Waha Nui – 7/2/14

St. Louis Heights resident Tarah Driver has won the crown of Miss Hawaii’s Outstanding Teen 2014. The former Miss East Oahu Outstanding Teen will compete in the national pageant at the end of July in Orlando … town restaurant chef Ed Kenney and the Family Ingredients crew won a regional Emmy for their Hawaii food-travel series that airs nationally on PBS.

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Alea Amano

The episode told of chef Alan Wong and his favorite Japanese comfort food. Look for more shows this fall … Sacred Hearts’ Nadia Busekrus, Kalani’s Vivian Kang and Kaiser’s Lilylynn Tran each won $1,000 Burger King McLamore Foundation grants, which Nadia will use at George Mason University, Vivian at Mills College and Lilylynn at UH Manoa. Nadia also picked up $1,000 from the Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation — as did Saint Louis School’s Koali’i Ladao (more on him later) …

Niu Valley’s Alison Nishiyama was crowned First Princess and Miss Congeniality at Northern California’s Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco, complete with Japan goodwill tour. Alison works at University of San Francisco’s provost office while studying for her MBA … Aina Haina Elementary’s Jackson Endo, 7, won $100 by popular online vote for his Toyota Hawaii Dream Car art entry … Hawaii Kai’s Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi‘s latest work is a handbook of 101 recipes and tales: The World’s Finest Tropical Drinks

A new College & Career Readiness Indicator report lists Kalani as the top Hawaii public school for college enrollment rates (78 percent) … Kaiser valedictorian Alea Amano won a $3,000 HMSA Kaimana grant, reserved for top scholar-athletes. She excelled in cross country and soccer, plus biology, honor roll, mentoring and service. At UH Manoa, she’ll study for a career as an Army nurse corps officer … Adele Kuge of Hawaii Kai Gopher delivery service has a big mahalo for Stan Tawata, who changed a flat tire for her on Kalanianaole Highway so she could zip on her way to the next senior in need & & & cchang@midweek.com