Ma Ke Kula: Spring 2018

Ma Ke Kula H AWA I ‘ I P R E PA R AT O R Y A C A D E M Y M A G A Z I N E : S P R I N G 2 0 1 8

HARRY BOTTERS: THIRD GRADE RE-WRITES ROWLING

FINDING PURPOSE: ALUMNI PUT THEIR HPA EXPERIENCES TO WORK

BUILDING MOMENTUM: THE HPA CAMPUS MASTER PLAN

START HERE. GO FAR: HPA SEEKS TO EXPAND OUTDOOR PROGRAM

always special when the first snowfall arrives on Mauna Kea. “ It’s This year, a strong Kona storm blew in and dumped a bunch of snow a few days after students left for winter break. The following day, the wind switched to the north, which always means cool temperatures and crystal-clear, vog-free days in Waimea.

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— PATRICK O’LEARY, FINE ARTS FACULTY/VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS

M A KE KULA SP RING 2018

FEATURES

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From Waimea to the World HPA is working to give students an extraordinary head start on college and life. Ten alumni share their stories.

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Make Room for Transformation More news from the HPA campus master plan

DEPARTMENTS 3

The Mix New Academic Dean Alain Sykes Renee Jenkinson ’98 and the great outdoors Imi Loa gift. n

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Ka Makani Pride 26 Coach Fred Wawner and the growth of basketball Team results Ultimate Frisbee star Brett Matzuka ’03. n

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HPA Connections Class notes Giving back HPA events and more.

• Malia Bolton ’00 • Harmony Graziano ’15 • Eric Heneghan ’86 and Adam Heneghan ’88 • Veronica Morriss ’03 • Woodson K. Woods n

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Final Frame 48 Photo credits: Michael Hanano ’18, Renee Jenkinson ’98, Patrick O’Leary, Pulse Magazine/Stanford University, Daniel Thai/for UltiPhotos.com, Chris Woods.

Cover photo: Freshman Honors English, Energy Lab outdoor classroom

ROBERT MCKENDRY / HEAD OF SCHOOL

Minds In Motion When I was young, teachers tended to be remote authority figures. These giants inspired awe but usually didn’t know their students personally enough to become mentors. As I deepened my career in education, however, I discovered another world; first at Parker School, then at HPA. At HPA we are surrounded by teachers and staff who are anything but remote. My colleagues are selfless, creative, and active with their students as individuals. They transform lives by getting to know the capacity of each child, particularly through the opportunities afforded by roles like dorm parent, advisor, coach, and class leader.

We should not take this legacy of transformational teaching for granted.

We must nurture, protect, and build upon it. To ensure that we are staying abreast of new ideas and best practices, we launched an invigorating phase of “We want to equip HPA research and development in January. This effort will encourage and advance students to turn their innovation across the curriculum and in other aspects of school life. personal passions and Meanwhile, this year we elevated our outdoor education program, deepened our commitment to sustainability, and continued to advance questions into real world project-based learning. These and other initiatives represent early progress problem-solving before on the HPA strategic plan. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to review the they are out of high school.” plan online at: www.hpa.edu/vision. Our goals are ambitious, and the Board of Trustees has authorized exploration of a potential comprehensive fundraising campaign to propel us forward.

Above all, we want to equip HPA students to turn their personal passions and questions into real world problem-solving before they are out of high school. On the following pages, you will meet young alumni who represent the leading edge of this effort. As the class of 2018 prepares to graduate, I am especially reminded of how much we need them to grapple wisely with the challenges ahead. Each young person who walks across that stage represents a citizen, a parent, a volunteer, an entrepreneur, a public servant who will shape our communities here in Hawai‘i and far beyond.

This is an adventurous time for HPA. Mahalo for upholding our teachers and students on the journey.

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Alumni Speaker Series HPA WELCOMES BACK HANS SOLMSSEN ’75

In December Hans Solmssen ’75 returned to HPA to share his experiences as a mountain and maritime guide living in Verbier, Switzerland. Solmssen’s busy week included visits to Kristin Tarnas’ fifth grade capstone course; discussions about marketing with Aaron Schorn’s Digital Journalism students; conversations with Sarah Hayslip’s Food, Farming, and Social Change course; and assemblies in both GPAC and Davies Chapel.

After graduating from HPA, Solmssen left Hawai‘i to attend Johnson State College in northern Vermont, where he discovered winter skiing, ice climbing, and summer rock climbing. Today, he facilitates expeditions and adventures for clients to places such as Croatia, Greenland, India, and the European Alps.

Reflecting on his campus visit, Hans recently wrote, “What an amazing and progressive school HPA has become. A whole new way of project-based learning has me hooked! I’m blown away by the level of academics. I’ve seen other methods of education in my travels and am very moved by what I discovered here on campus these past three days.” •

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The Power of Place RENEE JENKINSON ’98 RETURNS TO DIRECT HPA’S OUTDOOR PROGRAM

In her student days, Renee Jenkinson ’98 spent her afternoons—and most weekends—hiking the terrain behind HPA. When she left Hawai‘i, she carried the influence of those hills and grottos, forests and waterfalls as a permanent source of strength.

“Some of those beautiful, secret places are the closest thing I have to a church,” she muses. Many HPA alumni would agree.

Over the years, numerous faculty have fostered a strong relationship between HPA students and the natural world, including Dick Solmssen, George Watson, and Deighton Emmons in Jenkinson’s era; Jaime Johnson, John Kilkenny, and Willie Quayle for today’s students. Now HPA is working to expand its outdoor offerings and has formalized the program with a dedicated director.

From Portland, OR, Jenkinson jumped at the chance to lead the effort.

“Renee brings first-class expertise to this work,” says Dean of Students

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Fred Wawner. “She’s been teaching and leading outdoor education programs on the mainland and internationally for over a decade, and she founded Ola Hawai‘i Camp in Kailua-Kona. Plus, she previously taught biology and was a crosscountry coach at HPA. She hit the ground running this year, and she’s helping us envision a program that will serve a wide range of classroom

and co-curricular goals.”

For her part, Jenkinson believes passionately in the power of outdoor engagement. “It’s pretty amazing to see students change their outlook because of a three-day trip, and that happens so often,” she explains. “First off, there’s the immediate feedback.

