THE PINI N Student-edited paper of McKinley High School

Honolulu, HawaiiVol. 93 No. 1 October 2014

Fall EditionWhat would

happen if MHS

raised the required GPA to play?

Find out more inside.

Tiger junior Aquina Akitekit. Photo by Baby Manu.

2 THE PINION mhspinion.com

It is a part of the endless cycle of high school. We say goodbye to the graduating seniors in the summer and then welcome the incoming freshmen in fall.

McKinley High School welcomed those new freshmen, the Class of 2018, on Friday, Aug 1. Groups were separated into Yellow and White teams with a cor-responding candy name.

Senior Samantha Cadiente, mentor of Yellow Lifesavers, lead her mentees in a number of trust and communication- based games like Toy Story 3½, Trust Fall, Wind in the Willows, Lava Walk and Santa’s Skis.

A blindfold played a heavy role in a majority of these activities. For example, in Toy Story 3½, a blind-folded person needed to trust their partner to get them across a spinning rope. Cadiente allowed her mentees to pair up with people they knew before making them work with those unfamiliar to them.

Freshman Blake De Jesus assisted Ca-diente, turning the rope while the other mentees attempted to cross it. Once they all successfully made it across, De Jesus had to take his turn as well. He was paired up with freshman Maria Hartmann.

“It involves lots of trust,” De Jesus said. “It took a while for me to trust Maria.”

During their debriefs, Cadiente told her mentees about the importance of trust. The blindfolds required her mentees to trust each other even more.

The activities called Trust Fall and Wind in the Willows were similar. Both games required a person or a group of people to support a single person to pre-vent him or her from falling. Freshman Michael Jake Sumaylo was one of the people who supported by the rest of the team in Wind in the Willows.

He enjoyed it because “everyone was involved.” However, he was somewhat afraid because he thought that he “was going to get thrown.”

Cadiente’s leadership led her team to

victory in both the Lava Walk activity and the Santa’s Skis activity. Regardless of the blindfolds, her mentees communicated and guided each other to accomplish the activity.

After completing Lava Walk and San-ta’s Skis, Cadiente told her mentees that

teamwork, planning, communication and following the rules were important in both the activities and in school.

“This is a worthwhile experience for these freshmen. It builds confidence and teaches them how to work as a team,” teacher Jude Waterman said.

by Silvana Bautista, web co-editor

NEWS

Yellow Lifesavers race to the finish line as a team in Santa’s Skis race. Photo by Silvana Bautista

Blindfolds play important role in Freshman Orientation

infographic by Silvana Bautista

THE PINION 3mhspinion.com NEWS

“It’s interesting how it works.” This is why senior Annie Dang likes math. Dang took pre-calculus last year and has AP calculus this year.

She said the first test this year for AP calculus was a dark time and made her doubt her own math ability. However, she said, “the only way is to work harder.”

Not all students like math as Dang does. A survey was taken at McKinley High School this August about students’ opin-ions of math.

There were 131 students from different math classes and grade levels who took the survey. With a range from one to five (strongly dislike to strongly like), 20 per-cent of the total respondents chose one, 29 percent chose three, and 12 percent chose five.

Most students who chose one or two wrote their reasons as “It is so hard.”

In the Hawaii Student Assessment, 59 percent of Hawaii students tested profi-cient in math for the 2013-14 school year, down from 60 percent the year before, the state Department of Education announced Aug. 25.

Only 42 percent of the students in McKinley High School passed the math

test while it was 49 percent the year before, according to Counselor Lisa Pan-quites.

“I think math is too hard and sometimes (I’m) frustrated to solve the problems,” senior Baby Manu said.

Math teacher Jon Furukawa said, “It’s a challenge.” It is true that math is challeng-ing, but there are ways to improve math performance.

“I think a lot of students just shy away from doing the work,” Furukawa said.

“Actually, if they do the work, sit down and study, they will get a lot better at it.

Teachers call it instant gratification, and that is what’s holding a lot of students back right now.”

He said nowadays with technology, ev-erything is so convenient that when facing math problems people want the answer

instantaneously. Patience and courage to take challenges

are necessary.Attitude also means a lot. Sixty-five

percent of the students who chose “strong-ly dislike” spend less than one hour work-ing on math assignments every day. None spent over two hours.

sixty-nine percent of those who “strong-ly like” math and seventy-two percent of the students in AP Calculus class spend more than one hour studying math every day.

Those who like math as well as those who are good at it spend more time study-ing this subject.

