MidWeek East - April 5, 2023

TEACHER OF THE YEAR
Kalani’s Michael Ida chosen as Hawai‘i Teacher of the Year. SEE PAGE 2
PUPS N’ PARADISE
Hawai‘i Kai’s Koko Marina Center celebrates pups of all sizes over the weekend. SEE PAGE 6
East Side Students To Championships
A PUBLICATION OF
AN EDITION OF
Assets School principal Nikki Hamai Sakai (far left) and robotics program coach Peter Han (far right) pose with Team Waffles (in red shirts), which includes a few East O‘ahu students, and MEAF (in blue shirts) on the school’s campus overlooking Honolulu. PHOTO COURTESY ASSETS SCHOOL
IBY MARIA KANAI
t’s an exciting year for Assets School’s Team Waffles, which includes five stu- dents from East O‘ahu. They include
seniors Fay Weldon, Mitchell Kee Chong, Brenden Locquiao, Logan Wee and sopho- more Zak Campos.
After winning the state robotics champi- onships in January, it is gearing up to be one of two teams representing Hawaiʻi in a world championship tournament this month.
“Being a teacher for a small school where the majority of our students learn different- ly, I’m extremely proud of our students for showing the world and themselves that they are capable. Our main objective in going to the world championship is to learn and bring back as much knowledge as can, and we look forward to interacting with amazing teams from across the world,” says coach Peter Han.
Other Team Waffles members are captain Emily Kurashima, Mason Pimentel, Blake Vasconcellos, Sydnee Rol, Kelli Ann Ca- banada and Leilei Petrossian. The team’s name comes from the fact that they eat waf-
SEE PAGE 5
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