If you leave the tent poles at the last campsite because you weren’t paying attention, or you weren’t willing

to take responsibility, you feel the effects—right away. You learn to make decisions with integrity.

“In addition, there’s the sense of trust that grows between people who share a journey. Kids become their authentic selves,” she continues. “Some of my students recently produced a podcast about this; they called it ‘Putting Down Our Phones and Seeing Each Other.’ There’s real strength in knowing others and being known.”

As summer approaches, Jenkinson is thinking about next year and her goals for the future. “No other school has this location or this opportunity,” she observes. “HPA has the potential to build a program that is internationally recognized.

“This past year, I concentrated on laying out the fundamental tenets of the program and on diversifying the kinds of trips available,” she says. “For next year, I’m thinking about how I can work with more teachers to help them deliver curriculum through experiential education outside. I’m just thrilled to be doing this work for the school I love.” •

GET OUT, GO FAR The HPA outdoor program now includes a diversified list of options for all students.

Weekend Outdoor Trips Aloha ‘aina means to love and respect the land; to take responsibility and claim stewardship for it. Whether backpacking, surfing, SUP-ing, or hiking, students give back in some way wherever they go.

Weekly Pau Hana Hikes Every week, students collaborate with local land owners to offer an after school hike in the hills surrounding Waimea.

Wilderness Medicine Training The HPA Outdoor Program partners with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), to offer top-level wilderness medicine certification courses on Hawai‘i Island. Courses are open to the public ages 16 and up.

Fall Break Inter-Island Trips This program travels to a new Island each year so that across a four-year academic career, an HPA student has the opportunity to create connection with at least five of the eight major Hawaiian Islands. This coming fall, a group of 10 students will spend a week on Moloka‘i doing service, exploring, and hiking together.

Summer Outdoor Program Each summer the HPA Outdoor Program offers a multi-day, multisport adventure. The Summer Outdoor Program is open to high school students from across the globe interested in connecting with Hawai‘i and one another.

Hour of Code In December, Lower and Middle School students joined the global #HourofCode. Tens of millions of students from 180 countries (and counting!) participated in a one-hour introduction to computer programming. The initiative aims to demystify coding and broaden participation in the field of computer science.

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Teachers As Learners New dean helps the HPA faculty advance K-12 curriculum

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n her role as dean of academics at HPA, Dr. Alain Sykes values questions as much as answers. She asks, How do we learn? What do we still need to understand? How do we hold onto our role as learners while also serving as teachers, and how does our work support students? Through a vision that is guided by HPA’s mission statement and core values, Sykes seeks to support the HPA faculty’s continued growth as educators and through this, to deepen student learning.

Since her arrival last September, Sykes has been engaged in the transformative curricular work that began several years ago under HPA’s previous dean, Martin Ferrell. The ultimate goal is to align HPA’s K-12 program, which is currently rigorous but somewhat disparate across all three school divisions. In the process, the faculty is working to expand active, project-based learning techniques into every course and classroom.

Sykes’ co-leaders in the effort are Lower School Principal Cathy Grant, Interim Middle School Principal Dana Petteys, and Head of School Robert McKendry.

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“We are so fortunate to have Alain’s gifts at HPA,” says McKendry. “She brings not only extensive experience in teacher education and program alignment, but also great collegiality and kindness.”

Prior to joining HPA, Sykes served as social studies chair and accreditation coordinator at the American Overseas School of Rome. She holds a Ph.D. in education from the University of Washington, an Ed.M. in education from Harvard University, and B.A. degrees in English and history from Amherst College. Her teaching career includes secondary schools in California, the Netherlands, Greece, and Italy.

When asked how she imagines the end-result of curricular work at HPA, Sykes says, “I see us feeling settled and excited to be deeper into the process. In education, like much of life, you never reach a point when you are done. Great teachers and great schools always strive to improve. But you can reach a point where you are at rest.” •

First Lines Check out student writing in The Zephyr, HPA’s online literary magazine, and find out how these stories end. www.hpazephyr.com

R&D KICKS INTO HIGH GEAR

“Memories”

Devyn Harmon ’19 Something about the air had always fascinated Calum. The way in which it lived, and moved. How birds could so effortlessly lift themselves and surrender to its every whim.

“Death of a Deity” Hayley Emmons ’19

In January, HPA launched twelve faculty research groups, each focused on a different aspect of the school’s mission and strategic plan. Topics include educational program, environmental sustainability, diversity and inclusion, character education, and school community. The groups are charged with investigating best practices and generating new ideas and will bring back recommendations to advance HPA initiatives within the next year.

Across the twelve groups, every member “ Our goal is to make of the HPA faculty is research and development now involved in some a continual process at HPA.” aspect of research and development. Head of — ROBERT MCKENDRY School Robert McKendry and his leadership team developed this structure not only to tackle critical questions but also to elevate the importance of exploration and improvement.

“Our goal is to make research and development a continual process at HPA,” explains McKendr y. “Within the busyness of the school day and year, we need a parallel task that keeps us focused on larger questions and the longer term, such as how our curriculum should adapt to emerging knowledge or new technologies. I see it as an opportunity for us to learn and dream. Ultimately, this is how we will incorporate new ideas that distinguish the school and—most important of all—really inspire the creativity of our students.” •

Sam was tired. Tired down to her bones, feeling a heavy ache that pulled her down and down and down until she felt like she couldn’t move from the shaky bar stool that she was slouched over.

“The Jungle”

Malia McKendry ’21 When my cousins Savannah, Ethan, and I were younger, we were explorers and official monkeyhumans in The Jungle. The Jungle is in the middle of our horse pasture out Mana road, all bone dry grasses and the occasional mock olive bush.

“Roseless Thorns” Karly Noetzel ’18

Can you believe it?

Oh, Karma, oh Karma How I do enjoy your debuts.

“Windy Days” Charlotte Head ’20

Pockets of blue sky Rolling waves of lime green grass A white windmill whirls

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Boats Away!

HPA revives sailing program with gift from Woodson K. Woods

In the lee of Hawai‘i Island, sailors encounter some of the most beautiful and challenging offshore sailing in the world.

