Issue 6 2008-2009

Internet answers Arizumi’s prayers, pain from disease reversed

By Kellie [email protected]

Every year, ASMHS contributes to the commu-nity by collecting canned goods to donate to the Ha-waii FoodBank. However, this year the National Hon-or Society (NHS) teamed up with ASMHS to execute this project but added their own little twist to it. As a creative way to collect the canned goods, NHS set a goal to “Can the Principal” – that is, to collect enough cans to push Principal John Brummel out of his office. Collections for the cans were held on one day,

Continued on page 2

By Angelica [email protected] The 46th Annual Hawaii Region of the Scholastic Art Awards 2009 recognized several students from MHS for their creativity and vari-ous art pieces on Feb. 7 at the Diamond Head Gallery. The contest consisted of several different categories includ-ing animation, ceramics and glass, computer art, draw-ing, graphic story, mixed media, painting, photogra-phy, print making, sculp-ture, video and film. The contest took place over a two-day period. The art show began on Feb. 6 where the students’ artwork was showcased to the pub-

lic and then judged. The day after, the awards ceremony took place, where various students were presented with awards for their piec-es. Several of the students were honored from each category. The Gold Key award signifies the high-est level of artistic quality, technique and originality. This award was presented to Freshman Sharmaine Lee, for her art piece in the draw-ing category. The Silver Key award represents those who deserve recognition at the regional level. This award was given to Sophomore Kaili Kosaka, Junior Mea-gan Esperas and Senior Roger Romano-Kelly, all of

whom submitted a piece in the drawing category. The Superintendant acknowl-edgment, also known as thr Honorable Mention, is pre-sented to those who show great artistic potential. This was awarded to Junior Camille Raymond for her art piece in photography, Seniors Shayna Asuncion and Ashlee Fronda for their ceramic peices and Senior Jasmine Pang for her piece in the drawing and paint-ing category. The students entered the contest with the encour-agement of their art teach-ers, who decided to put several projects into the

Continued on page 5

Scholastic art showcases student talent School hopes to can the principalINSIDE

NEWS | 5

FEATURES | 12

SPORTS | 15

MHS contestants in Science Olym-piad win second year in a row

Madison Cole un-deterred by knee injury

is no test for this disease and there is also no cure. This disease leaves its victims paralyzed with pain. “And pain, while being a very big part of it, is only one of the symptoms we suffer. No one can see our other ‘pains’ –- over-whelming fatigue, vertigo, dry eyes and mouth, stomach prob-lems, bladder problems, irritable bowel, memory lapses or fibrofog and much more. It’s not visible. That is what makes it so hard,” said Annette Kam, founder of in-formed Fibromyalgics on Guaife-nesin (iFoG), Arizumi’s support program. Now, after about a year since her diagnosis, Arizumi has not only found the source of her prob-lem, but through iFoG, she’s also found a way to effectively reverse the effects of it. “It’s the guaife-nesin protocol. They believe (fi-bromyalgia) makes a defect in our kidneys so we don’t process phos-phates and calcium properly. So what the guaifenesin does is it

Continued on page 7

By Diana [email protected] At the age of five, Sophomore Kristy Arizumi began to experi-ence excruciating hip and knee pains. A few years later, she had trouble playing soccer, a sport she loved. As the pain progressed, she slowly became unable to walk steadily or even see clearly as the vertigo spells kicked in. But the real pain was everyone’s disbelief in her symptoms until she was finally able to prove her own ill-ness. One day, while on the com-puter, Arizumi decided to type her symptoms into a search engine to see if something popped up. Though she didn’t know for sure, she had just found the answer to her last decade of suffering that none of her doctors could. “I was surprised that the doctors didn’t figure this out themselves … Doc-tors go by tests and there’s no test for fibromyalgia,” stated Arizumi. Fibromyalgia is a disease that not much is known about. There

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www.trojantimes.org

EDITORIAL | 10

The test of “as seen on TV” products

Features | 11

TROJAN TIMESTHURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2009 Mililani High School VOL. XXXVI NO.6

Exercise

Video Games

VS.

Does it work?

Features | 12

By Kelli-Anne [email protected]

Hui Malama O Mililani has been working throughout the year to learn and understand the culture of Hawaii and has once again planned a trip to Kaho olawe, an island used in the 1900s as a testing site for the military. The trip is scheduled for May 21-25, but going to the island is not the main pur-pose of Hui Malama O Mil-ilani. “If we couldn’t go be-cause of weather, we would still be doing the same other activities and still have the same purposes so … our end purpose is not to go to Kaho olawe, but it is to give the students the same experi-ences here,” explained Social Studies Teacher Amy Perru-so, who is one of four adults going on the trip. This is the second year that MHS is sending stu-dents to Kaho olawe, but Perruso has said that the preparation now is more in-tense. This year, the require-ments included the comple-tion of a curriculum unit on Kaho olawe and had to have “developed kind of a base in the Hawaiian language … so

NEWSMARCH 19, 2009

by the time they go, they will know about a hundred key words in Hawaiian and … more information or knowl-edge (about) the Kaho olawe unit that they have to master is about the history of Kaho olawe …” said Perruso. Kaho olawe has been undergoing restoration for several years and the Protect Kaho olawe Ohana (PKO) is the organization in charge of sending groups or individu-als interested in volunteer-ing. PKO visualizes that old Hawaiian life will be restored and “that Kaho olawe would be a place where people could go to learn how to do traditional Hawaiian fishing or cultivation of traditional Hawaiian crops,” explained Perruso. The current work that is taking place on the island is fixing the erosion problems, but in terms of establishing a connection with the Hawai-ian culture, the trip itself and being a part of Hui Malama O Hawaii are a way for students to expand and grow. “Through (Hui Malama o Hawaii) I have been exposed to the Hawaiian culture, which is a great experience in itself and I have really

come to respect the culture and the ideals behind it … such as hiking trips, helping out at a lo i, and doing work on a wetland help us (to fur-ther) learn the values of the culture,” said Senior Kent Ya-mada, who is a second-year veteran of the trip. Sixteen students are par-ticipating, a few of whom have gone the previous year. “I want our students to go over there because I want them to be part of the solu-tion, not in terms of doing work that will help stop the erosion, but looking at the big picture,” said Perruso. People who live on the island use generators for air conditioning, refrigerator us-age and other necessities and also have their fresh water and food supply flown over by helicopter. “I want my stu-dents to figure out how can these problems be addressed and how can we do it in a way that’s sustainable so that we’re not creating more prob-lems down the line in terms of how we are in this place.” Regardless of Hui Mala-ma O Mililani going to Kaho olawe, they have still devel-oped the understanding of the Hawaiian culture.

Hui Malama O Mililani plans second trip to Kaho olawe Can the Principal

(continued from page 1)March 18 during advisory. On that day, the cans were moved into Brummel’s office and he judged if the goal was met. Besides collecting enough cans, the goal was to “unify the school by getting both stu-dents and staff involved and to motivate people by offering an award every-one can enjoy rather than just one individual,” said Senior Amy Hunt, presi-dent of NHS. To motivate students to participate in this drive, prizes were offered to one individual and one teach-er. Any student that do-nated 20 pounds or more of canned food was en-tered in a drawing to win a dinner at the Pacific Beach Hotel. Also, the teacher of the class that collected the highest weight in canned goods will win a night’s stay at the hotel. Any non-perishable items were welcome for donation. However, the quality of the items had to be acceptable. “If it’s something you wouldn’t like, don’t give it to them,” said Hunt as a guideline for whether an item is of acceptable quality or not. Since can collections were only on one day, the biggest challenge was to get people to remem-ber to bring their canned goods. To overcome this, NHS planned “intensive advertising through video bulletins, ads, flyers, in-terviews with adminis-tration, word-by-mouth,

anything,” Hunt said. Brummel was hopeful that the end result would be a successful one. “I hope they (reach their goal) because that will be a great turn-out if they had that many cans ... to contribute,” he said. “…Unfortunately, we do have a lot of problems in Ha-waii with homelessness, and people, especially with the economy so bad, they’re not making ends meet. So we need to help everybody that we can.” It took a lot of cooper-ation if this goal was to be met and there were a lot of expectations out of the students. “We are looking for enthusiastic participa-tion from everyone – staff and students. If every per-son can bring one item, that’s already over 2,500 items – surely enough to ‘can the principal,’” Hunt stated before the project started. Whether the goal was actually met or not doesn’t matter when it comes to the satisfaction of helping others. “I think it’s just the joy of giving and knowing that they’ve done some-thing worthwhile and that benefits the community,” Brummel said. With the interesting twist added to this ser-vice project, it was hoped that the students of MHS stepped up and donat-ed what they could to the Hawaii Foodbank to help feed the hungry this spring.

