Imua Iolania voice for students

since

1923

August 30, 2008 Vol. 84, Issue 1 Honolulu, HAwAII

‘Molting ‘Io bird statue takes flight

By Stephen Stack

For 23 years the ‘Io bird perched in front of the SAO, but the now-rusty statue has been taken down for safety reasons. A and all that remains of it is its head on a steel stick.

Mr. David Roberts decided with Head-master Dr. Val Iwashita that once a steel feather fell off the ‘Io bird, it would be time to take it down.

Mr. Roberts, who supervised the construction of the ‘Io bird in 1985, related a brief history of its creation.

Originally, the ‘Io was to be a mere twelve i n c h e s high. However, one student made a line drawing of the bird’s plans that became a transparency for an overhead projector.

The transparency increased the size of the bird to thir-teen feet tall.

Mr. Roberts said it was “a super moment as a teacher” when his 3-D design class realized the project they could undertake.

His class of twelve boys and two girls began con-

structing the bird using scrap steel that was origi-nally going to be made into dumpsters.

Dr. Carey Inouye and his physics class doubt-e d that the bird would stand, let

alone last for 23 years.“No one at that

point expected it would last that long,” said Mr. Roberts.

A c c o r d -ing to finance

director Glenn Ching,he hawk was removed on Aug. 18 to prevent the rusting feathers from falling off

and injuring some-one. Some feathers had

already become loose and fallen.

Now that it has gone, Mr. Roberts has plans for a new ‘Io bird statue at the front of the school.

The new bird will be made of materials that will

last longer than the old one.Mr. Roberts calls his venture

“keeping on tradition but using a new bird to get there.”

So, like the mythical phoenix, the ‘Io bird will rise again, reborn from fire and metal in the name of ‘Iolani tradition.

Cole Stevens | Imua IolaniAbove: Mr. Roberts with the ‘Io head today. Left: Mr. David Roberts perched next to the ‘Io bird 1985 when it was first constructed. Photo by Jon Yamshiro.Below: Workers moving the sculpture away. Photo by Cathy Lee Chong.

New design graces senior benches

Seventh graders taste life in Upper School By IrIS kuo

“Were any classes more chal-lenging for you? What’s the best time to switch your books for upcoming classes? How do you keep track of the bell schedule?”

Simon Wechsler, Joseph Hannemann, and Ilana Buffen-stein, all rising seventh-graders, bombarded the panel of four freshmen during a question-and-answer session, revealing their wor-ries for the upcoming year. They aren’t alone. Even return-ing ‘Iolani students seem nervous about the transition to Up-per School.

Sutter Grune came to ‘Iolani in sixth-grade from Le Jardin. Although he’s had one year to adjust to the ‘Iolani way of life, Sutter’s still a little nervous about Upper School.

However, he’s looking forward to quite a few aspects of seventh grade, including making new friends in his different classes, signing up for and playing foot-ball, and exploring his favorite subject, math, with Mr. Joseph Monaco.

Even though the new, tighter dress code of tucking in shirt tails and having to wear shoes all the time is one of the less appeal-

ing details to many, he thinks it’s not that bad, because Upper School’s dress code is similar to Le Jardin’s.

After the interview, Sutter rejoined his grade as they filed into the Lower Gym for the sports expo, the last part of the seventh-grade ori-entation. Sutter and around 180 of his classmates attended the ori-entation, where

seniors led students grouped by

homeroom to places on campus they’d most likely need to know.

The first stop for one group was the library, where Ms. Car-rie Miwa had prepared a Power-Point presentation to guide them through the process of personaliz-ing their school usernames’ pass-words. Later, the group followed two seniors to Castle Building, where counselor Ms. Lara Feld-haus talked to them.

Next, they went on a quick tour of Upper School from the doors of Castle towards the Art Building, past the Student Center and Seto Hall, around to Upper School Auto Line, then down the repaved Convention Drive, meet-ing Dr. Val Iwashita on the way.

All the groups met up back in Seto Hall to listen to the panel of freshman speakers, then migrate as a grade to the sports expo.

Aside from the odd bell-schedules, the new seventh-grad-ers have so much to look forward to, including more sports, new classmates, and Upper School in general.

By katrIna karl

An ‘Iolani senior has beauti-fied the nondescript wall by the senior benches.

The old rainbow mural was painted beige in the summer of 2007, but today the area sports a design with blue skies, clouds and a hawk.

Mark Rulona ’09 came to Headmaster Dr. Val Iwashita looking for a way to give back to the school he has attended since ninth grade.