Weather systems fueled by the trade winds and mountains frequently test crews’ skill, strength, and teamwork. Along the bays and beaches, cultural sites tell the rich history of Hawai‘i and its people. These waters have much to teach.

Now, thanks to the generosity of Woodson K. Woods, HPA friend and former trustee, HPA students will once again raise their sails and explore the Kona and Kohala coasts. Last fall, Woods gave the Academy a 32-foot pinnace, the Imi Loa, which will serve as the basis for a new seamanship and small boat handling program. An interdisciplinary group of HPA faculty have been working throughout the spring to develop the new program for its initial launch this coming fall.

“This gift holds great potential for our students,” says Village Campus Librarian David Giff, chair of the committee

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and a sailor in his own right. “We aim to build a program that immerses students in math, science, history, geography, as well as the physical and mental challenges of boat handling.

I can’t imagine a more dynamic way to learn from our island and the Pacific.”

Designed by distinguished marine architect Melbourne Smith, the Imi Loa (“Explorer”) is representative of the early 19th-century maritime era. During this period, open boats such as the pinnace conveyed people and supplies to larger ships and were well-suited to exploring unknown shores for safe anchorage. The Imi Loa rows 10 oars and is fitted with two masts, and it will carry a 12-student crew, a captain, and two instructors. On board this unusual floating classroom, HPA students will turn learning into a lifetime adventure.

See page 36 for more about Woods, his career, and this gift to HPA. •

CREATIVITY TA KE S CENTER STAGE

With the arrival this year of instructor David Bauman, Upper School drama students have gained a new view into the creative process behind script development and playwriting.

Bauman comes to HPA after many years of acting, directing, and teaching in Los Angeles.

He enjoys writing and adapting both musicals and plays in order to give students distinctive material for performance.

Bauman joins stagecraft instructor and Technical Director Jared Terpak who with others in recent years has built Ka Makani Players into a vibrant program that involves numerous students in all aspects of theater production, from acting to lighting design. Last November, the group presented Surf Crazy, an original musical parody of teenage surf films and pop culture of the 1960s. Written and directed by Bauman, the play featured sets by Terpak, musical direction by Middle and Upper School Performing Arts Director Barbara Kopra, and choreography by science instructor Tani Wright Cordova, along with a student cast and crew of 23.

In February, the group presented an adaption of Spring Awakening, based on the German play that inspired the Broadway musical of the same name. •

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3 Questions with Bobby Barretto

Bobby Barretto teaches third grade at HPA’s Lower School. His background includes the high-tech industry, zoo education, the Peace Corps, and Teach for America. He holds two master’s degrees from the University of Michigan in conservation ecology and science education. Barretto blends this diverse expertise into a highly creative, project-based classroom experience for his students.

Earlier this year, Barretto’s students completed a long-term project that culminated in their presenting two sessions at the North Hawai‘i EdTech Summit. We asked Barretto about the project, his students, and why J.K. Rowling earns a re-write.

Why do you like using projects in the classroom?

We live in a problem- and project-based world. I like to nurture discussion around projects: Why is this happening?

Does it need to happen this way? How could this be different? I feel like this is the best way to nurture the skills and mindset my students will need later in life.

Projects are also a great way to engage kids of all ages. What changes is the degree to which students drive their projects. In high school, students should be directing and creating and doing it all themselves, with the teacher facilitating on the side. In third grade, they need more guidance and structure and parameters. They work within the context you’ve set up, and you create the project to hit as many standards as you can. From there, I love seeing what students come up with—they almost always exceed my expectations, or go in really creative directions. I often learn as much as my students do.

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What project did the third-graders present at EdTech?

The project began with a re-write of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, our read-aloud book. The point I like to make with them is that writing can always be revised and improved.

Working in pairs, they chose a section to re-write. Maybe it was a part they wished turned out differently, or maybe the protagonist becomes the antagonist, or vice versa.

Then students imagined their re-write through the design of a robotics diorama. They used Hummingbird boards to code and control LEDs, servos, motors, and sensors. We nicknamed them “Harry Botters.” We ended up with a three-headed dog, a couple of Quidditch fields, a Gringotts Bank vault, and other characters and settings from the book. Over the course of several months, the projects integrated design thinking, close reading, creative writing, art, computer science, Boolean logic, and ultimately, authentic public presentation. It’s really important to end every project with a showcase event, where kids get to show off what they have created. It’s an important skill, plus it provides a real purpose, a sense of pride.

Our showcase was the EdTech Summit, where the kids presented at two sessions. I think they had 20 or 30 people signed up in total, mostly teachers. They really thought the role reversal was fun.

What’s fun about teaching third grade?

This is my favorite year—a pivotal year. Students are now opening a book and asking, “Wow, where is this book going to take me?” They’re beginning to discover who they are as people. It’s so important for them to explore everything and not define themselves too narrowly. No one is “bad at math” or “good at reading.” It might take more work to get better at something, but that’s not a bad thing. They need to know that the world is wide open to them. •

3 More Questions with the Harry Botters What does your robot do?

Sequoia and Charly: We have two codes running our three-headed dog named Fluffy. The first code moves all the heads at the same time, plus the tail wags, and the light turns on. Then the second code runs each head individually.

Jayden and Maia: In our robot, Harry is playing Quidditch. A gear motor makes Harry fly around in circles. Two servo motors make the beaters go back and forth. We also have a vibration motor with the golden snitch on it, and an LED light makes the golden snitch look golden.

What was your biggest challenge, and what was the best part?

Zachary and Kela: The hardest part was getting the Gryffindor House door to fit so that it wouldn’t fall off when the motor moves. We used two wires and some hot glue to make it stick. The best part was getting the door to work.

How did you like presenting at the Ed Tech conference?

Eli and Jillian: We explained how the servos work, then we asked if they’d like to try coding by themselves, and six teachers did.

Ben and Rosey: We taught a tech teacher, and he wanted to make all the lights flash all the time, so we worked with him on that.

Jayden and Maia: It was fun showing our robots to people. It’s cool that we are eight- and nine-yearolds and we know how to code.

