Waha Nui
Two Kahuku High School seniors have placed in the top one percent of U.S. test-takers on their SAT exams, which puts Chenoa Yorgason and Cooper Schwartz in the running for National Merit Scholarships next February. Cooper, the youngest person in the U.S. to get certified as a computer voice stress analysis technician (handy for detective work), had a perfect 800 score on the writing portion and a total of 2300 out of 2400; while Chenoa, who ranks first in her class, racked up 2310 points. For good measure, she could probably take the tests in Mandarin Chinese and Hawaiian as well …
Kaneohe singer Mailani Makainai has released her Island Christmas CD, featuring several Windward Oahu musicians on guitar and vocals … Kailua’s favorite bluegrass band, Saloon Pilots, will play HPR’s Atherthon Studio in concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (955-8821) … Speaking of the band, the furiously fiddling Lesley Kline of Kailua Music School and the Saloon Pilots was seen in the Oct. 25 episode of Hawaii Five-O, playing away at O’Toole’s downtown pub … Kalaheo High got its ping pong table, thank you very much; now Kailua Elementary requests a small Lego set. To help them out, call Kathie Wells of Community Helping Schools at 225-2621 …
Hawaiian Airlines has appointed Kailua’s Bret Ranoa to senior director of customer service initiatives. Bret has 20 years in the industry, most of them at Hawaiian. Think of him when you use the new luggage tagging system … The latest lucky slot players in downtown Las Vegas: Brian Araki $27,860, Bernadette Makaula $9,306, and Ed Tawara $6,667, all of Kailua; Kaneohe’s George Higaki $5,423, and Waimanalo’s Elizabeth Daoang $4,000 … Kaneohe’s Jonathan Mito has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Benning, Ga., and Rusty Rivera (Castle 2007) has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C