CCC hosts LAN party, fundraises for junior classBy Kelli-Anne [email protected] On Saturday, April 11, Chip Chip Churrah! (CCC) will be hosting a LAN Party, a popular event in the gam-ing world, as a fundraiser for the junior class and as a festivity for their club. The LAN Party will be held in the school’s gymnasium. For non-gamers who have never heard of a LAN Party, Junior Joshua Baten-horst, club president, ex-plained that the term LAN is an abbreviation for Local Area Network. “It’s what we use to connect directly to everybody … and a LAN party is a party where peo-ple bring their own PC’s (and) consoles (and) hook them up, connect to a giant network that links every-body together and game all night long with each other,”

said Batenhorst. In anticipation for this event, over 100 guests are expected to come. “It’s $15 to get in if you pre-register on the CCC website (which is under maintenance right now) and $20 at the door,” said Batenhorst, “and all of the money is going towards junior class … CCC doesn’t need any money (because) we get our supplies from students (such as) donated Xbox 360’s, Rock Band set-ups, Wii’s…” Batenhorst reassures that the event is open to every-one, not just club members. “Even if you’re not hard-core or (you’re) a total noob, going to (a LAN Party) is a blast, regardless. You don’t even need to bring your own stuff. Just ask your friends to combine equipment, or it’s fine to come and leech off of some setups …” explained

CCC! AND THE CLASS OF 2010 PRESENT

G Y M B A T T L ETOURNAMENTS - LAN - PvP

$15 - PREREGISTER $20 AT THE DOOR

HALO 3 - BRAWL - MADDEN

SATURDAY, APRIL 11GYMNASIUM 11AM - 11PM

Batenhorst. The event, which is certainly going to bring in much needed support for the junior class and will be an enjoyable social gather-ing for gamers everywhere, is a definite win-win situa-tion.

NEWS3

MARCH 19, 2009

ASMHS Election Results

PresidentMatthew Lai, 11Vice President

Marci Nakamura, 9Corresponding

SecretarySharmaine Lee, 9Board Member

(Historian)Taylor Mckeague, 10

Board MemberJesse Sakuragi, 11

Recording SecretaryKayla Soga, 11

TreasurerVivien Lam, 11

Publicity/FacultyRelations Chairperson

Christina Otte, 10Activities/Pep Rally

ChairpersonAriana Denson, 10

SCC RerpresentativeJenna Maligro, 11

SCC RerpresentativeFirst Alternate

Olivia Sollner, 11SCC Rerpresentative

Second AlternateFarah Schumacher, 11

By Cameron [email protected]

A $51,000 grant has been approved for Mililani High School’s technology funds, led by Vice Principal Jim Peters-en. The money awarded to the school is being used to purchase new technological materials for the core class depart-ments. Petersen wrote a grant to the Hawaii Edu-cation Department ask-ing for funds to help provide the school with new equipment. “I want to start using digital cur-ricular technology to help the core classes,” he ex-plained. With the grant, the school purchased ten SMARTBoards along with MacBook laptops and projectors. Teachers in all the core class de-partments who requested the materials will use the equipment. Apple televisions

were also purchased with part of the grant money. This investment will al-low the teachers to project video or audio streams from their computers to their students who are watching the televisions. With the school being military-based, the gov-ernment is a big contrib-utor of the grant. “Many of our students have par-ents that serve in the mil-itary, so the government helps get our school any money needed,” Petersen commented. The new equipment is located in H-Bldg. but teachers who requested certain items are getting them. “I want us as teach-ers to provide students with the knowledge, skills and absence of mind to live and work in the twenty-first century,” Petersen said. With the materials, students will get first-hand experience with the technology.

$51,000 technological grant awarded to school

“glam bam, with a hint of el-egance,” stated Junior Olivia Sollner, class of 2010 Presi-dent. “Also high energy but with a mature touch.” Red, gold and white are the cor-responding colors for the theme. This year’s decorations include a red-carpet event for Mililani students. Center-pieces reflect the box office theme by using clapboards. Also accompanying the cen-terpiece will be a vase with a single rose. For entertainment, a

dance performance will be expected; the group is from Rise’s Dance Studio. Also included for the night is a smoothie bar. The DJ will be supplying both the drawing prizes and the favors, which are picture frames. During bid sale week, a Valentine’s special was of-fered and bid sale prices dropped ten dollars for cou-ples. This purchase period lasted one week and regular prices returned the follow-ing week. Although sales were short-handed, an extension was granted, allowing the late junior class attendants to purchase a bid. “I think that the process of prom is getting there, as long as we keep working hard,” said Ju-nior Catherine Azada, Prom Committee Chairperson. Many attendants are looking forward to prom night. The evening will be filled with different features and events that will create a unique prom experience.

“Box Office Blitz” comes to MHS Junior PromBy Elizabeth [email protected]

Proms have been the ic-ing on top of every junior’s year. For most, it’s the first major dance of their high school career and a chance to enjoy an eventful evening with friends from school and some guests. This year’s Junior Prom will be held on Saturday, April 25 at the Dole Cannery Ballroom. Both a couple-friendly and stag-friendly theme, “Box Office Blitz” offers

MARCH 19, 2009CHOSEN TROJANS

Students’ accomplishments celebrated at Science FairBy Noah [email protected]

Of the 2,500 students who attend MHS, a mere 45 completed individual scien-tific investigations for the school Science Fair, which was held on Feb. 19 on the second story of H-Bldg. Students from Science Teacher Sandra Webb’s two Gifted and Talented (GT) bi-ology classes were given the opportunity to utilize resourc-es from the Science Fair’s par-ent organization, the Science Learning Center, to complete their projects. “The Science Fair is part of a bigger effort – it’s the Science Learning Cen-ter here (that) provides op-portunities for kids that they wouldn’t normally get in the regular courses they take to meet and, most importantly, exceed the standards … and to hopefully do it in a mean-ingful way, where they can help the community along the way …” explained Webb. Webb’s students have

been working on their proj-ects since the beginning of the year. Several have worked with mentors from various agencies and colleges around the island. “Balanc-ing all the normal biology work along with this project was difficult enough but … having to manage all (my) other classes was stressful,” recalled second place winner Sophomore Marissa Okazaki. Each student’s project was critiqued by a group of profes-sional scientists and graduate students during judging for the Fair. “I (had) professional scientists come in from UH (and) LCC … so … the kids (had) … an audience of the real deal,” explained Webb. Sixteen of the forty-five projects were selected by these judges to advance on to state-level competition, al-though five students opted not to pursue the opportu-nity. Freshman Ryan Mayeda won first place with his proj-ect, “Growth Effects Using the Allelopathy of the Psidium

Cattleianum,” which involved testing the parts of a strawber-ry guava that had the great-est inhibition effect on three types of grasses. He said, “Looking at the many differ-ent projects, it was hard to tell who would win. Each project had a unique purpose making them all good. I was speech-less after being awarded that award. I honestly could not believe what I heard.” Mayeda will be joined at the State Science Fair by Oka-zaki and Freshmen Cherish Corpuz and Kelsi Watanabe, who tied for third, as well as the eight honorable men-tions who chose to advance. Senior Lucia Mocz will also be entering for the fourth consecutive year. “I think the State Science Fair is a celebra-tion of what young people can do … A lot of problems are addressed at the Science Fair,” commented Webb. Corpuz added, “Moving forward to compete at the State Science Fair is such a great experience … It is also

Sixteen of the forty-five MHS Science Fair participants from Sci-ence Teacher Sandra Webb’s GT biology classes, as well as Senior Lucia Mocz, became eligible to compete at the State Science Fair.

a great honor to represent all the freshmen at Mililani High School and show what we are capable of.” Despite the enormity of the State Science Fair, Webb has not overlooked the achievements of all of her students at the school level. “(These) students represent approximately two percent of

our student body. Of all the kids in the school, two per-cent of the student body did an individual scientific inves-tigation and I would like to applaud all the students for getting to this point,” she said. Even greater achieve-ments, however, are sure to be found by those competing at the State Science Fair in April.

MHS team wins Science Olympiad for second year running

Congratulations to the Central District National History Day Winners!

PerformanceMikela Caseria, 12Torri Ishihara, 12Nicole Painter, 12

McKenna Dooley, 11Leelynn Harris, 11Abigail Mckoy, 11

Dana Katsura, 9Kelsea Uratsuka, 9Sharmaine Lee, 9

Research PaperNicole Kurashige, 11Andrew Miyasato, 11

Sarah Nishioka, 11

ExhibitElizabeth Gustafson, 9

Kimberly Takara, 9Kent Yamada, 12

WebsiteMarissa Okazaki, 10

Anne Uruu, 11Macie Chun, 11

DocumentaryAmy Takayesu, 11

Grace Lim, 11

These students will go on to compete in the State History Day on April 4.