“I wanted to make a hawk, and make it clever,” Rulona said of the letter I within the hawk’s eye.

While it might be mistaken as the title of the mural, a plaque near the top of the painting is actually unrelated. It reads “Fiat Lux/Let there be light/Class of 1993” and refers to the lights under the li-brary that the class provided.

Seniors who were on campus

before school started formed ear-ly opinions.

“I think it looks pretty nice,” Kela Marciel said.

Robert Tamai shared a thought that other students echoed.

“I think it would be cool if we did a grade mural,” he said, with everyone in the class of 2009 working on the painting.

Rulona did face some chal-lenges in designing and painting the hawk.

“I had no guidelines,” he said of parts of the painting process, such as picking the colors. “And it was really big.”

Rulona’s father helped him finish painting the design that takes up a significant part of the wall flanking senior benches.

He hasn’t yet considered how his fellow seniors’ reactions to the mural on the first day of school.

“I hope they find it nice,” Ru-lona said.

Illustration by Cordelia Xie

Page 2 Features and editorials Imua ‘Iolani

By Tiana Bohner and CourTney oChi

Dr. Val Iwashita and Mr. Glenn Ching, director of finance, look on as workers finalize the renovations of the Castle building a few days before school resumes.

Both proudly admire the new entrance, which required three years of planning and tough negotiating.

Since the Castle building is shared with the Royal Iolani com-plex, architects needed approval to begin construction.

Gone are the walls which sur-rounded the Castle plaza. In their place are broad steps covered by a sweeping, and eventually shady, awning.

No major exterior renovations have been done since the building was first built in 1979.

Harold K.L. Castle and family provided a grant in 1973, which allowed Headmaster Father David Coon to expand the school.

Dr. Iwashita is now very pleased with the outcome saying, “It provides a comfortable place for students to congregate.”

Though Mr. Matthew Gabe is not a teacher in the Castle build-

ing, he agrees that “it looks more welcoming and open.”

This more attractive entrance also serves as a convenient use of space; it now has enough lockers for all seventh graders and some eighth graders.

Other features include soon-to-be vine entwined trellises, a large shady lanai, and multiple steps for students to socialize on.

“It looks a little East Germa-ny,” Katrina Karl ‘09 said. “But it’s a lot nicer that the way Castle looked when we were in seventh grade. The outside of the build-ing looks much more up-to-date now.”

Students sitting on the steps now will only be looking at a empty pedastal in the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Garden outside the headmaster’s office.

But soon a statue of a striding, teenaged Sun Yat Sen will arrive from a China “on a slow boat,” Mr. Ching said.

This entire garden was funded by David C. Ai and created by Master Chu Tat Shing.

Dr. Iwashita hopes that, “stu-dents will appreciate” the inviting atmosphere the new Castle has to offer.

Al Linsky | www.iolani-events.orgThe old Castle building entrance did not provide an adequate shaded area for students to socialize.

High hopes for Castle construction

Courtney Ochi | Imua `IolaniAbove: New seventh graders finish visiting the Castle building during their orientation day tour. Below: Construction of the entrance continues into the new school year.

By Mr. Cyrus Won

I was waiting to make a right turn when the pedestrians in front of my car stopped to have a group discussion – while still in the crosswalk.

My passenger remarked, “Human be-ings are losing our awareness of our sur-roundings. Don’t you think people used to sense things around them better?” Maybe this is the price of civilization, the ancient predator in the bush no longer exists, so we are becoming numb to messages from our senses, what personal safety experts call situational awareness.

Or maybe we are just losing the abil-ity to prioritize what we receive from our senses. With the increase in available stim-uli from cellphones, ipods, television, the internet and the like, we need to be more selective in what we respond to.

If everything becomes important, is anything really important? Do we just become pinballs in cyberspace?

Have you ever been in conversation with someone who suddenly stops to take a cellphone call? Or have you been in a store and had the salesperson stop helping you to answer the store phone?

No one would be comfortable if their heart surgeon entered the operating room wearing a Bluetooth, but how do you feel about the driver in the two-ton vehicle

next to you going 60 mph while engaged in remote

conversation?Some people call it

“multi-tasking” but some-times it seems more like an inability to focus on one thing. Sometimes “multi-tasking” is just being a diversion junkie. Consider when you are really en-gaged in an activity. Don’t you lose track of time and things happening around you? Is the multi-tasker re-ally giving full attention to each task? At the end of July, the American Col-lege of Emergency Phy-sicians issued an alert warning of accident dan-

gers involving oblivious texters. People were walking off curbs and into signposts while texting.

