Waha Nui – 5/6/15
Give a hand to newly minted Girl Scout Gold Awardee Rachel Watanabe of Mililani Troop 289. Rachel taught the keiki at Mililani Presbyterian Preschool where their food comes from, installed an aquaponics system at the school, and created lesson plans and workbooks to teach them its benefits and how to run it …
Yvonne Lee McIntire, nee Abear, (Leilehua 1966) will autograph copies of her new novel Nuiloha: A Pineapple Plantation Story May 9 at — where else? — the Wahiawa Pineapple Festival (see story on Page 4). Husband David McIntire calls it a “wholesome and believable story of first love, set against a backdrop of pineapple plantation living in Hawaii in the mid-1900s” …
A veteran of 14 years with HMSA, with business and engineering degrees from UH Manoa, Mililani’s Alan Saka has joined UHA Health Insurance as its new chief information officer …
E kala mai, Gladys Okamura, for calling you both Gladys and Grace in last week’s column about your Kitchen Delight reopening …
Speaking of restaurants, McDonald’s of Hawaii gave out its 2015 employee scholarship awards of $2,500 each April 25, including Jhericka Soroten, a Leilehua student who works at the Wahiawa outlet (heading to Grand Canyon University); and Kristen Burgett, a Mililani High student who works at the Mililani outlet (going to Gonzaga) …
Sharon Jantoc (Mililani 2014) and Shawn Chu (Mililani 2013) both have graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C. …
Marquis Gaddis (Mililani 2011) and Kayla Ratleff (Mililani 2014) have graduated from U.S. Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas …
Thumbs up to Waialua High School, which boosted its college enrollment figures by 10 percent from 2012 to 2014 …
Sasha Dimond
As activities director at The Plaza at Mililani, Sasha Dimond has made a huge difference since joining the staff last year. As reported in Michael Tsai‘s Star-Advertiser< column, Sasha used a $400 grant she won to design and build a self-sufficient aquaponic system at the Plaza, where residents now enjoy cooking demonstrations and meals using all of the system's vegetables. Plus, they recently donated their first harvest to Hawaii Foodbank ... Rebecca Luna (Mililani 2014) has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C.