Noah Perales-Estoesta | Trojan Times

By Francis [email protected]

Last year, MHS students placed first in the 2008 Sci-ence Olympiad and were qualified to advance to na-tionals. Now this year, Sci-ence Teacher Namthip Si-tachitta has guided a group of individuals who have once again placed first at the 2009 Science Olympiad, which was held on March 7 at Leeward Community College. The competition con-sisted of fifteen categories which include Astronomy, Cell Biology, Chemistry Lab, Disease Detective, Egg-O-Naut, Elevated Bridge, Environmental Chemistry, Herpetology, It’s About Time, Fossils, Picture This, Remote Sensing, Junkyard Challenge, Experimental Design and Trajectory. Each category challenged contes-tants in specific areas of sci-ence. Sitachitta along with Science Teachers Vanessa Humphreys and Eric Tong

also gave advice to students who entered in certain cat-egories. “There were a few categories such as Cell Biol-ogy and Disease Detective, so I helped the students in those particular categories,” said Humphreys, the Ad-vanced Placement Biology teacher. Humphreys teach-es a few of the students who participated in the Science Olympiad, which helped students prepare even more. “A lot of the subjects we cover in class as well, so they were very well prepared for Science Olym-piad.” The Science Olympiad team will have the chance to compete against other high schools from across the na-tion. “Last year we won but we were not prepared at all … another problem was that it was also on the same day of graduation,” said Si-tachitta. “We didn’t know that we were going to win first place. It was so unex-pected.” This year the national competition will be held

on May 16 in Augusta, GA. The date of the competi-tion proves to be a tough obstacle once more because the school’s Senior Prom falls on the same day. Se-nior Kent Yamada has dis-covered the difficulty of deciding between attending Senior Prom and competing at nationals. “I don’t think I’m going to go (to nation-als)… Lots of the seniors are thinking about going ... If they still go, I plan on help-ing.” All seriousness aside, Sitachitta finds it most im-portant for the students to just enjoy themselves and have fun. “ … I told my students, ‘You know, we’re doing this for fun.’ And I’ve noticed that when they win they feel really good about themselves and it is a fun event.” The members of the MHS team are excited that they have the chance to compete at nationals for the first time and are grateful for winning the 2009 Sci-ence Olympiad.

Congratulations to

Art show (continued from page 1)

competition. Fine Arts Teacher Ruth Ravina-Koethe com-mented on her reason for entering her students into this contest, “ It’s the most prestigious ... fine arts contest in the state and I think it gives the students a great opportunity to showcase their best work. It’s very competitive and difficult to get in and if they do, it really says a lot about them.” The students who

Winning Wellness Fair posters show how “Character Counts”By Lauren Mottley

Each year, students in health classes as well as oth-ers are encouraged to take part in the annual Wellness Fair poster contest and de-sign a poster that will show-case the theme chosen for the year. Winning posters are displayed at the annual Wellness Fair, this year’s taking place at the Mililani Town Center on Feb. 19. In the past, the theme focused more on healthy living, such as eating right, not smoking and exercis-ing regularly. Later on, the theme shifted to focus on the six pillars of character: trust-worthiness, respect, respon-sibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. “They are ad-vocating health issues that they are concerned about,” Health Teacher Mark Dur-lacher said. “For the last few years we’ve had this ‘Char-acter Counts’ theme.” Sophomore Kellie Mal-lari commented, “It’s better than the normal healthy, no smoking or alcohol idea. It’s fresh.” Mallari, along with Se-niors Chanel Hebaru and Jasmine Pang, won this year’s Wellness Fair post-er contest. Pang took first

place, with Hebaru coming in second and Mallari walk-ing away with third. All of their posters best embodied the chosen theme of the year and expressed the Pillars of Character in an inspirational way. “I mentioned (the pil-lars), I didn’t really show them but it was just like to tie everything together to make the most valuable player,” Pang said about her design for the poster contest, which depicted what she consid-ered to be the most valuable player in football as defined by the pillars. “… I kind of liked the health theme better because I understand that better,” she said. Pang had also placed in the contest be-fore this year, while Hebaru was new to it. “Altogether, it just helps tie in how other people can pass on caring,” Hebaru said about her poster, which showed a girl donating food to the hungry. The students at MHS and other schools through-out Mililani always have the Wellness Fair poster contest as a chance to show off how artistic they are while giving the community an oppor-tunity to see how character counts.

Level 2 Japanese students take first place at Japan WizardsBy Noah [email protected]

MHS was well-represent-ed at the Feb. 9 Japan Wizards Competition, having taken first and fourth place in the two divisions of the competi-tion. Two teams comprised of three members each competed at the event, which was held at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel & Resorts and sponsored by the Japan-America Society of Ha-waii (JASH). World Languag-es Teacher JoAnn Kanda acted as adviser to both. The first team, Team A, was made up of Sophomores Mallory Hayase, captain, Bethany Kanda and Jayna Ki-tazaki and competed against

students from other schools in Japanese 1 and 2. They placed first in their division, winning themselves a trip to Japan. Juniors Kamlynn Chow, cap-tain, and Lexi Kaneshiro and Senior Max Chenevert made up Team B, which competed against students from other schools in Japanese 3 and 4. The Japan Wizards Com-petition tests students’ knowl-edge of Japan, Japanese lan-guage and other Japan-related subjects. “They could ask you anything like geography, his-tory, culture, tradition (and) customs,” explained Chow. To prepare, members of the teams studied indepen-dently and collectively. “When it got closer to the competition, we had study sessions with ( J.

Kanda),” remarked Hayase. On the day of competition, teams competed in a single match of three rounds. The first round of the com-petition involved questions directed at specific teams with their captains answering. “The second round was like a toss-up/free-for-all. So ... whoever rang the bell would have to answer and you (couldn’t) talk among team members whereas in the first round you could,” said Hayase. The third round used the same format as the first. Win-ners were determined by com-paring each team’s final score with the final score of every team in that division.

MARCH 19, 2009CHOSEN TROJANS 5

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Principal John Brummel awards (top to bottom) Seniors Jasmine Pang, Chanel Hebaru and Sophomore Kellie Mallari in a separate ceremony. The three placed first, second and third, respectively.

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participated in the contest found their inspiration in something personal and interesting. Raymond fo-cused on framing and used her sister as her subject. “... She’s always walking around and twirling and stuff like that,” she said. Competing in an art contest requires dedica-tion to one’s project. Ro-mano-Kelly mentioned the amount of time he spent on his charcoal drawing. He stated, “I just put in a lot of time into it – six hours, at least.” After the contest, Lee obtained a fresh outlook on other artwork. “I learned ... that there’s a lot of creativ-ity out there. Like everyone is really, really good ... Like, it was really nice to see ev-eryone’s work at the art show, all their hard work,” she said. Regardless of achieving the Gold Key Award or not, the teachers and students felt a sense of achievement by competing in the most prestigious art contests.

Motoda sings her way to the top


Every second Sunday of the month, Don Ho’s Island Grill in Honolulu brings together local teen-age musical talents by host-ing a singing contest. Its popularity has increased consistently since the res-taurant’s opening in 1998. On Feb. 8, Senior Michelle Motoda com-peted in the contest and placed first, beating out two other competitors. “Before I went on stage, I was nervous, super ner-vous,” Motoda explained. Her nerves did not get

the best of her as she went out to perform. Her rendi-tion of “On My Own” from Les Miserables won over the crowd and judges and earned her the title of Don Ho Singing Contest Winner. Though she was ner-vous, the feeling wasn’t new for Motoda, as she has been singing for three years. “I love to be on stage sing-ing,” she said, “I love to en-tertain and put on a show.” Like every performer, Mo-toda also has an inspira-tion. “My mom is my in-spiration. She’s my number one fan, manager and my motivation,” she explained. She now has the oppor-tunity to showcase her sing-ing talent in a national com-petition this fall. “It feels pretty good. I can go to na-tionals now and I’m excited about that,” Motoda said. With the contest vic-tory on her list of achieve-ments, Motoda has started off her singing career well.

Cameron Ogle | Trojan Times

Freshman Sharmaine Lee’s charcoal drawing.

twitter.com/[email protected]

www.uhwo.hawaii.edu454-4700

Arizumi (continued from page 1)

Metz appreciative for soccer team support

“I have to appreciate (my mom) more and love her while she’s still here.”