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Caring for Our Island Earth HPA ALUMNAE HELP LAUNCH AND CONCLUDE HŌKŪLE‘A’S WORLDWIDE JOURNEY

Nearly one year ago, the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s iconic canoe, Hōkūle‘a, made its return to Hawai‘i after a historic, three-year sail around the globe. The Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage connected over 100,000 people in communities across the South Pacific, Indonesia, Africa, the United States and Canada, the Galapagos Islands, and countless other locations. All told, Hōkūle‘a covered more than 400,000 nautical miles, guided by hundreds of volunteer crew members.

Among them were Ana Yarawamai Hiyane ’00 (above right) and Pualani Lincoln Maielua ’01. Hiyane is the daughter of Max Yarawamai ’78, a veteran Hōkūle‘a voyager in his own right. She sailed the first leg of the Worldwide Voyage from Hawai‘i to Tahiti in 2014 and also from Aurere, Aotearoa to Brisbane, Australia. Pualani Lincoln Maielua sailed Hōkūle‘a’s homecoming leg from Tahiti as apprentice navigator in June 2017.

Last fall, with an exhibition and talk story at Isaacs Art Center, HPA honored Lincoln Maielua and Hiyane, along with two other nā wāhine ‘aukai waʻa (women voyagers and navigators) from Waimea, Pōmai Bertelmann and Ka‘iulani Murphy. Bertelmann served as captain on Hōkūle‘a’s final return, and Murphy served as navigator.

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These exceptional women represent the larger Waimea community and the families that have contributed to a renaissance in Polynesian wayfinding. Waimea voyagers are dedicating their lives to the education of emerging navigators and crew members who will continue this vital Hawaiian tradition.

“Sailing as part of the Worldwide Voyage, I felt again how much we need a steadfast connection to this ancient pathway,” says Lincoln Maielua. “We need the celestial beings and movements above us; the activation of sea life and sky life; the firm kahua of what we can see and feel.

We need the coolness of our oceans. I am proud to have played a role in Hōkūle‘a’s call to action for environmental stewardship and cultural revitalization.”

This spring, Hōkūle‘a visited ports of call throughout the islands on its Mahalo, Hawai‘i Sail to thank all those who made the Worldwide Voyage possible and to acknowledge Hawai‘i’s leadership role in caring for Island Earth. With purpose and sincerity, HPA is working to participate more deeply in this caring vision shared by our state, our community, and the inspirational wāhine of Hōkūle‘a. •

Happy Anniversary, Upper School Campus!

Sixty years ago, in January 1958, the HPA Board of Governors purchased from the Territory of Hawai‘i 55 acres of land in the foothills of Waimea and announced their plans to build a new campus. Renowned Honolulu architect Vladimir Ossipoff was hired to design the new campus buildings.

Today, through the campus master plan, HPA is working to preserve, strengthen, and improve the buildings and natural beauty with which we have been blessed. Here’s to another 60 years—and many more. •

Object Lesson Thanks to a second generous grant from the Atherton Family Foundation, school groups from Waimea and surrounding towns are again visiting the Isaacs Art Center. The Foundation funded a pilot program in 2017 that brought hundreds of students to the Center for art enrichment and interdisciplinary study. Gallery Director Mollie Hustace and her local partner-teachers expect to reach even more students this spring.

The program offers a vital resource to students of all ages and especially to schools with few resources for co-curricular activities. Among the many objects used by educators is He Lani No I Luna (For the Heavens Above)

by Tom Pico (American, 1950– ). Carved of ‘ōhi‘a wood, Pico’s figure stands over eight feet tall: a hula dancer reaching up to the heavens in reverence and honor toward her ancestors. • 13

From Waimea to the

World HPA is working to give students an extraordinary head start on college and life.

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ALUMNI

SHARE THEIR STORIES

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The roots of active, adventurous exploration at HPA go back to the very founding of the school.

Maybe it’s the landscape; the ingenuity born of island living; or the spirit of invigoration brought by ka makani, but whatever the case, HPA has long been a place where students could pursue their individual interests, no matter how quirky or ambitious.

Today, HPA is focused on creating an increased number of research opportunities, creative partnerships, and other learning experiences that are rooted in the ecological and cultural resources of Hawai‘i Island. The alumni who benefitted from the earliest waves of this innovation are now out in the world, putting their HPA experiences to good use.

They are advancing a multitude of professions around the globe. They leverage their HPA work in a wide range of colleges and graduate school programs.

In the following pages, you’ll meet ten of these individuals, who represent just a fraction of the Academy’s worldwide ‘ohana. Their stories point the way toward HPA’s future, and the possibilities that exist for more students in the years to come.

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1 NATASHA PATAMAPONGS ’03 Bangkok, Thailand and Los Angeles, CA producer and entrepreneur; jazz vocalist and manager, Mellow Motif A natural polymath whose pursuits include adjunct professor, reality TV finalist, and talent agent (just to name a few), Patamapongs leads Mellow Motif, a jazz band that has released three albums and one EP with Warner Music Thailand.

“I’m so proud of being a creator and a producer. I strongly believe that a healthy creative economy will propel economic growth and make our communities better. Art is also what makes us human! My wish has always been to bring diversity to the scene, nurture young talent, connect creative artists, musicians, and help create a sustainable ecosystem for creatives to work, grow, inspire, and create—because it’s the right thing to do, and the world is just so much better with these people in it.”

2 LUIGI BALBO BERTONE DI SAMBUY ’14 Turin, Italy and Stanford, CA B.S./M.S. candidate with concentration in artificial intelligence, Stanford University As a teenager in Turin Italy, Luigi Balbo Bertone di Sambuy ’14 (pictured previous page) went looking for a study abroad program and found, instead, a whole new school community at HPA. Arriving for what he thought would be a single semester, Sambuy soon found himself immersed in everything from the golf team to dorm life to earthquake research in the Energy Lab. “I had been looking for a rigorous science program,” he recalls.

“Who could have predicted that I would find a place to forge such life-changing relationships, surrounded by such incredible geography?”

