitter or Sweet?
LSU Tigers
2007 NCAA
Champions
School Spirits
Rock Punahou
Students at a pep rally.
Photo courtesy of Mrs. Maureen MacLeod
By Josh Jamile, Casey Mark,
& A. J. Muth
O
utput on this season and the
next: bitter or sweet?
Many of you recall UH’s season,
how they won game after game to
achieve the perfect season.
Many supporters of other football programs argue that the perfect season was because of their
weak schedule.
What they don’t realize is that
every game brings a risk of losing
that perfect season. Colt Brennan
was the leader of the football team
and was the one who led them to
the UH’s first perfect season.
What about next season
though?
By Michael Dearden
C
ongratulations to the LSU
Tigers for winning the 2007
NCAA BCS Championship.
They are the first team to win
twice in five years.Their opponent,
the Ohio State Buckeyes, have lost
twice in two years despite being
ranked number one in the nation.
Last year, the #2 Florida Gators beat Ohio 41-14. This year
LSU won 38-24, even though Ohio
State was the favored team.
They were anything but favored
as the game was held in New
Orleans, Louisiana. LSU is in New
Orleans so more LSU fans filled up
the Superdome, giving Ohio State
a disadvantage with the crowd.
Essay by Jessica Chang
B
uff and Blue! GO PUNS GO!
Every Friday is School Spirit
Day.
But not just on Fridays. Every time there is a game, like a
football game, soccer game, or
volleyball game, people get in the
spirit too.
We sing the Punahou
alma mater and other
cheerful jingles. Punahou
students chant the
Punahou chant over and
over again.
Be in the Punahou spirit
all day long. See it, hear
it, smell it, taste it, and
feel it.
The banner above
the main gates presents
Buff+Blue=Green, as we celebrate
Sustainability.
The spirit inside Punahou School
wants to get out and celebrate.
Every student in Punahou represents the Punahou spirit.
Students are in Punahou t-shirts
and colors: yellow and blue or better known as buff and blue.
These are signature shirts that
are worn whenever practically possible; perhaps a person wears one
everyday.
Page 26
Brennan, along with his receivers Jason Rivers, Davone Bess,
C.J. Hawthorne, and Ryan Grice
Mullen, created one of the best
offenses.
Unfortunately all of those receivers are leaving.
Another loss is that of Coach
June Jones; he recently signed a
five-year contract with SMU.
June Jones led UH to a perfect
regular season. After he left, the
hunt was on for a new coach.
There were over 30 applications
for new head coach, five of those
who were recommended by June
Jones on his departure.
In the end, Warrior Defensive
Coordinator, Greg McMackin, was
named the new head coach.
The BCS started in 1869 but was
not called the Bowl Championship
Series. It was first called The Retroactive Poll Championship. So far in
college football history there have
been four names for the BCS. The
others have been APNC (AP National Champions), CNC (Consensus
National Championship), and BCS
(Bowl National Championship).
In 1869, Princeton won the
first NCAA football title. Despite
winning the next three titles in
1870-72-73 (no winner in 1871),
they do not hold the record for
most championship wins.
That title is held by Norte Dame
with 17 Championships won.
Who do you think will be the
next record holder?
The two kinds of Punahou Spirit
shirts are the blue shirt with tiny
yellow and blue (buff and blue)
words that form a bigger buff and
blue, and another dark blue buff
and blue shirt with bold blue and
yellow words.
Cheerleaders are selling shirts
and pom-poms to get the entire
school in Punahou spirit.
Their shirt is white with
a cheerleader cheering on
the front and back.
At the games, these
cheerleaders wear outfits that depict how much
cheering spirit they put in
for the team.
Carnival is a big part of
school spirit events. The
face painting booth turns
into a spirit art designer
booth every time.
The lights, the Variety show, the
games, and the rides—all contribute to the good spirits.
Join in on the Punahou School
cheer at pep rallies all throughout the year. Attending a school
pep rally will surely get you in a
Punahou mood.
When Punahou shows its spirit,
it shows its power as a school.
If you’re part of Punahou, show
that you’re part of Punahou.
The CMS Courier
February 2008
16 - 0 !