-Cameron Metz, 9

By Kellie [email protected]

Freshman Cameron Metz is fortunate enough to have two families in his life – his immediate relatives, of course, and his Abunai soc-cer team. So when his moth-er had to undergo emergen-cy open heart surgery back in 2007, the Abunai team stepped in to help him and his family out in any way they could. She was afflicted withan aortic aneurysm, a heart condition where there is swelling in the aorta. The surgeon told Metz’s father that she may not survive the operation. “They didn’t want to tell us, the children, that she had a one in three chance of dying,” Metz said. There were many reasons to worry, but she survived and began her long road to recovery. Along the way, she and her family had the care and support from the Abu-nai parents and players. Coming up with the idea of assistance was Dar-

lene Tajiri, the team manag-er for Abunai. On assigned days, “each person on the team has to make a dinner for their family to eat,” said Freshman Jake Sagami, a teammate of Metz. The homemade din-ners are usually brought to the family’s house on Mon-days and Thursdays. “And like, when his parents are gone at the hospital or something, he just goes to one of our houses and we just take care of him,” add-ed Freshman Andrew Mo-mohara, another of Metz’s teammates. Parents of the soccer team also got Metz and his sister to school and soccer and even fed them, said Metz’s father in the Honolulu Advertiser.

The Abunai team, which has been together for eight years and counting, has had a long history to-gether, so it’s no real surprise as to why they are all so ea-ger to contribute to the Metz family. “They’re just really helpful,” Metz said. “The team (is) like a big family … they just wanted to help us out … because my dad was under a lot of stress with everything and then I got hurt too.” Metz was playing football when he dislocated his shoulder and had to un-dergo surgery. Meanwhile, his mother had to go in for a second operation when the plastic tube that replaced her dam-aged aorta dislodged from her heart. “We all couldn’t

do very much so I guess they just wanted to help us,” he said. While his mother is now healing and doing bet-ter, it’s unclear if another operation will be needed. “The first (operation) hap-pened and we thought it was all better and it was getting better,” Metz said. “But all of a sudden she had to get another one. So we’re not sure.” The scare of these in-cidents drew a realization for Metz as he learned to value what time he had left with his loved ones. “… I knew my mom was going to pass away some time but I just didn’t know when and that made me realize that it could hap-

pen at any time,” he said. “I have to appreciate her more and love her while she’s still here.” Currently, the team is still lending a hand to their fellow teammate and his family. Knowing that they’re doing a good thing for the Metzfamilyisafulfillingre-ward for Metz’s teammates. “I feel good ... because we’re helping him out and being his friend,” stated Momo-hara. He and Sagami are both very good friends with Metz. “It makes me feel good that I am helping this fam-ily because I knew them for a very long time and I wouldn’t want to let them suffer,” Sagami added, “and if my family was in trouble, then I think that they would help too.” By displaying these acts of kindness and the gift of giving, the Abunai soccer team has ultimately proved that family is not limited to just blood rela-tions.

opens up our passages so the phosphates and the calcium can get out slowly,” said Ari-zumi. However, this treatment wasn’t provided by her doc-tors. In fact, “… most doctors don’t support the protocol because they believe in medi-cine. Like, they don’t believe that this works.” Arizumi, on the other hand, is a firmbeliever of the protocol. “It’s a lot better. I can’t stress that enough. I have times when it’s super, super sore … That’s because I’m clearing. The calcium and phosphates are clearing out. … It always gets worse before it gets better.” One main reason why this treatment is so complex is because of the dietary re-strictions that follow. Users of guaifenesin aren’t allowed to consume salicylates, which are found in plants and plant extracts, such as mints. Doc-tors didn’t take this factor into consideration while test-ing the protocol. Even over-exposure to certain salicylate

scents is dangerous. “I’m hypoglycemic so I can’t eat carbs and sugars because it releases too much insulin … If IdoeatcarbsandsugarsIfindI get extremely nauseous and sometimes I throw up, too. Headaches, dizziness (and) vertigo (come) back.” This was very unfortunate news for Arizumi when she started the protocol because “… I love my pasta. Giving that up, it’s just so hard,” she said. Many people who are members of iFoG have not only found salvation through the protocol, but also through support from each other. Kam recalls Arizumi’s first day,saying, “(Arizumi) just sat there, almost with the expres-sion of ‘what now,’ sort of a disinterest, appeared doubt-ful and even expressed this in later meetings that she was skeptical, thinking ‘not anoth-er thing’ to try. She seemed unmotivated when I initially met her.” Since then, Kam has “seen this young girl blossom before my eyes. She is smil-

ing lots more. She is finallyhopeful of being able to live as near normal a teenage life as she possibly can.” The proof that this wasn’t another waste of time was her first “map.” Vicki Mauck, amember of iFoG, is a “map-per;” she touches certain parts of the fibromyalgic’s bodyto feel for lumps of calcium throughout the body. Through consistent mapping checkups, Arizumi was able to track her progress. “(Arizumi’s) firstmapping looked very much like a person who is in her 40s and suffering from fibromyal-gia. I was very surprised at the amount of tarter deposits I felt on the muscles of a 15-year-old,” recalled Mauck. Arizumi got along well with her support group be-cause they all experienced similar unfortunate events due to their disease. “All of us who have this condition have seen the look on doctors’ and even friends’ faces that tell us that they don’t really believe we have anything wrong,”

said Mauck. Arizumi, unlike most, experienced the tough parts during her early years, unlike nearly every mem-ber of iFoG. “I wanted to cry when I heard how much she had suffered as a child,” said Kam. “She told how she wanted so badly to play sports but couldn’t and teach-ers thought she was making up excuses because she was a girl and didn’t want to get sweaty. She told of how that really hurt her because that was farthest from the truth, that she really wanted to play but just couldn’t because of her pain. She spoke of hav-ing blurry vision and visiting an eye doctor and how she passed with 20/20 vision so it was insinuated that maybe she just wanted glasses like her friends which was untrue. No one believed her.” Now on a mission, Arizu-mi wants to spread awareness of fibromyalgia in the commu-nity to prevent others from suffering the same way she has been. She’s been “(going)

to every monthly fibromyalgia meeting, which is about once a month. I always explain my story to the newbies as many of them can relate to it. I also try to spread the word about it by passing out the pamphlets and updating our Fibro website, fibromyalgia-hawaii.com,” said Arizumi. Kam, who is proud of Ari-zumi’s commitment, said, “My understanding from a new member who sat next to her at our last meeting is that she is very open and has even taken time to correspond by emails.” If she could, Arizumi would also like to speak pub-lically about her disease. “I just haven’t been given the opportunity yet,” said Ari-zumi Now thanks to the help of Counselor Kellie Young, a few supportive doctors, iFoG, her family and her friends, Arizumi is back on track to living a normal lifestyle, one that she’s missed out on and has long deserved for ten years.

MARCH 19, 2009TROJAN LIFE 7

By Preston [email protected]

On Feb. 19, two towering tour buses transported Jap-anese travelers who came in unmatched numbers as they flooded the Mililani High School campus. MHS volunteers hosted students from Nihon Koku Daini High School – Wajima, who came from Ishikawa, Japan and are the third group to visit this school year. The students who came were just a fraction of the 300 total who came to Hawaii. The other 200 visited Kalani High School the day before. The students arrived at the gym at 9 a.m. where they split into groups of 10 and were paired with anoth-er group consisting of about four MHS students. The Nihon Koku students out-numbered the MHS hosts more than two to one, but the large numbers didn’t create an problems for the day. “I think because we’re able to break them up into smaller groups it’s a little easier and so it’s not like you have 50 kids (in a group), you have about 8-10 in a group, so it wasn’t too bad,” said Student Activities Co-

ordinator Gail Nishimura. The groups, guided by volunteer MHS students were then allowed to tour the campus. The Japanese students were allowed to freely visit the classes of Sci-ence Teacher Eric Tong and World Languages Teach-ers Claire Ichiyama and JoAnn Kanda. The groups of Nihon Koku guests were amazed by the size of the school, how freely MHS students dress and coming from a school population of about 600, the overwhelm-ing amount of people on campus. Although it was the largest group to visit MHS, students were still able to establish good conversa-tions with each other. The Nihon Koku students were very sociable and liked to talk, which made it easier for MHS students to build relationships with them. “Some of them were able to speak English,” said Junior Micah Andres, a host for the day. “We talked about what this school is like, their food, their majors, music they re-ally like their music.” The large group numbers may have limited extremely per-sonal connection but the Japanese students’ social

skills aided in starting con-versations. The Japanese students’ outgoing personalities also created fun moments throughout the day. “One (Japanese student) in Tong’s class, he was dancing to ‘Crank Dat Soulja Boy’ … he even gave out his num-ber to a girl,” said Junior Kylie Tao. “They were open to the new environment.” At the end of the day the groups returned to the gym for departure. Before they left, Nishimura conducted a trivia game where Japanese students could win hats for correctly answering ques-tions about MHS, an activ-ity she decided to do for the first time due to the size of the visiting group. She asked the students what the MHS school colors were, the mascot, who the principal is and other related questions. The Nihon Koku students did not disappoint as they showed that they learned much about MHS, forcing Nishimura to give away all of her authentic Trojan hats. At about 1 p.m., the stu-dents boarded the buses they arrived on, waving goodbye through the win-dows.