A person who keeps thinking “I hate math” can end up in an awful cycle of poor performance.

One student was neutral in the survey and the reason was “I need this as a re-quirement for life.”

Math teacher Maude Furuya empha-sized the point that students should take advantage of Tiger Time. She also sug-gested students practice more and ask for help.

Math team member Lawrence Kwok said, “No matter how hard you learn, you

Math scores correlate with students’ feelings

by Lin Song, web co-editor

infographics by Lin Song

“I think math is too hard and sometimes (I’m) frustrated to solve the problems.”

--Baby Manu (12)

4 THE PINION mhspinion.com

Mufi Hannemann, a candidate for gov-ernor, came to give a speech to McKinley students about the importance of educa-tion during Period 3 on Aug.28.

The general election will be held in No-vember and the other three candidates for governor are Duke Aiona, Jeff Davis and David Yukata Ige.

Hannemann is the former mayor of Honolulu and the Independent Party’s candidate for governor in the State of Ha-

waii now. He attended Fern Elementary, Puuhale Elementary and Kalihi Kai El-ementary before receiving a scholarship to attend ‘Iolani in the seventh grade. Later, he went to Harvard before continuing his studies as a Fulbright Scholar in Welling-ton, New Zealand.

“I’m applying for colleges now and I hope this Harvard guy can tell me some-thing useful,” Senior Yujun Pang said.

The most important reason for his suc-cessful career is education, he said

He grew up in Kalihi with a German-Samoan father and Samoan mother. His mother only had a fourth grade educa-tion and his father only had a high school diploma. He saw how hard his father worked and he knew that “education is so important.” Hannemann took the job which no one likes on campus but is the one to supplement his education.

Hannemann said nowadays with all the social media and technology, “you have no excuse not to get as much information as possible.” The key is the “need to want to do that.”

Junior Victoria Lu agreed with him and said, “Those students who don’t do their homework and drop their grades really need to change their attitudes.”

His advice to McKinley students is “don’t let anybody tell you you cannot be what you want to be. It’s all about you.”

Candidate for governor speaks to MHS students

by Lin Song, web co-editor

NEWS

The Pinion StaffAdviser: Cynthia RevesPrint Editors: Sean Gleason, Jane LaveaWeb Editors: Silvana Bautista, Lin SongContributors: Newswriting I students Publication Information

THE PINION is published by the Newswriting Staff and printed by the

Reprographics Learning Center.The Pinion

McKinley High School1039 South King Street

Honolulu, HI 96814Email comments or questions to

pinion@mckinleyhs.k12.hi.us

“Don’t let anybody tell you you cannot be what you want to be. It’s all about you.”

--Gubenatorial candidate Mufi Hannemann

Hanneman says education was key to his career success

McKinley High School principal Ron Okamura wanted to be the first profes-sional Japanese football player.

In school, athletics were always impor-tant to Okamura, especially football.

There were many obstacles along the way, such as being told he was too short or having a knee injury.

Okamura said he was offered a scholar-ship to play football in college but turned it down because of physical injuries.

Even though his knees were weak, he said he still regrets turning it down.

Okamura said he should have at least

tried to become the first Japanese football player, even if it meant getting hurt.

He is always telling students to dream big, to go for their goals.

“If it’s that important, to me, nothing’s impossible,” he said.

Of course, academics are also im-portant to him. Okamura said that if he could, he would raise the GPA for student athletes from a 2.0 all the way to a 3.0 because “student” comes first in “student athlete.” Being a former athlete, he can now relate to his students and help en-courage them to reach their goals.

Principal Okamura’s football frenzyby Karrina Johnson, reporter

THE PINION 5mhspinion.com NEWS

The Book Club is open to anyone who has an interest in books. It is not only a place for book lovers. People who wish to improve themselves or are having a hard time finding a reason to enjoy reading are welcome, too. “I wanted to get involved with my students and motivate them to enjoy read-ing,” club adviser Jude Waterman said.He plans for the students who signed up to decide on the types of books to read.

About the officers The club’s first meeting was on, Sept. 4. At that meeting, the officers were cho-sen through voting. Senior Si Hou Lon is president. Lon joined Book Club and decided to run for president because he likes to read. “I started to read a lot of books in sev-enth grade and I wanted to keep reading since then,” Lon said. Senior Bonnie Pang was voted as the Book Club’s vice president. She has loved

reading since she was in seventh grade. “My seventh grade teacher, Ms. Kudo, got me into reading. She gave me ‘Great Expectations,’ by Charles Dickens,” she said. Pang is looking forward to reading more classical books in Book Club. Senior Yunmi Kim was voted as sec-retary. She joined Book Club as a way to improve herself.