By Brian Kim
I
He’s the man of the hour, Mr. Tom
Brady of the New England Patriots.
Photo courtesy of the Internet
The Top Ten
of Next Year
f you are kind of person who
likes watching American football, than you know what the New
England Patriots did this year.
They were 16-0, undefeated, for
the first time since 1972 when
the Dolphins were 18-0 (including
playoffs).
When news
reporters asked
Tom Brady, the
Patriots’ quarterback, about
how he feels,
he said, “It is
great, being
18-0, but we
should always
concentrate
on the next
game.”
The Patriots
started their
season with
New York Jets,
just rallying
over them on
38-14 win.
Then they
went on to beat
the San Diego Chargers 38-14
again in the second week.
In their third game with the
Bills, they won, of course, 38-7. In
fact, they scored 38 points in all
three games.
The fourth game was played
on Monday with the Bengals, and
the Patriots again crushed them in
34-13 victory.
After beating the Browns on
34-17 victory, the Patriots met a
big challenge. The 5-0 Patriots had
By Nathan Higa
T
he new AP Football Polls are
out, and our beloved UH Warriors went down eight spots.
The devastating loss in the Sugar Bowl dropped Hawaii to number
19 in the polls. On the other hand
Sugar Bowl opponent Georgia rose
to number 2 in the
polls.
Number 1
in the polls is
now National
Champions, the
LSU Tigers, after
defeating the Ohio
State Buckeyes in
the National Championship game (38-24).
The USC Trojans, another BCS bowl team, is 3rd
after a convincing win over Illinois
(49-17).
The Trojans were number 1 at
the beginning of the year, but after
a heart-breaking loss to unranked
Stanford, ended the hopes for a
National Championship.
Number 4 in the polls is Chase
Daniel’s Missouri team.
Missouri was the highest ranked
team not in the BCS.
This created a big argument on
whether Kansas or Missouri should
Page 27
to face the 5-0 Cowboys. People
expected a close game, but surprisingly, the Patriots were able to
beat the Cowboys easily in a 48-27
victory.
The seventh game was with
the 0-6 Dolphins, and the Patriots cruised passed the Dolphins
48-29. Eighth week was not a
challenge either, as they went past
the Redskins 52-7.
Later, the Patriots faced another
unbeaten team in their ninth win.
They were to face the 7-0 Colts.
The Colts were the team that had
beaten the Patriots in 2006 playoffs, shattering many Patriot fans’
hearts. It was a hard victory, but
they managed to win it 24-20 in
the fourth quarter comeback.
After this, the Patriots got a
well-deserved week off, and then
the next week, they beat the Bills
56-10. The 11th and 12th games
were hard also, as the Patriots
won both by only 3 points, both
time in fourth quarter comebacks.
(Eagles: 31-28, Ravens: 27-24)
However, after those two hard
games, they cruised through the
Steelers 34-13. The Jets’ game
(20-10 win) and the Dolphin’s
game (28-7) game was easy,
but the last game, with the Jets,
seemed to be challenging, as they
won just by 3, final score of 38-35,
again in fourth quarter comeback.
In this game, Brady had a
record-breaking 50 touchdown
pass, and Randy Moss had recordbreaking 23 touchdown catches.
The Patriots also had a great
post-season, leading them to the
Superbowl where they will face the
Giants from neighboring New York.
be in the BCS bowl game.
However, after a convincing win
over Darren McFadden’s Arkansas
squad (38-7), this bumped Missouri ahead of Kansas.
However, Kansas made a name
for itself in the Fed Ex Orange
Bowl. Number eight Kansas defeated number 3 Virginia Tech (9
in polls).
Runner up in the National
Championship, Ohio State
is now 5th after another
loss in the National
Championship game,
this time to LSU.
Pat White’s West
Virginia squad
is Number 6
after defeating now
number
8 Oklahoma in
the the
Fiesta
Bowl
(48-28).
To round out the Top Ten is
Texas. Texas defeated ASU in their
bowl game in convincing fashion
(52-34).
That rounds up the end of this
wacky upset season. Maybe there
will be more upsets to come.