Today, Sambuy attends Stanford University where he is pursuing a joint B.S. in symbolic systems and M.S. in computer science. The symbolic systems program brings together students and faculty who are interested in various aspects of the human-computer

relationship, including cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and human-computer interaction. The wide-ranging curiosity that Sambuy nurtured at HPA remains in full force; he continues, for example, to DJ and produce his own electronic dance music (a passion that began in Italy), and, as one of Stanford’s 12 Mayfield Fellows for 2017, he recently completed an internship in project management with Synack, an intelligence security company founded by former NSA agents.

Looking back, Sambuy pinpoints several HPA research projects that shaped his interests and gave him confidence for the next phase of his education. He worked with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and NOAA to monitor seismic activity across Hawai‘i Island and presented that project at MacWorld 2013. He later became part of the HPA student team supporting the HI-SEAS Mars simulation mission on Mauna Kea. One of his major independent projects focused on trying to generate sound from a user’s state of mind, using EEG technology.

In all his pursuits, Sambuy embraces a lively blend of art and science; the serious and the fun. Thinking about the future of music, for example, he envisions a role for machine learning. “Machine learning is about making sense from data,” he explains, “by leveraging technology inspired by how the brain works. There’s great potential for finding insights that we couldn’t notice through conventional statistical tools. From a business perspective, these models will tell us which aspects of a song lead to the most user engagement.

Creatively, we will be able to produce sounds we have never heard before.”

This summer, Sambuy will transition from the bachelor’s to the master’s track of his program, and he’s beginning to think about what comes next. “Wherever I am, I hope to be surrounded by collaborators from many different backgrounds and industries,” he says. “I want to find a place like HPA that enables serendipity and that can also stimulate me. I am very industry- and role-agnostic when it comes to my future. In the next decade, I want to take risks and figure out how I can provide good for our society.”

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3 TITO JANKOWSKI ’04 San Francisco, CA co-founder and CEO, Impossible Labs Jankowski is an entrepreneur whose career history includes biohacker, hardware manufacturer, medical device designer, patent infringer, and sailor. Prior to launching Impossible Labs, he co-founded the BioCurious hackerspace and wrangled startup and corporate partnerships at Runway Incubator. Tito earned a Sc.B. in biomedical engineering from Brown University. Of his work he writes, “Climate change is the biggest financial opportunity civilization has ever seen. We are working to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to return to safe levels (preindustrial) by 2050.” In December he launched a new website, airminers.org, which tracks companies and projects that are mining carbon from the air.

HPA training ground: “Working with Bill Wiecking had a huge effect on my life. He set up his office in the physics building as a hangout for us to learn and explore about computers and electronics.”

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4 KALI STECKER ’16 Pā‘ia, HI and Bridgton, ME midwife-in-training, Birthwise Midwifery School In her first year of a three-year program at Birthwise, Stecker is studying at one of the oldest comprehensive midwifery schools in the US. She’s currently in her first clinical rotation assisting a homebirth midwife. Once certified, she hopes to serve with a volunteer organization overseas, working to support women’s health and to protect birthing rights.

“It is rather uncommon for people my age to pick this career,” she notes. “I am grateful to the entire HPA ‘ohana—I became an adult at HPA and was able to discover who I wanted to be as a person. If I could turn back time, I would be there longer, but I am thankful that HPA sent me out into the world a better person.”

5 BEN HONEY ’05 Houston, TX flight controller, International Space Station, NASA On the multifaceted relevance of an HPA education: “I’m training to be what we call a ‘top gun’—someone who is both a flight controller and an instructor. They want us to be darn good at our jobs if we are going to tell astronauts and cosmonauts what to do while they are in space! I had to prepare a 30-minute lesson to demonstrate my skills, and I chose to give a quick overview of Hawaiian history from Cook to statehood.

Despite my career being focused on the STEM side, I had many teachers at HPA who gave me a lifelong interest in the humanities, such as Kim Tait and Mr. Lavender. Obviously Mr. Liu did a great job with intro to Hawaiian history since I re-used what I learned 15 years later!”

6 JORDAN VIRTUE ’16 Kapa‘au, HI and Cambridge, MA B.A. candidate, Harvard University HPA defining moment: Writing her first story for a major news outlet while studying with Fred Barbash, guest instructor in Aaron Schorn’s Digital Journalism class at HPA and current editor of the Washington Post “Morning Mix” section.

Virtue’s Post story introduced readers to Original Big Island Shave Ice and ran both online and in the Sunday print version of the travel section. Her love of writing, nurtured by Barbash, Richard Braithwaite, and others at HPA, has carried Virtue to Harvard, where she has just declared her concentration in English. “HPA helped me to discover my passions while also giving me the confidence to joyfully reach beyond the familiar,” she says. “That has been the key to my college experience so far.”

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. What’s your passion in life? Did you discover it at HPA? Where has life taken you? Let us know your news, or suggest another alumni story, at www.hpa.edu/update

19

8 7 MALAMA SOLOMON ’12 Honolulu, HI Bills researcher, Hawai‘i State Legislature Solomon recently returned from New York City, where she earned her master’s degree in tourism management from the Jonathan M. Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism at NYU. Now she is working within the state legislature as a bills researcher for the Senate Ways and Means Committee. She also remains a passionate practitioner of hula, carrying on the traditions of her beloved Beamer Solomon Halau O Po‘ohala. When asked how she imagines the next decade, Solomon says “I’d like to be operating my own businesses on the Big Island, as well as perpetuating my Hawaiian culture. I want to be making a real positive difference for my beautiful Hawai‘i.”

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JUSTIN SANDULLI ’12 London, England M.A. candidate, history of art University College London HPA defining moment: Studying art history with Mollie Hustace (pictured above), director of the Isaacs Art Center, and discovering the work of Hawai‘i painter Madge Tennent.

Building on his HPA experience, Sandulli’s undergraduate thesis at Duke University examined Tennent’s life and works—one of the first comprehensive pieces of scholarship to do so. Post college, Sandulli returned to HPA and the Center as curator of special exhibits. Isaacs Art Center holds the world’s largest collection of Tennent works, and with these resources, Sandulli mounted a major retrospective entitled Rhythm in the Round: The Modernism of Madge Tennent. Now in London, Justin is focusing his studies on women’s artistic culture in 20th-century Honolulu, representations of the “Hawaiian idyll” in visual media, and their impact on global feminist and postcolonial discourses. He hopes to pursue a museum career and, eventually, to organize the world’s first international blockbuster exhibition of Hawaiian art.

