Waha Nui – 9/17/14
On a whim, Makoa Ho (Kahuku 2014) took a photo of his friend Brooklyn Dombroski at Puaena Point in Haleiwa with her hair whipping around, called it “Compulsion,” and saw it win a gold medal at the 2014 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Then they flew him to New York’s Carnegie Hall for the ceremony, and now his photo will tour the country for a year with the 55 other national winners. “I’m proud of myself,” Makoa admits.
He’s now a freshman at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego … Through Army ROTC, UH Manoa student Juvie Varela (Kalaheo 2012) recently took Cadet Language and Cultural Immersion training and then spent three weeks in Vietnam, where she taught English to a Hanoi search-and-rescue team, performed hula and visited an orphanage (her favorite). Join the Army and see the world. Juvie also is an earlier recipient of the 1st Lt. Nainoa Hoe Scholarship of Honor. (An Army Ranger from Kailua, Hoe died in combat in Iraq in 2005.) Also picked for CLCI training was cadet William Woodbery (Le Jardin Academy 2012), now studying at Gonzaga …
Kailua High’s athletic department needs “slow cookers, any size.” Got some? Call Kathie Wells at Community Helping Schools, 225-2621 … Lanikai native and state wildlife biologist Dave Smith just returned from a successful mission where he helped to translocate (move) 28 Laysan ducks from Midway Atoll to Kure Atoll, carefully caging them aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Kukui for the trip …
Author Graham Salisbury was in town last weekend for the screening of Under the Blood-Red Sun, a film based on his cherished childhood book of the same name. Graham wasn’t always a famous author with more than a million books sold. While visiting his old school, Kailua Elementary, in 2009, he recalled to reporters, “I flunked English.” Somehow, he muddled through to pen the Calvin Coconut book series, which was set at KES … Kailua’s Micheal Crews is the new project manager for Graham Builders (no relation to Salisbury), bringing 35 years of experience in home building, including with his own Kailua company. Look out for him on the senior softball circuit, too & & & cchang@midweek.com