“I was reading since I was a little kid. I realized that while I read classics, I had a hard time. I think that being in the Book Club will help with those books,” Kim said. Senior Emily Phan was chosen as trea-surer. She likes to read. She also wanted more leadership roles. “I like to read. It began in kindergarten with alphabet books. It helped me begin to understand,” she said. “I also want to improve on my leadership abilities.” Waterman is proud of the new officers. “They’re great students who seem very responsible,” he said.

Tigers and Reading McKinley High School has many stu-dents who like to read but did not join the club. In a survey of 50 students, 38 said that they like to read. For the remaining 12, they wrote that reading is boring or they do not know what to read or that they do not have time.

Book Club starts off with an election of officersby Silvana Bautista, web co-editor

Infographic by Silvana Bautista

“My seventh grade teacher, Ms. Kudo, got me into read-ing. She gave me “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens.”

--Senior Bonnie Pang (12)

6 THE PINION mhspinion.comFEATURES

Good Luck.Have Fun.

Difficulty: EasyDifficulty: Insane

Words to look for:

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HAYHAYSTACK

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PIEPINE

PUMPKINSCARECROW

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TURKEY

THE PINION 7mhspinion.com GAMES

On Thursday August 14, I went down to the Welcome Back Assembly. I could hear the trumpets play, the drums bang, and the the most exciting session of the assembly, the performance of the alma mater and Black and Gold. Why? The students and band were very spirited. The songs themselves sounded very emotional. The seniors were holding arms and swaying togeth-er, as if they were about to graduate.

The entire gym’s atmosphere was suspended. It felt like the climax of an action or drama movie. The songs are the types that you will never forget. My father attended this very school over 40 years ago and he still remembers the adreneline rush, the intensity, and his heart pounding. The band was just as in-tense too. It felt like they’ve been pouring all of their hard work into this one performance. After the assembly, while walking back to class, I thought, “How emotional will saying ‘goodbye’ be for us in 4 years?”

Spirit of the tiger lives onby James Harbin, reporter

Loud and

Proud

The Alma Mater and Black and Gold aren’t like any other school song I’ve heard. People told me that McKinley has a lot of school spirit. People say that about every school, so of course, I didn’t believe them. After I showed up and heard it for myself, I take it all back. McKinley has more school spirit than my two elementary and middle schools combined.

The way they were sung, flowed with the beat. The band made the songs sound so majestic. The students and staff brought the songs to life. The lyrics were so meaningful.

When I looked across the room and saw some seniors hand in hand. Arms in the air and waving during Black and Gold. It hit me right in the feels. I instantly thought, “Man, that’s going to be us one day. We thought leaving each other temporarily at the end of eighth grade was hard, just wait til senior year.

The only people you’ll see after that are the ones you deem family. You never turn your back on family”.

For now, it’s the beginning of the end for us. Let the spirit of the tiger forever roar inside us.

art by My Lu

by Max Higa, reporter

8 THE PINION mhspinion.comSPORTS

Kahuku Intermediate and High Schools raised their athlete GPA requirement from a 2.0 to a 2.3. Kahuku changed their GPA because most colleges require a 2.75 aver-age to play and Kahuku’s principal said that a 2.0 is a disadvantage for students.

The schools requested a waiver from the Board of Education policy that will go into effect second quarter.

The real question here is “do you think other schools should raise the minimum GPA for student athletes” and “should McKinley raise their GPA?”

Soccer coach Shelby Costa said that having a 2.3 for the athletes is good be-cause a 2.0 is average and having a 2.3

will set them above average.“I think it’s a great idea because ath-

letes should maintain a high GPA and should be leaders,” Costa said.

Soccer player Majorlynn McMillan disagreed with a higher GPA requirement. She said, “We should not change our ath-letic GPA to a 2.3 because what if others can’t reach that GPA?”

Volleyball player Hokulani Dunn said, “We should not change our GPA because the more the GPA goes up for athletes to join a sport, the harder it’s going to be for them to play a sport.”

McKinley’s athletic program has 56 teams in 21 sports. This makes our school

one of the largest public school athletic program in the state.

“If I could change our school GPA, I would change it to a 2.3 because they are all student athletes. Academics comes first. But I don’t hold any power to make that kind of decision because our school GPA is OIA requirements,” said student athletic director Bob Morikuni.