9

10

VERONICA MORRISS ’03

HARMONY GRAZIANO ’15

Egypt – Bermuda – Chicago – Waimea maritime archaeologist; co-founder, Interactive Heritage

Lihue, HI and New York, NY B.A. candidate, Arabic and linguistics Columbia University

Morriss got her start mapping the traditional Hawaiian field systems behind HPA. Today she excavates shipwrecks—underwater and on land.

Check out the full story on page 35.

Graziano credits HPA teachers with shaping her as a thinker and scholar. Today her undergraduate research focuses on creole languages and Hawaiian Pidgin in particular. Find the full story on page 44.

HPA On the Move 2015

2016

2017

build increased

introduced;

Plan approved,

research and

of student

capacity for faculty

project-based

formalizing a

development

independent

professional

learning on

commitment to

launched

research

development

the rise

2010

2014

Energy Lab

HPA begins to

opens in support

Capstone courses

HPA Strategic

Curricular

multi-disciplinary project experiences

Want to help? HPA is working to expand student research.

If you have questions or would like to help HPA increase experiential learning on campus and across Hawai‘i Island, please contact Lucy Frost, director of advancement, at lfrost@hpa.edu or 808-881-4049.

21

C A MP U S M A S T E R P L A N UP D AT E

Make Room for

Transformation Last September, thanks to support from a generous anonymous donor, HPA formally named and dedicated Hale ‘Īnana, a multipurpose facility designed to support a wide range of learning and co-curricular activities on the Village Campus. Since its opening, Hale ‘Īnana has become an indispensable part of school life for the HPA community, providing a home base for physical education, performing arts rehearsals, after-school enrichment programs, academic showcases, Middle School dances, and much more.

The new facility also has the distinction of being the first building completed in the Academy’s Campus Master Plan. “We are so grateful for the inspiration of Hale ‘Īnana,” explains Head of School Robert McKendry, “not only for the joy it has brought to our students, but also because it demonstrates just how much progress is possible when philanthropic vision comes together with program vision. A structure that was once a dream is now making a very real difference as we work to expand project-based learning and elevate the HPA curriculum.”

Over the past eighteen months, a team of HPA teachers and administrators has been working with the Board of Trustees to define and prioritize the projects in Phase One of the Campus Master Plan.

The Academy has hired Flansburgh Architects to guide the process and provide architectural designs for key facilities, with additional project management provided by Ken Melrose and James Melrose ’98 of Pa‘ahana Enterprises.

At the Upper Campus, proposed designs are now complete for a new residence hall and academic innovation hub (featured in the fall 2017 issue of MKK), as well as a student collaborative commons and expanded athletic facilities (see next page). At the Village Campus, the overview plan is in place (right), with individual building designs to come. To achieve these ambitious, interrelated projects, HPA will continue to seek philanthropic support from generous and forward-thinking donors.

Meanwhile, the gift that built Hale ‘Īnana is allowing HPA to make other early improvements at the Village Campus, including a new art room for the Lower School, completed last summer. This coming summer, renovations will increase instructional space in the first and second grade classrooms.

“We’re excited to be working on a holistic K-12 vision for HPA,” says Lower School Principal Cathy Grant. “As with the Upper Campus, we’re expanding or reconfiguring our Village Campus spaces to integrate project-based learning more deeply across the curriculum. We’re also targeting areas that help foster creativity, curiosity, and inventiveness, such as the science classrooms, media lab, and a new maker space. On a daily basis we see how Hale ‘Īnana is a game-changer for our students. We’re inspired to keep building on that momentum.” •

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2 1 4 5

6

7

3

Isaacs Art Center

P R OP O SED IMP R O V EMEN T S FOR T HE V IL L A GE C A MP US At the Village Campus, Phase One of the Campus Master Plan calls for new or renovated facilities that advance the HPA curriculum. A vibrant multipurpose facility, Hale ‘Īnana (1; completed), supports physical education, performing arts, student independent work, after-school enrichment, and much more. A new fourth and fifth grade building (2) will provide modern classrooms with greater flexibility for different modes of instruction and project work, along with outdoor learning space and a room for audio recording and videography. Once that project is complete, the current fourth and fifth grade building will be transformed into Middle School science classrooms (3) with space and equipment necessary for increased work in chemistry, plus first-floor outdoor access to facilitate the life sciences.

This coming summer, renovations to the first and second grade classrooms (4) will increase usable space and reconfigure bathrooms. A new Lower School art room (5; completed) allows for a wider range of creative projects, now that Lower and Middle School art classes each have their own dedicated space. Unused faculty apartments will be converted into a new “maker space” (6) where students can fabricate projects and practice design thinking. The existing Middle School building (7) will receive numerous improvements, including renovated and reconfigured classrooms and learning spaces, a repurposed media lab/recording studio, and reconfiguration of the dining hall.

23

Ideas Into Action UPPER SCHOOL LIBRARY WILL BECOME A HUB FOR INDEPENDENT RESEARCH AND TEAM INVESTIGATIONS

Proposed Collaborative Commons

As HPA works to elevate its curriculum, a key goal is to empower more students to pursue meaningful research or independent work while they are still in high school. The Academy aims to help students discover their passions and begin to explore in concrete ways the questions and ideas that will shape their adult lives.

This ambitious goal requires an increase in project-based learning, along with more teaching and work spaces designed to support such activities. HPA will reach its facility needs through a combination of new construction and renovation projects orchestrated by the Campus Master Plan. Chief among these is a proposed expansion of the Upper School’s Dyer Library. The result will be a new “collaborative commons” at the heart of campus, supporting student independent projects, entrepreneurial group work, and public presentations. The building will also remain a library, housing HPA’s digital and book collection, with library staff providing students with a solid foundation in modern research skills.

The library’s current footprint will be expanded to create technology-rich, glass-walled meeting rooms of various sizes. Here, students can work alone or in groups,

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independently or with faculty mentors, on a wide range of projects. In a central common space equipped with flexible furniture, students will study, work with librarians, connect informally with friends, or host large group meetings. At the building’s north end, an expanded office suite for college counseling will ensure continued central access to this key service.