MHS hosts 100 Japanese students

“The students here are very friendly and easy to talk to, so I think I could make more friends here than at my school.”

-Mutsumi Ogura, 11

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“There’s nothing I don’t like about this school.”

-Miho Fukushima, 11

“Everyone seems to get along at this school, just like our school in Japan.”

-Takuya Sakamoto, 11

MARCH 19, 2009TROJAN LIFE

Photos by Preston Miyashiro | Trojan Times

Students read to kids on Dr. Seuss’ birthday

By Elizabeth [email protected]

Read Across America is a nationwide event that takes place on the birthday of famous children’s author Theodor Seuss Geisel, fond-ly known as Dr. Seuss, on March 2. On this day, adults and high school students go to elementary schools and read to the children. MHS has been a part of this pro-gram for three years and each time has gone to Waena Elementary School to read to all grade levels. The elementary school students got to enjoy a ses-sion of being read to. Mean-while, the high school stu-dents got to entertain as they acted out characters’ voices as they read. Librarian Rieko Goo has been helping out with preparation since the start of the program. “I think our students enjoy it … this year we are trying to expand it a little and have our students go a little beyond just read-ing to the students and actu-ally perhaps interacting with them,” stated Goo. If time permitted during the ses-sion, they followed through

Foodbank commercial raises public awarenessBy Angelica [email protected]

The integrated English and Digital Media classes have found their way of giving back to the com-munity through film mak-ing. Digital Media Teacher Shelly Bishop had her class become involved with the canned food drive by cre-ating a Foodbank commer-cial to increase awareness in the school. Bishop decided to do this because it was a good learning opportunity while giving back to the commu-nity that also allowed her to hit the General Learner Outcomes. “We just have the food drive every year so we decided that for the kids to become community contributors, they should find out about the Food-bank and then try to help the cause,” said Bishop. The students practiced and applied various skills to the project. “So in Eng-lish class, they did research on the Foodbank and found out about it,” said Bishop. “They practiced in-terviewing skills and then from their research they came up with interview questions. So they did all that beforehand, before go-ing and then did a project practicing interviewing.” Junior Ryan Alexander

described the division of work as “groups of four people. Two people went to the Foodbank to get film and stuff and the other two are editing it.” The most challeng-ing aspect was getting the necessary footage. Alexan-der said that the film had scenes of the employees working at the Foodbank. Junior Nicole Bulacan commented, “The one re-ally difficult part about it was trying to get all the interviews of the people because it was really hard to get the audio from their answers. And just trying to get the right angles and areas to film.” On the other hand, Alexander described his greatest obstacle be-ing “ ... how to portray the emotions ... to get people to help and ... have the right music and stuff.” The project was due on Feb. 28. Bulacan comment-ed, “I really learned that, ... you don’t really realize that other people are suffering and ... you’re so lucky to have food on your table ev-ery night and have money to buy food and stuff.” Bishop and her stu-dents are still in the pro-cess of completing their commercials and hope to preview them soon and promote the canned food drive.

with activities that coordi-nated with their book. Senior Amy Hunt volun-teered to read to preschool-ers. She felt that it would be a good influence on the children to be read aloud to. Hunt read “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” For her activity she had students “… (draw) pictures ... So, I might ask them to draw pic-tures of what they would do if they had a cookie.” Students were recom-mended through their Lan-guage Arts teachers and were also asked to practice their book with Goo on their own time. Senior Sherry Fair, who participated in last year’s session, wanted to repeat the experience, say-ing, “I did it last year … I was like ‘oh, it was from last year,’ so I want to try and do it again.” Each student volun-teering to do the program has the option to choose a book off of a list provided. Although it is a celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, not many students prepared to read his books. Some of the chosen books that were read by MHS students depicted good morals and choices.

Others were of appeal to the age of the listeners. Students who participat-ed in Read Across America gained experience working with young children and set a good example. They en-couraged the younger gen-erations to read more and become critical thinkers. MHS students have always been fond of lending a help-ing hand to the community.

Senior Brennan Baysa celebrates Dr. Seuss’ birthday with a book of his choice, called “Oh the Places You’ll Go,” written by Seuss himself, which he read aloud to a third grade class at Waena Elemen-tary School. Many students from MHS visited the elementary school campus and read a book of his or her choice to one or more classes. Following the reading was an activity also created by the high school reader. Baysa had the children draw pictures of what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Angelica Sewake | Trojan Times

MARCH 19, 2009TROJAN LIFE 9

MARCH 19, 2009

EDITORIAL

By Kelli-Anne [email protected]

Advances in technology have given us the privilege of attaining and assembling things faster than ever. Vari-ous utensils, tools, programs and equipment aid us so that we do not even have to lift a finger, and while tasks are completed quicker, our impatience is also that much quicker in expecting every-thing to come easily. The world does not, metaphori-cally speaking, mass-pro-duce silver platters and to expect that technology will continue to generate more ways of getting things done is wishful thinking. Take exercise for exam-ple. It is obviously a vital part of life, but many people are too lazy to even take a walk around the block. Thus, video game companies have apparently found a solution. They have created video games made specifically for fitness purposes – “ex-ergames,” in other words. Certainly, let us give some credit to the companies for what looks like a great at-tempt at getting America off the couch and on its feet. But seriously, it does not take a climb up a mountain to get in shape. Still, more and more people have put the fate of their health into vid-eo game programs, such as Nintendo’s WiiFit, in hopes of finding a replacement for

real exercise. WiiFit has a particular activity where its player can run ... sitting down! The point of this activity is for the player to run in place, but it is possible to sit down and pump your arms, imitating a runner and still earn a de-cent score. “The video game work-out is not as intense as if you were actually running so it doesn’t compare to real exercise,” said Junior Kaylee Yamamoto. “Like any video game, there are ways to cheat in it and with exercise video games, your movement is limited to the area of the room,” commented Senior Aaron Ibrao. While “exergaming” is fun, it is nevertheless just another source of entertain-ment. In no way does it com-pletely substitute a genuine work-out, but rather, it is a technological short-cut. Granted, we love short-cuts, otherwise exercise-type video games would be fairly unsuccessful. And if that wasn’t ironic enough, people, it seems, are too lazy to put in any effort for a real work-out, but are willing to buy a game and take the time to cross their fingers and hope that the program will miraculously whip them into shape. But the point of exercise is to get fit. Getting fit re-quires sweat and pain and the drive to push past what

you thought were your lim-its. In other words, exercise means working hard. So in terms of video gaming exercise, where do the real sweat and pain fit in? Gaming programs con-gratulate their users for com-pleting levels but compared to actually accomplishing improvement through true hard work, it hardly mea-sures up. In the event that its definition is forgotten or re-invented, hard work is the requirement of energy and effort; it is the mental or physical strength you give in order to achieve something. Labor is unavoidable and to try to find a way around it is cheating. Achieving anything en-tails initiative and, most times, a struggle along the way. There is always an ob-stacle or a point that seems impossible to get past, but driving through the diffi-culties makes the triumph much more worthwhile. “No pain, no gain. The harder you work for some-thing the more rewarding it is in the end,” said Ibrao. Taking advantage of what technology provides is resourceful, but relying on the easy route strips away the true success of any ac-complishment and with too many short-cuts, there is nothing for you to strive for if the goal is too simple to gain.

ASMHSPresident

Leanne Sunahara

Trojans!!! As fast as the year can fly by, the quarters can fly by faster. We have only one more day of school before this quarter is over. Even if this quarter seemed short, we had a lot of ac-tivities going on. To begin, Thursday Feb. 19, 98 students from the Nihon Koku Daini High School – Wajima, visited our school. Thank you to all of those who helped out and to those who were welcoming to the Japanese students to our campus. On Feb. 21, the Mililani Complex schools sponsored the Wellness Fair at the Town Center. The com-munity was welcome to come and join the fun and games. There were a lot of booths from all the Mililani schools and great lessons about your health and the six pillars of Character Education. To close out the month we had the ASMHS elections, from Feb. 25-27. Students were able to go on Ed-line and vote for next year’s council. The new ASMHS council will be inducted in May. While all of these ac-tivities were going on, Junior Prom and Sopho-more Banquet had their bid sales. This is the time of year again where all the girls are talking about what kind of dress they are going to buy, or the feeling of anxiety for finding a date. It’s a time for fun and a time for planning the perfect night. As this quarter comes to an end, I hope you studied hard dur-ing the last few days of school, and have a won-derful break. Once we all return to school, some are going to have only a month and a half left of school, and for others, there are two months left. Enjoy your break and be ready for fourth quarter.