But it isn’t just the sense of approaching danger that is being lost when people dis-engage themselves from the world. What is also lost is the sense of enjoyment or even wonder of everyday discoveries or surpris-es missed.

“Be Here Now” is a yogic saying. One should try to be fully in the moment. Choose which task to engage in before going on to the next one. Finish the conversation with the person you’re with before you answer your cell. Complete the sale before pick-ing up the store phone. Park the car before making the call. And get on the sidewalk before holding that group discussion.

Be Here Now.Mr. Won is director of audio-visual

services.

Guest Editorial

Diversion junkies: Are we multi-tasking ourselves into oblivion?

Illustration by Katrina Karl

August 30, 2008 Editorials Page 3

By Katrina Karl

Griping is what we do best at Imua. At editors’ meetings, all we generate is gripes and cyni-cal banter, hoping story ideas come out of it. But griping is no way to begin a new school year, kids. I will take the liberty of dismissing your already-de-veloped complaints (and some of my own).

Keyana Stevens-lessness: This not knowing what I’m doing thing/potentially getting nothing done could be sort of, shall we say, “refreshing” for this publication.

Summer reading: Did I re-ally hear someone complaining about reading the “long” Joy Luck Club for a measly semes-ter course? If you’re going to complain about The Joy Luck Club, at least complain about what a terrible book it is. To make reading it more interest-ing, you could have rewarded yourself, say, with a new mah jong tile (that’s right, mah jong tile, or perhaps something more wholesome like a raisin; I’m not promoting some kind of Asian American literature drinking game here) every time Amy Tan perpetuates a negative stereotype about Chinese people. Or the male gender.

Construction: Yes, we tear stuff apart and move colossal

amounts of dirt around every year, and no, it doesn’t affect you in any way. Just get used to it and enjoy the results (pretend if necessary).

Dress code: [insert sound

of angst/dying animal here] Oh nooo! The SYSTEM is still pre-venting you from being sartori-ally challenged/sporting that “business attire” from “the an-

cient profession!” From what I’ve seen, your creativity is not being stifled. Besides, if wear-ing basketball shorts to school is your only means of self-expres-sion, well, that’s just sad. Buy

some actual clothing, or be taste-ful enough to get away with it.

Mention of dress code in Imua: Don’t worry, you shouldn’t be seeing any more

of this. Actually, you shouldn’t be expecting more of it (do you really think we’re getting to be that bad here? Oh, but I re-member now. WE’RE BEST IN STATE).

The Nangaku fountain: Okay, we admit: it does sound like running bathwater. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

O despisèd new teachers: Already? Disliking a teacher is a terrible waste of negative energy. But if you really must spite them, show some support for student press during class. Or chapel. Seriously though, DON’T. We don’t enjoy getting in trouble over your lack of com-mon sense.

Junior year: Despite what, oh, everyone, told you, elev-enth-grade is not NEARLY, if I may quote Kathy Griffin, “like ‘Nam…only harder.”

So! Many! AP’s! You were the one who signed up for all seven, and there’s nothing funny about that. Now put this down and go study. And pray.

College apps: At least you have the expected option of go-ing to college. When I was your age, we had to walk 30 miles in the snow (barefoot, from the log cabins we built with our bare hands) to apply online for jobs in cotton mills. And gulags.

Imua ‘Iolani is published by the students of Iolani School, 563 Kamoku St., Honolulu, HI 96826. Established 1923, printed at Hawai’i Hochi. Imua ‘Iolani accepts advertising on a space available basis. Rates are $100 for 1/2 page, $60 for 1/4 page, and $35 for 1/8 page ads. Please e-mail iolaniimua@gmail.com for more information. Include “advertising” in the subject line. Deadline for the next issue is Sept. 7.

Editor-in-Chief:Katrina Karl

Design Editor:Marissa Sakoda

Copy Editor:Lianne ChungPhoto Editor:

Courtney OchiFeatures Editors:Amelia Linsky

Emily SakaOpinion Editors:

Tiana BohnerEmily ShimkusSports Editor:Kelia Cowan

Arts & Entertainment Editors:Akari Hatanaka

Kaela ShiigiLighter Side Editor:

Stephen StackLower School Editors:

Kyle KimAndrew ZhouOnline Editor:

Brandon KumabeOnline Staff:

Katherine LangcaonKatherine LumCole Stevens

Writers:Ayesha Cooray

Iris KuoCristin Lim

Photographers:Yasmin Kheradpey

Katherine LumStaff Illustrator:

Cordelia XieJackie McMillan

Adviser:Mrs. Karin Swanson

Imua ‘Iolani is distributed free of charge to students of Iolani School. Mail subscriptions are $15 per year. The opinions herein expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the administration, faculty, staff of ‘Iolani School or Imua ‘Iolani

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By Brandon KumaBe

Trying to find a restroom after school can be a difficult affair. More often than not, students run into locked doors, and must des-perately search the campus for an unlocked restroom.