He also said that teams could be nega-tively affected by this change. Some of the student athletes are hanging on to that 2.0 line. By changing it, it would mean that those who did not reach this requirement are not allowed on the field.

Should McKinley raise GPA for athletes?

by Jane Lavea, print-editor

art by My Lu

Kahuku changes their GPA from 2.0 to a 2.3

photos by Baby Manu

THE PINION 9mhspinion.com SPORTS

photos by Baby Manu

1. Junior Kaimi Kini scored the only touchdown against Kahuku on Aug. 29 at Roosevelt field. 2. Juniors Kayla Rasa-vannah and Vee’vee Li jump up to block Farrington’s ball on Sept. 3 at the gym. Lady Tiger lost on the third set of the game by two points.

3. Jv cheering squad performs at the Homecoming assembly. Football boys challenged Waipahu on Sep. 20 at Roosevelt field. 4. Senior Bree jump up to block Kailua’s ball on Sep-tember 8 at McKinley’s gym. Lady Tigers lost on the second set by two points.

1.

2.

3.

4.

10 THE PINION mhspinion.com

Koli dedicated to volleyball

by Jane Lavea, print co-editor Photos by Jane Lavea

SPORTS

Volleyball is junior Victoria Koli’s pas-sion. She has been playing since she was four and is currently playing for McKinley High School’s varsity team.For her senior year, she plans on getting a full-ride scholarship for volleyball. She also plans to graduate with her masters and start a flight attendant career. Volleyball is an intense sport. To be a great player you have to be mentally and physically tough. Koli encounters peer pressure when playing volleyball. She knows that her teammates and coaches

depend on her leadership during games. “The hardest part about playing volley-ball for me is when the pressure is on. The games gets intense and that’s when I start to strategize the game,” Koli said.She said volleyball includes 90 percent of mental and 10 percent of skills. Defense wins the game because they are playing smart. “Victoria is very talkative and has good social skills. She communicates very well with her teammates and she’s very talented in volleyball. If she puts her mind and

heart into it, then she can do anything she wants,” said head coach Carrie Akana. Although the sport stresses some people out, Koli feels as if volleyball was meant for her. She feels focused and happy when playing because she is doing what she loves. For future volleyball players, Koli said“If you’re serious about the sport, put in a 100 percent in both school and volley-ball. Have no doubts because in this life, we only live on hope.”

THE PINION 11mhspinion.com FEATURES

Senior Alexandra Kaohi was able to improve her public speaking and gain confidence through the Speech and De-bate Team.

Kaohi became interested in Speech and Debate during her sophomore year. She did not immediately join the team. Instead she watched a few of their compe-titions. She said that Speech and Debate was different from what she expected it to be. She expected students to give long speeches.

Kaohi signed up as a junior and she competed in Program Reading. She had to perform a speech within ten minutes on a theme that included three pieces of pub-lished literature.

Adviser Matthew Kim said that there was “tremendous growth in her.”

Kaohi’s first language was Korean. The competitions allowed her to become more accustomed to her second language. Speaking on stage during competitions allowed her to gain confidence in her abil-ity to speak in English, in addition to her ability to speak in front of a crowd. She said that the lack of long speeches made it more fun for her. She was able to get her message across to the audience and judges easily.

“It allowed her to be comfortable in speaking. To her it was not about winning, kim said, “It was about developing her confidence and the ability to speak. She has so much commitment to the team.”

Kaohi’s sister, sophomore Josephine Kaohi, joined the Speech and Debate team last year. Her sister was part of the reason she joined the team. Josephine does Story Telling. For eight minutes, she tells a story without any help of props. She is judged on how well she tells her story, the differ-ent voices she uses and the facial expres-sions she shows.

Josephine said it is sometimes awkward to be in the same team as her sister, but overall she is happy to be with her. They

encourage each other during their compe-titions regardless of the different types of speeches they do.

As an older sister, Alexandra said that she is happy to have her sister in the same team.

“I am glad that she is enjoying Speech and Debate,” she said.

“It’s reassuring to be with her. During competition, she would remind me and give me confidence,” Josephine said.

Alexandra Kaohi gains confidence in Speech and Debate

by Silvana Bautista, web co-editor

Josephine Kaohi (left) alongside her sister, Alexandra Kaohi (right) Photo provided by Alexandra Kaohi.

12 THE PINION mhspinion.com

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