The Trojan Times is a monthly production of

the Newswriting staff of Mililani High School

95-1200 Meheula Pkwy., Mililani, HI 96789

Editor in ChiefCaitlin Kuroda

Assistant EditorDiana Thompson

Sports EditorFaith Brown

Layout Design Manager

Elizabeth Spalla

Web Design ManagerCyrus Takahashi

Business ManagerArianne Cablay

Maintenance ManagerPreston Miyashiro

AdviserMr. Christopher Sato

PrincipalDr. John Brummel

StaffFrancis EmpenoKelli-Anne Ho

Kellie KawamotoLauren MottleyCameron Ogle

Noah Perales-EstoestaAngelica Sewake

Trojan Times

The mission of the Tro-jan Times is to publi-

cize events, share in the successes of students,

promote the hard work of the faculty and capture the

dedication of organizations.

Letter to the editor

To voice an opinion or any concerns, feel free to submit a letter to L205 or to [email protected]. The Trojan Times re-serves the right to edit let-ters as they see fit. Please type your let-ter and clearly state your name, grade level and pe-riod one class.

Sweat, burn not achieved through exergames

Cyrus Takahashi | Trojan Times

MARCH 19, 2009FEATURES 11

Ed Hardy designs bring style and sophistication to Trojan fashion

By Cyrus [email protected]

Bold colors and intricate designs are what go into one of the school’s latest fashion trends, Ed Hardy. Based on the designs of former tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy and li-censed by the former Von Dutch Head Designer Chris-tian Audigier, the clothes easily make the wearer stand out in a crowd. A relatively new trend, the high-end label has had the popularity to quickly spread to the youth scene. “It’s really cool-looking and it stands out,” said Sopho-more Kara Nyuha, one of the school’s many Ed Hardy patrons. As for what stands out about it, Senior Jordan Alcantra, a wearer of the brand’s wide selection of shirts, commented, “It’s like colorful tattoos. Ed Hardy is a tattoo artist and then he took his tattoos and put them on the shirt.” Hardy’s distinct large-scale and so-phisticated art style comes from the time he spent as one of the protégés of tat-too legend Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins. Yet the clothing’s eye-catching abilities are hardly limited to its designs, as

striking as they are. “Even if it’s black, there’s like red, yellow,” said Alcantra, ref-erencing the sharp color differences that make the clothes even more notice-able. The bright colors also contrast the designs’ un-derlying themes. “It’s kind of a little bit more dark and stuff because it has all these

skulls,” said Senior Ashley Shinogi. Other than skulls, Ed Hardy prominently fea-tures dragons, a wide vari-ety of animals from tigers to eagles, hearts and more. Alcantra’s shirts also use foil material to give the clothes an appealing shine. To take it further, Ed Hardy wear boasts comfort in addition

to its visual qualities. It should not be mistaken that Ed Hardy only designs shirts, either. “Jeans, they have jackets, shoes, hats. … They have bags. Like from duffel bags to backpacks. They have everything,” said Alcantra, adding, “They even have clothes for dogs.” While an exploding skull

jacket for your pet may be a little extreme, Alcantra is cor-rect in describing the range of items available. A quick look at the official online store shows a collection of watches, jewelry, sunglass-es, scarves and more, aimed not only at men and women, but children as well. Regarding availabil-ity, the clothes can be pur-chased easily online from several different sites, offi-cially at www.edhardyshop.com. The items may also be found at Le Lotus Bleu, with boutiques in Ala Moana and Waikiki, Metropark in Ala Moana and a number of other retail stores. As far as price is concerned, do not expect Ed Hardy’s vibrant designs to come cheap. Originally with a target market of celebrities and high-profile fashion dis-tricts, T-shirts, for example, cost anywhere from $60 to upwards of $150. Nyuha put Ed Hardy’s appeal in simple terms, “It’s comfortable and it looks nice.” In short, according to Alcantra, “It’s stylin’.” Whether or not one thinks skulls and messages such as “Love Kills Slowly” are too dark, the brilliant designs into which they are incorpo-rated easily make up for it.

Makhzoum, Romanchenko travel overseas to attend MHSBy Caitlin [email protected]

While the school serves as a one-day tour stop for numer-ous groups of high schoolers from Japan during their visits to Hawaii, it also plays host to two other students from out of the country for an entire year: Junior Fadel Makhzoum from Lebanon and Senior Tatyana Romanchenko, who traveled here from Turkmenistan. Makhzoum and Roman-chenko decided to do the exchange program for the ex-perience, as well as to better their skills in English. How-ever, applicants must already be proficient in English. “Stu-dents who are exceptional in English, they would have the opportunity to go to the Unit-ed States if they got through,” said Makhzoum, who un-derwent an intense applica-tion process that included the writing of an essay, the pass-ing of two increasingly dif-ficult examinations and the completion of an interview. Romanchenko based her rea-

sons for applying on learn-ing “how American people look like, how they live, how they socialize, how they go to school, because school is totally different from ours,” and had to pass three levels of tests and have her results re-viewed in Washington, D.C.

Both Makhzoum and Ro-manchenko are living with host families for the duration of their stay. Coming from a capital city, Makhzoum noted the major differences between his hometown and Mililani. “(The) first thing I noticed ... was … it was very quiet,” he said, “because it’s a small town, and I live in a capital, so it was always busy and there was always many people out-side. That was different.” He did point out, however, that “the weather is kind of the same.” Romanchenko noted the opposite — much differ-ent weather between Hawaii and Turkmenistan, and went on to say, “It’s just, the style of people’s lives is so different. Because we dress up in our country — we go to school in heels, in uniform.” The MHS campus was another unfamiliar thing for the two. Makhzoum attends the school Gibra Twainy and Romanchenko graduated from School No. 13 in 2008. In both of their schools, students remain in the same classroom

for all of their courses. “At school, I just had to get used to the fact that I wasn’t sit-ting in one class the whole time,” Makhzoum said. “I had to move around, and re-member the location of the classes.” MHS also provides more choices of classes. “(At my school) we cannot choose like, ‘Oh, we want to study economy,’ or ‘Oh, we want to study math but we don’t

want to take chemistry,’” said Romanchenko. “We all have to take … (an) average (of) 17 classes per year.” Makzhoum has taken part in Tri-School, spend-ing hours after school at re-hearsals, and Romanchenko has joined three clubs: Dis-tributive Education Clubs of America (DECA), Leo Club and Spanish Club. “I think (the biggest re-ward is) learning about a new place … being friends with people from different places ...” Makhzoum said. Roman-chenko agreed, “(The best thing about the exchange pro-gram is) meeting new people, coming to Hawaii … When I heard that I got Hawaii, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t want to go there, I want to go to the mainland.’ But now I realize that Hawaii is proba-bly the best place ever to go.” Their year-long stay will end in June, but even when they return to their respec-tive countries, they will take back the experiences that they gained while in Hawaii.

Caitlin Kuroda | Trojan Times

“I realize that Hawaii is probably the best place ever to go.” -Tatyana Romanchenko, 12

Preston Miyashiro | Trojan Times

“I think (the biggest re-ward is) learning about a new place … being friends with people from different places ...”

-Fadel Makhzoum, 11

It wasn’t until approximately six months later that they were finally accepted into the program and assigned Ha-waii as their home for a year.

Jessica Tavares, 12

Jordan Alcantra, 12

Tammy Pham, 12

Flowers, laughs and tea: stress relievers for youBy Kelli-Anne [email protected] It happens to the best of us: the familiar feeling of wanting to rip out your hair from the incredibly high lev-els of stress due to an over-load in homework, an argu-ment with a best friend or a sudden change in plans. Maybe the day has begun without you and now you’re late to class – again – so you hurry out of the house, but halfway to school you sud-denly remember that you forgot the project you stayed up all night to finish and will have to go back home to get it. Your breathing quickens, your palms start to sweat and in any minute, you know you’re going to go into serious stress-out mode.

MARCH 19, 2009FEATURES

By Kellie [email protected] You see them in television commercials, in magazine ads and sometimes even in stores. The fairly innovative and inventive products look convinc-ing, but still you wonder, do they work? Before you are persuaded into buy-ing something that will supposedly make your life a lot easier, consider the pros and cons. Here’s a quick review of some commercial products that were tested. You decide whether it’s worth it or not.

But don‘t panic just yet and test out one of these tips! Flower power Surrounding yourself with flowers of light colors, such as pastel blues and purples, is effective in calm-ing the mind. According to a study done by Rutgers University, flowers trigger happy emotions and a sense of satisfaction. Studies from Harvard University show that being in the company of flowers makes you feel more compassion toward others and less worry.