Why are the restrooms locked? Late last school year, ‘Iolani saw its share of unpleasant restroom-related incidents and the adminis-tration has chosen to crack down on the problem by closing the re-strooms after school hours.

From first-hand experience, I can say that these incidents in the restroom are getting out of hand.

On one occasion I remember walking into the Nangaku boys’ restroom only to find the floor by the urinals flooded with a steam-ing puddle of urine. Disgusted and nauseous from not only the sight but also the extremely pun-gent smell of the urine, I left.

However, just fifteen minutes later, the custodian walked in only to find the restroom walls smeared in feces. You can just imagine what that custodian must have gone through to clean that mess up.

Restrooms are a necessary facility and having them closed after school is just ridiculous.

These locked restrooms are a major hindrance, especially to students who have to stay af-ter school for extracurricular activities.

As students at one of the top private schools in the state, find-ing a restroom on campus should not be strenuous activity, es-pecially when we do have rest-rooms actually available. After all, why do we pay $15,000 a year if we don’t get after-school restroom privileges?

However, the school’s actions on the matter are not unwar-ranted. Some of the incidents are so extreme that locking the

restrooms seems like a logical step. What kind of proper hu-man behavior is smearing your feces on the wall? Even cats can be trained to use a litter box. Re-stroom anarchists, it seems, are below that.

As long as these restroom an-archists keep their antics up, the restrooms will remained closed after school.

Help bring back our after-school restroom privileges. Whether you are a restroom an-archist or not, you can do your part by using the restroom prop-erly. Bodily waste is meant to go in toilets. Keep it that way.

Students need potty training

Coming soon...

IMUA ONLINE

Page 4 SportS and FeatureS Imua ‘Iolani

Sports expo introduces new students to athleticsBy Kelia Cowan, aKari HatanaKa,and Kaela SHigii

“This is where you will make one of the best decisions in your life,” Mr. Eddie Maruyama said to a crowd of excited seventh graders. He was talking about the sports expo where incoming stu-dents can see the various sports offered at ‘Iolani.

The sports expo was the brain-child of Coach Allison Ishii ‘02 when she was on the I Club ex-ecutive committee as a senior. “I wanted to make kids aware of what sports are available because in seventh grade I didn’t know anything,” said Coach Ishii.

Since its start in the summer of 2002, the sports expo has grown to include more sports.

All the sports had differ-ent strategies to attract the new

students. Cheerleading brought along their entire squad while wrestling displayed their numer-ous state championship trophies and two of the wrestling mats. Some of the varsity members used the mats to show off their skills. Other sports brought candy and videos of their competitions.

Next year, the sports expo will be held at the end of summer school instead of the week before school starts. This will give fall sports the opportunity to train new recruits before school be-gins. There will also be a video showing the students why sports are good to be involved in.

“We want them to step outside their comfort zone and see how much they can do,” said Co-Ath-letic Director Mr. Carl Schroers. “‘Iolani School challenges kids; we want the kids to accept the challenge.”

Courtney Ochi | Imua IolaniJuniors Jill Tamura, Kayla Nip, Andie Enomoto, and Allyson Harada help recruit new tennis play-ers.

Welcome, new faculty and staff!

Photos by Amelia Linsky | Imua Iolani

Ms. Luz BarnardSpanish

Hobbies: Teaching, laugh-ing, reading, politics, news

Dr. Mark BrasherHistory

Hobbies: Traveling, world history, culture, the internet, kayaking, books, trumpet

Ms. Nancy AdamsEnglish

Hobbies: Yoga, walking, gardening, reading

Mr. Reid Sagawa ‘89Counselor, Health Ed.

Hobbies: Family outings, exercising

Mr. Rodney LumCounselor, class of 2009

Hobbies: Taking a daily run with his dog, playing with tech toys

Ms. Shannon YonamineNurse

Hobbies: Reading, movies, long walks

Ms. Stephanie KennedySpanish (taking Sra. Higashi-Lee’s classes while she nests with her new baby girl, Piper.)

Mr. Thomas RobinsonReligion, Bible

Hobbies: Travel, surfing, col-lecting and restoring vintage surfboards