Waha Nui
The co-owner of Hui Ku Maoli Ola, a native plant nursery in Kaneohe, donated 50 plants to the local group that flew off to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. Rick Barboza‘s contribution includes kalo for the small lo’i they will display at the festival for all the world to see.
The celebration is June 27-July 8 … Kaneohe’s Micah Maetani collected his chemistry degree from Stanford in June and goes right into doctoral studies at Harvard at the end of summer. He has many mahalos to his teachers back at Rainbow Preschool and Ben Parker Elementary during those vital formative years … Kalaheo graduate Natalie Sheffield, now a student at Oregon Institute of Technology, has a mechanical engineering internship in Japan this summer at Hakkai Creates (makes parts for Sony playstations). Natalie and her OIT colleague Dylan Austin also made a presentation recently to the mayor of MinamiUonuma …
Local teens winning 2012 Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation scholarships are Kalaheo’s Kelsey Wemple ($3,000), and $1,000 grantees Shonelle Swarens of Castle, Cheyenne Fonoimoana-Lessary of Kahuku and Caitlin Hooker of Kailua. The late Takitani couple founded Hawaiian Host chocolates and established the foundation to give back to the community …
Servco Automotive has promoted Castle High and University of Phoenix grad Nichole Tsuji to customer care center manager, handling inbound calls to nine service centers in the state … Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association annually salutes the top public school teens who help make Hawaii a better place and stand as model public school graduates. The 2012 Citizenship Award (a $1,000 grant) went to 42 seniors, including Maile Garrett of Castle, Sara McAllaster of Kalaheo, Marisa Swiderski of Kahuku and Shannon Urabe of Kailua – co-sponsored by the DOE and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser …
Kaneohe’s Garion Park made the spring dean’s list at Gonzaga University in Spokane