Cup o’ tea According to research done by various groups, drinking black tea cuts down stress hormones. Cortisol, a particular stress hormone, is

lowered rapidly after drink-ing black tea daily. But if you’re not a fan of black tea, try green tea, which contains theanine, an ingredient that promotes relaxation.

Friends Hanging out with the people you love is a great way to let loose and take your mind off things. Go for a drive, blasting your fa-vorite music and singing to it loud and proud. Have a movie night at a designated house. Surround yourself with people you can have fun with.

Have a good laugh Strike up a conversation with one of your funniest friends. Look at old goofy pictures that take you back

to the good times you’ve had. Watch a comedy or a ridiculous YouTube video. Laughter reduces stress and helps you to forget whatever it was you were worrying about.

Bawl your eyes out Don’t be afraid to cry. As sensitive and childish as it sounds, letting out tears that you have been holding in reduces levels of stress hor-mones and relieves anxiety and other emotional build-ups on your mind.

Have alone time Going away from crowds and being by yourself is calming and soothing. Think about your problems and look at them from another perspective. Write down

how you feel or lie down and listen to slow, quiet music.

Lather the lotion Gently rub lotion on to your neck, arms, back, etc and use scents such as lav-ender, vanilla or jasmine. According to www.discov-eryarticles.com, lavender decreases anxiety and helps you to sleep better; vanilla lowers tense feelings and relaxes you if you are frus-trated; jasmine has both found to help those who are depressed.

Stress is unavoidable, sit-uations will come at you un-predictably and might even make you want to scream, but remember to keep it cool because what matters is how you deal with it.

Smooth Away For girls who are tired of nicking them-selves or getting ra-zor bumps when they shave their legs, Smooth Away is a hair removal one might consider try-ing. Smooth Away has super fine crystals that are supposed to buff away the hair while ex-foliating your skin. You can use it virtually any-where. It’s supposed to remove the hair in-stantly and painlessly. Smooth Away basi-cally feels like very fine sandpaper and it does

not remove the hair as instantly as the box claims it to. The proper way to use this prod-uct is to rub the pad in circular motions – three times clockwise, then three times coun-terclockwise. The hair does eventually get smoothed away, but only after about seven sets of these circular motions. Your skin will look a little white and ashy from “exfoliating the dead skin cells” but applying a moisturizer after should take care of that. Each pad does not last too long – maybe two or three uses each. If you’re looking to re-move the hair on your legs, it’d be a lot faster and a lot cheaper to use a regular razor. You can buy a box of this product at the As Seen On TV store at the Ward Warehouse. Included are various applicators and re-placement pads. All of this is for about $15.

5-Hour Energy What kind of teen-ager doesn’t have long nights where they are scrambling to finish that project they pro-crastinated on or cram-ming for that big test they forgot to study for? A shot of this 5-Hour Energy drink is supposed to help your cause by giving you instant energy. It has the same amount of caffeine as a typical cup of coffee, but there is no crash afterwards. It is sugar-free, unlike a regular caffeinated drink such as soda and it only has four calories per shot. 5-Hour Energy does make you feel very awake and it lasts for hours at a time. You shouldn’t take it unless you know you’re go-ing to be up for a long time or else you may have a hard time go-ing to sleep after. This drink may cause jitteri-ness or nervousness. It also comes in different

Space Bags Saver Everyone has seen the Space Bag’s High Capacity Tote – a giant Ziploc bag with a hole that you stick a vacuum into to suck all the air out. The contents inside the Space Bag then flat-ten, creating more stor-age room. But for those of you who travel and like to pack the entire contents of your room in your suitcases, it is now possible to do so! Space Bag has a travel size bag – the Space Saver – to fit more of your bulky items in the same luggage bag. The Space Saver, like the Tote, is smaller

Is

flavors so preference in taste will differ. How-ever, a shot of this does not go down smoothly. The liquid itself is thick, like swallowing syrup and has a sour taste to it. These drinks can be found at many drug-stores and even gas stations for around $3. If you’re in desperate need to stay awake and alert for any reason, this drink is the health-ier way to go over cof-fee or soda.

and lacks the vacuum hole. That’s because when you pack your items into the bag, you roll and squeeze the air out through a valve at the bottom of the bag. Space Bag claims that you will create up to twice as much space in any luggage bag of yours. Rolling the air out of the bag does flatten items considerably, but it really only affects the bulky ones like sweat-shirts and pillows. If you plan on only pack-ing already-flat items such as T-shirts and jeans, the Space Saver does not make a differ-ence in packing capac-ity. These Space Savers can be found at Longs Drugstore for a little over $8. It comes in a pack of two. You can also find various sizes (such as the High Ca-pacity Tote or an even smaller Space Saver) that differ in price as well.

it worthyour money?

Saturday, March 28, 9am - 1pmWindward Hawai‘i Loa Campus

Please R.S.V.P. to the Office of Admissions by March 19

C&CC will be closed for Spring Break. If you need to drop off applications or scholarships, please plan ac-cordingly. Have a fun, safe Spring Break and see you in fourth quarter!

Senior Announcements Attention Male Seniors! According to the Selec-tive Service System (SS Sys-tem), almost all male US citizens and males living in the US who are ages 18 through 25 are required by law to register with the SS. It’s important to know that even though you are regis-tered, you will not automati-cally be inducted. In a crisis draft, men would be called by random lottery num-ber and year of birth. Then they would be examined for mental, physical and moral fitness before being exempt-ed from or inducted into the Armed Forces. So if you meet the requirements, then you must register at any US post office or online at http://www.sss.gov.

Submit Scholarship & Award Letters to C&CC If you have received a scholarship or financial award from a school or or-ganization, forward a copy

of it to C&CC, whether you are accepting it or not. We will add the information to our year-end report and you will be recognized in the graduation program.

May 1: Reply to Colleges May 1 is the universal re-ply date to colleges. Schools need to receive your enroll-ment plans by that date. Most schools will request for a final transcript as well so don’t forget to submit your transcript requests.

College Decision Time: adapted from College Advisor, Inc. It’s that time of the year when college decisions are being made. As acceptances roll in, seniors hopefully now face the decision about their final choice of college. If you only applied to colleges that were a good fit, you’ll now have to consider which is the very best for you. Repeat vis-its to campuses, at least to the schools at the top of your list. This campus visit, however, should be more in-depth. Contact the ad-missions office, identify yourself as an accepted stu-dent and ask for help in ar-ranging an overnight stay in the dorms. They can also arrange to have you sit in

on some classes and expe-rience meals in the dining hall. Spend enough time to visit the library, check out the computer center, labora-tory and recreational facili-ties and talk with a profes-sor in your intended major. If you’re planning on pre-med or pre-law, learn about the advisement available. Students needing academic support should visit the of-fice of support services. The placement office will allow you to learn about post-col-lege planning and job place-ment services available. Finances often play a part in the final decision. If the col-lege’s financial aid offer was inadequate to enable you to attend, a talk with the director of financial aid about special family circumstances may help. Once you’ve made your final decision, promptly no-tify the college of your intent to enroll and pay any needed deposits and fees to hold your place. Remember that the universal reply date is May 1. Contact the other colleges that have offered you admission; inform them of your decision and thank them for their ef-forts. This is also the time to thank the teachers and coun-selors who have helped you.

Other Announcements Running Start The Running Start pro-gram is a unique partner-ship between the DOE and UH systems. It allows public high school juniors and se-niors to attend college class-es while earning both high school and college credits. Deadlines are coming up so come to C&CC for more information, or visit http://www.hawaii.edu/runningstart.

April 30: National College Fair The National College Fair will be held on April 30 at the NBC Exhibition Hall. Take advantage of this opportunity to meet with representatives from visit-ing schools. For more in-formation, visit http://www.nacacnet.org/EventsTraining/CollegeFairs/ncf/Spring/Pages/HonoluluNCF.aspx

Fee Waivers Available Students on free or re-duced lunch are available for SAT, ACT and NCAA Clearinghouse fee waivers. See Mrs. Yamamoto to pick up your fee waiver today.