Outside, the facility will connect directly to Kennedy Square via the learning solarium where students can read and work comfortably outside. Through the building’s opposite entrance, visitors will find a beautiful, dedicated space for HPA’s Hawaiian collection. This display area will honor the Academy’s connection to Hawai‘i and the history of the school. It will include a climate-controlled room to preserve fragile objects and keep them available for supervised research and teaching. •

Excellence In Play ATHLETIC EXPANSION WILL ENHANCE FITNESS AND CONDITIONING FOR KA MAKANI ATHLETES AND ALL HPA STUDENTS

Proposed Athletic Expansion

HPA proudly remains a school where teachers coach and all students participate in athletics. Through a wide range of K-12 offerings, the school fosters life-long physical fitness and a healthy balance of mind and body. In addition, at the Upper School, 28 varsity and junior varsity teams give interscholastic athletes the opportunity to pursue the highest levels of individual and group performance.

Thanks to generous donors over the years, the Academy has been blessed with many first-class facilities that support a broad spectrum of athletic involvement. In the case of fitness, conditioning, and athletic training, however, HPA facilities no longer accommodate the growing demand from students and teams. Small, outdated spaces restrict access and the diversity of equipment and activities HPA can provide. The Academy urgently needs to address this gap on behalf of its athletes and all HPA students.

As part of the Campus Master Plan, HPA envisions a new building, adjacent to the Nakamaru Fitness Center, dedicated to strength and conditioning. Here, teams will gain the necessary space to train together while individual athletes will continue to find exceptional, personalized

support. Ultimately, the new facility will free space in the Nakamaru building for an expansion of athletic training and cardio fitness. The renovated space in Nakamaru will include hot and cold tubs, taping tables, and more cardio equipment for supervised rehabilitation. The cardio space will also be available to the entire student body for personal workouts and enjoyment.

The project also allows HPA to address efficiently other key improvements in athletics. Home and visitor locker rooms will be fully renovated in Castle Gymnasium. At the Dowsett Pool, public bathrooms will discourage traffic from locker rooms and other private school areas. HPA wrestling will gain a competition-grade wrestling room with the proper space for both practice and tournament play. •

25

KA MAKANI

PRIDE

COMMUNITY BUILDER Dean and coach Fred Wawner nurtures growth in HPA’s basketball program

W

hen Ka Makani boys basketball won the Big Island Interscholastic Federation (BIIF) championship in February, they earned HPA’s fifth entry into the state tournament in the past

seven years. That record includes two third place finishes and a state championship in 2014.

HPA participates more fully than ever in the proud community tradition of Hawai‘i Island basketball. On game nights, Castle Gymnasium is packed with students, faculty families, parents, siblings, and a host of local basketball fans. It’s just the kind of program head coach and Dean of Students Fred Wawner hoped to foster when he arrived at the Academy nine years ago.

Wawner came to HPA from the Miller School in Virginia where he built a five-time state championship program, coached numerous players into college ball, and was twice named conference coach of the year. Arriving in time for the 2010 season, Wawner joined forces with coach and chemistry instructor Dave Huntington, and the two have been guiding (continued on page 28)

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BRETT MATZUKA ’03 SPIRIT OF THE GAME If you ran into Brett Matzuka ’03 on the streets of Raleigh, NC, you might not peg him as a star athlete. Modest, slightof-build, Matzuka holds a Ph.D. in biomathematics from North Carolina State University. He currently works for qPharmetra, an international data consulting group that helps top pharmaceutical and biotech companies develop new and better medicines.

But if you are a fan of Ultimate Frisbee, you know exactly who Brett Matzuka is: a quick, keen-eyed “handler” known for his phenomenal disc skills; a 14-year veteran of the sport who has played for both the United States and Australian national teams with five world championships to his credit.

Matzuka’s interest in Ultimate began at HPA, where he played informally but regularly on Anna’s Field with classmates Billy Burkey, Will Curb, Kelly Davis, Cameron Lewis, and others. “Ultimate is based on this idea we call ‘the spirit of the game,’” he says, “which I always associate with Hawai‘i and its culture—that feeling of togetherness and community. There are no referees in Ultimate; the game relies on an inclusive idea of sportsmanship. You respect the opponent by giving them everything you have as fairly as possible. You respect the game by playing within the rules. And you respect yourself by pushing to be the best player possible without using any kind of advantages. It’s a nice opportunity to improve character through athletic endeavor.”

Matzuka began playing seriously in college at the University of Queensland, where he earned a College National Championship and several championships with Australian national teams, all in 2007. Back in the States,

he continued to play with semi-professional teams of the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL), along with elitelevel club teams of USA Ultimate. “I play a lot of Frisbee,” he laughs, describing his life today.

Heading into the 2018 season, Matzuka will represent the Raleigh Ring of Fire, his team last year and from 2008 to 2013. Asked if he has advice for today’s HPA athletes, especially those interested in Ultimate, he says, “You can’t teach height or speed, but you can always work on your throwing. Look at Steph Curry in the NBA; he’s undersized, his shot is unconventional, but he’s one of the top players ever because he’s so good at shooting. Develop your disc skills and a vision of the field—how to get your teammates open. It can be tough, but it’s also rewarding to push yourself toward the best version of you.” •

DID YOU KNOW? Ultimate Frisbee is a NCAA sport, with D1 competitive teams at the University of Washington, Oregon, Georgia, UNC, UConn, UMass, Stanford, Harvard, Cornell, and many other colleges and universities.

The sport’s international governing body, the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), was granted recognition by the International Olympic Committee in 2015.

Will Curb ’03 and Nate Schorsch ’05 once ran the Portland Stags club team.

Cincinnati, Ohio will host the WFDF World Ultimate Club Championships: July 14 to 21, 2018.

Photo by Daniel Thai/for UltiPhotos.com

27

KA MAKANI PRIDE

(continued from page 26)

Ka Makani basketball ever since.

As a boarding school, HPA has been able to build its team with a mix of international and local players that is distinctive on Hawai‘i Island and within the state. “By the time we won our first state championship,” says Wawner, “we had a team representing four countries, four states, and three districts on the island. That was pretty special.”