Summer on Campus: Trial Run adapted from College Advisor, Inc. It’s already March, so this may be the right time

to start planning your sum-mer vacation. For under-classmen just beginning to think about college choices, a summer on campus serves as a trial run. Hundreds of colleges across the US offer summer programs for high school students. In some cases, students take regu-lar college summer courses for credit alongside college students and participate in campus life. However, the high school students usually live together in supervised dorms and participate in activities and seminars de-signed for their age group. High school students may earn three to eight col-lege credits during the sum-mer at programs offered by institutions such as Har-vard, Syracuse and Bran-deis among others. Shorter programs of intense study in just one area, often fo-cused on specific careers, are also available. You can learn about Veterinary Medicine at Tufts, study Marine Science at the University of Miami, investigate military careers and engineering at the US Air Force Academy or Na-val Academy, work on your art portfolio at Skidmore or engage in scientific research at Boston University. Non-credit enrichment courses that provide students with the experience of living on campus are offered to high school students at schools like Barnard and Colum-bia. Attending a college’s summer program and your willingness to spend part of your summer vacation in se-rious learning indicates your level of commitment and thus may affect admissions. Good grades in your sum-mer courses and a letter of recommendation from your instructor are also a plus. Try one of the summer enrichment search engines to find a program that fits your interests. There’s one at http://www.petersons.com and a new free search engine at http://www.enrichmentalley.com that includes reviews of programs by former par-ticipants, their parents, and educators. Information on some summer programs can also be found in C&CC. Come visit us for more in-formation.

Compiled by College & Career Counselor

Denise Yamamoto

C&CCMARCH 19, 2009

13

MARCH 19, 2009SPORTS 15

MThe Trojan of the month exem-plifies excellence in academics as well as athletics.

MMT R O J A N

of the month

Cole finds success in diving after severe knee injury

By Cyrus [email protected]

A knee injury with a “really technical” name was not enough to keep Senior Madison Cole away from her love of sports. A former gymnast, Cole had to quit after her right knee broke down as a result of osteochondritis dissecans (OCD). Rather than let this hold her back, she decided to take up diving barely a year later and was able to quickly become skilled in the sport. Early in 2007, the knee injury ended her time as a gymnast and seemingly as an athlete as well. OCD severely impaired Cole’s right knee by forming what she described as a pothole in it. “I had to stop because obviously I couldn’t do

gym if I had that problem,” said Cole. Then in late 2008, she suddenly decided to go into competitive diving. On her progress in her newfound sport, Cole commented, “I’ve only been doing it for six months and I would say I’m satisfied with how it’s going so far” — an under-statement, considering her seventh place in a Hawaii High School Athletic Asso-ciation (HHSAA) meet and her placement as one of the three champions at the OIA West. The OIA West meet was actually inter-rupted due to a swimming competition and had to be finished afterwards. Swim-ming, for the record, “is re-ally a completely different sport” and should not be confused with diving. Cole’s success as a div-er may come as a surprise as she has no official coach from the school like other

divers who participate with her in the competitions. In addition, she has had to buy her own equipment for diving. However, she has overcome these obstacles and instead is able to train with her own private coach, Jeff Stabile. This is not a problem for Cole who pre-fers this and said, “That’s fine with me.” Despite all that she’s accomplished after only six months, Cole is already looking forward to more improvement and achieve-ments in the future. “I was hoping to do a little bit bet-ter, but for my first year, I wasn’t so disappointed,” said Cole on her seventh place at the HHSAA meet. With such an attitude, coupled with her clearly indomitable perseverance and spirit, Cole is certain to move on to even greater successes in the competi-tions to come.


In every sport, there is not only the physical con-ditioning needed, but also a mentality that drives for success. For Junior Kiana White, her mentality has helped drive the Varsity Girls Swim team toward success. “Swimming is a big team sport and many peo-ple don’t think that way, but it’s more of a mental thing for me and so the (coaches) have helped me think positively before my events,” White ex-plained. Her teammates and coaches have been a huge support system for her. “They all have played a huge role in my swim-

ming career,” she said. Unlike other sports, swimming requires year-round conditioning and training. White’s train-ing focuses on her over-all stroke technique. “I swim all the strokes. You train mostly freestyle dur-ing practice, just because it’s the main stroke,” she said. White has had much success thus far. She has reached the finals of swimming events in every year, while placing well in each. She has placed second in the 100-meter breaststroke event for the past two years and placed fourth in the 200-meter in-dividual medley. School has been crucial for White all through her swimming career. “School is a very important aspect. If you want to swim, then you have to have the school portion in,” she explained. Her hopes and goals for the future are similar to those of many high school athletes. “I have aspirations to get a scholarship — prob-ably not a big school, prob-ably a smaller division one school, probably Northern Colorado,” White said. With her commitment to training, support and constant success, White’s swimming career is head-ing in the right direction.

“I’ve only been doing it for six months and I would say I’m satis-fied with how it’s going so far.”

-Madison Cole, 12

Elizabeth Andres | Na Mana o Poina oleSpencer Sword | Na Mana o Poina ole Lauren Mottley | Na Mana o Poina ole

SPRING SPORTS

Junior Kristopher Ornellas lands in the sand, completing his long jump. The Brown and Gold Meet, held on Feb. 27, had members of the track team competing against each other in a number of events like the Long Jump.

Junior Adrienne Hamada volleys the ball back to her partner using a forehand swing. The Varsity Girls Tennis team, though early in the season, spends many hours every week practicing for upcoming matches.

Sophomore Michael Asamura winds up for a pitch dur-ing one of the Varsity Boys Baseball team’s practices. The team has gone through their preseason and has be-gun playing rival schools during the regular season.

Varsity Girls Tennis Track & Field Varsity Boys Baseball

I N T E R A C T I V E

horoscopes Because fate willalways be inevitable

Aries(March 21 – April 19)One night very soon, you will find yourself capti-vated by an internet Flash game and will spend an undetermined amount of time playing it, costing you a terrible price: a su-shi dinner that your fam-ily will exclude you from. You have been warned.

Taurus(April 20 – May 20)When you next decide to go running, wait until nightfall. You will notice that a strange, weak light illuminates the sky. Keep running and the light will get brighter. Momentari-ly, the light will consume you and transport you to an alien spaceship where you will learn the secrets of the universe.

Gemini (May 21 – June 21)Avoid any and all reflec-tive surfaces and time-telling devices and you’ll never know you have

multiple-personality disor-der. If you can’t see a differ-ent person looking back in the mirror or if you never re-alize you’ve lost time, you’ll never know that there are fifteen dopplegangers inside of you.

Cancer (June 22 – July 22)Do you remember the group of people you compared to Korean food? Hmmmm? The ones you said you loved not more than, but “as much as” Korean food? Hmmmm? Well, Korean food is not hap-py about being compared to that group of people and it’s looking for revenge.

Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22)“Resident Evil 5” will prove to be a far greater challenge than any video game you’ve ever played before. Load up on junk food, blankets, caf-feine and ammo and engage the enemy directly! Take no prisoners and never back down! … But remember, it’s just a game.

Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22)You will have great success in the coming weeks in find-ing excellent music and it won’t just be the stuff that’s overplayed on the radio. Your friends will beg you for the titles of those songs you have on your MySpace be-cause the songs are so cool. And because your music is so cool, you’ll be cool too.

Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22)Men, buy a clean backpack and drench it in Axe. Ladies, shove a hot taco into your purse. Now, climb onto a roof at sunrise, begin swing-ing your bag over your head, convolute your face such that you look like a monkey and utter war cries … Trust me, it’s a strategy that works better than any dating site you’ve ever tried.

Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21)You will be annoyed this month by your best friend’s use of a phrase just as catchy,

but not quite as dumb as, “That’s hot.” Stop them by using your super cool ice powers to chill them out. But you can’t use my plays on the words ‘cool’ and ‘chill’ in your catchphrase ‘cause I came up with them. And my super cool ice powers pwn yours.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21)I know what you do for the FBI, “Agent Henderson.” You think they’re crazy, don’t you, “Agent Hender-son?” But they might not be so crazy after all, huh, “Agent Henderson?” After all, you were the one who willingly went bald, weren’t you, “Agent Henderson?”

Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19)Your clubbing days are com-ing to an end. Very soon, you won’t know what it is, but the music and the bars and the dancing and the pretty lights will all lose their lus-ter. You’ll instead be com-pelled to go to the beach!

Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18)Very soon, everyone in the entire school will know of your little prob-lem. Yes, that one. It’s okay, though; everyone has issues they need to work through. But now that you’ve been outed, the American Academy of Dermatology can be con-tacted for you, to get you the help you need.

Pisces (Feb. 19 – March 20)It’s really not important now, but I just thought you’d like to know that in a former life, you were stuck in an iceberg for one hundred years and when you woke up, you had to save the world by team-ing up with some siblings and a little blind girl to beat some fire people. Just thought I’d enlighten you.

Compiled by Noah Perales-Estoesta

[email protected]

Slither link How to play

The object of the game is to create an enclosed figure in the grid by drawing lines between the dots. The numbers correspond to the number of lines that can surround that number in the correct formation of the figure. Extraneous lines that are added to meet the number requirement are not permitted; that is, all lines must make up part of the loop. No lines can stick in or out of the figure. Pencil is recommended.

Snake images courtesy of http://vbs.lifeway.comSl

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Answers available at http://www.trojantimes.org

Documents

Issue 6 2008-2009