Looking ahead, Ka Makani appears well positioned for future seasons, with a team that is currently mostly day students. “We’re losing two seniors, but we’re still relatively young,” says assistant coach Huntington. “We have a bunch of talented sophomores and a freshman that started. We should be strong for a good while to come.”

With Waimea’s own Kalan Camero ’14, David Ovbagbedia ’14, from Nigeria, and others, HPA has begun to send players into the collegiate arena. “HPA has a history of preparing kids really well for college, academically and socially,” says Wawner.

“Adding competitive basketball to that formula is a big asset to our community.”

Another asset has been the weekly basketball clinic Wawner founded four years ago. Free and open to the public, the clinic offers local kids a chance to work with Wawner and HPA players on fundamental skills. “Some Sundays we have upwards of 30 kids on the court,” says Wawner. “And with the kids getting older, I now usually know at least one player on our rival teams. It’s a great feeling to be part of this whole island community that has such a passion for the game.” •

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TEAM RESULTS

KA MAKANI PRIDE

Fall Sports

Winter Sports

Boys Cross-country BIIF DII Champions; HHSAA DII second place Head Coach: Lupe Diaz Assistant Coach: Mike Donnelly ’83 Captains: Malcolm Davis ’18, Ilan Naibryf ’18, Jonah Hurney ’18 MVPs: Jonah Hurney ’18, Javan Perez ’20, Ilan Naibryf ’18 —————— Girls Cross-country Head Coach: Kimo Higgins ’86 Assistant Coach: Daena Craven Captains: Ada Benson ’18, Zoe McGinnis ’18, Emi Higgins ’19 MVP: Maile Lawson ’19 —————— Football Record: 1-6 Head Coach: Daniel Teo-Nesheim ’05 Assistant Coaches: George Subiono, Lincoln Kalama, Gil Hasegawa, Mau’ae Purdy ’04 MVPs: Sheldon Aribal ’19, Jevon Flippin ’18, Zach Chaikin ’18, Hans Limstrom ’19 —————— Girls Volleyballl BIIF DII second place Record: 9-9 Head Coach: Sharon Peterson Assistant Coaches: Russell Lee, Lacey Luttrull Captains: Madi Lee ’18, Julia Perry ’18 MVPs: Madi Lee ’18, Julia Perry ’18

Boys Basketball BIIF DII Champions; HHSAA DII state qualifier Record: 10-3 Head Coach: Fred Wawner Assistant Coach: Dave Huntington Captains: Jonah Hurney ’18, Michael Hanano ’18 MVPs: Jonah Hurney ’18, Michael Hanano ’18 —————— Girls Basketball Record: 3-9 Head Coach: Craig Kimura Assistant Coaches: Kevin Ho, Adrienne White Captains: Coco Shafer ’18, Emma Saito ’18 MVPs: Payton Au ’18, Coco Shafer ’18 —————— Paddling BIIF second place (boys) Head Coach: Mesepa Tanoai Assistant Coach: Kiera Horgan Captains: Daniel Groves ’18, Chloe Garfinkle ’18 MVPs: Jake Honl-DeGuair ’19, Mikela Parris ’20 ——————

Boys Soccer BIIF DI Champions; HHSAA DI State Co-Champions Record: 15-0 Head Coach: Rich Braithwaite Assistant Coach: Dan Wilkinson Captains: Ilan Naibryf ’18, Sihkea Jim ’19, Jevon Flippin ’18 MVPs: Sihkea Jim ’19, Jake Schneider ’19 —————— Girls Soccer HHSAA DII State Champions (fifth year running) Record: 13-2 Head Coach: Stephen Perry Assistant Coaches: James Berry, Casey Flores Captains: Julia Perry ’18, Teah Van Bergen ’18 MVPs: Emi Higgins ’19, Jenna Perry ’20, Jordan Zarate ’18 —————— Swimming and Diving BIIF Champions (boys and girls) Head Coach: Mark Noetzel Assistant Coaches: Sarie Imonen, Patricia Kassis, Harry Canales Captains: Karly Noetzel ’18, Kira Parker ’18, Aapo Eerola ’18, Johnny Yoon ’18 —————— Wrestling Head Coach: Hamilton Ford ’05 Assistant Coaches: Robert Ching, Joshua Ching ’14, Karl Boerger Captains: Jake Grimme ’18, Steven Guppy ’18, Hans Limstrom ’19 MVPs: Steven Guppy ’18, Sneha Nair ’18

29

Alumni News Class Notes Events Giving and More

Long-time faculty member Dick Solmssen played classical guitar when son Hans Solmssen ’75 gave a chapel talk in December. HPA hosted Hans as part of its Alumni Speaker Series.

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31

A MESSAGE FROM TRUSTEE NONA HASEGAWA ’78

Does your life have a tag line?

If I were a novel, the front cover tag line would read: HPA changed my life. I know that’s true for so many of us who attended HPA. I hope it’s true for you, reading these lines.

Today, HPA is on the move. It’s the same school we know and love, and it’s also asking, How can HPA be even better? As a Board and as a faculty, we’re looking to the future to establish new programs in project-based learning, sustainability, outdoor education, and other areas. At the same time, we’re also holding true to the past—to beliefs and traditions that make HPA special.

In the process, we recognize that HPA needs to engage more deeply with alumni, parents, and friends of the school. We are 5,000 strong, all across Hawai‘i, the U.S., and the world. Many of us still maintain our HPA friendships, others have lost touch. Our ‘ohana contributes in remarkable ways—large and small—to myriad communities, but we don’t always know or share that news.

HPA Trustee Nona Hasegawa ‘78 is vice president of investments and branch manager of the Seattle office of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. a fullservice wealth management and investment banking firm based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Today, HPA is on a mission: to strengthen the connections we share, and to elevate our collective understanding of HPA’s impact in the world.

I invite you, sincerely, to take pride and get involved. Join the conversation on Facebook or Instagram. Come back to reunion or attend a regional event. Make a gift to the HPA Fund. Enjoy the pages of this magazine. Send us your news. Encourage a family to apply for admission.

So many good things are happening at HPA today. Somewhere on campus right now, there is a student who will be inspired by your involvement and your giving. Who knows what he or she will accomplish? The possibilities are endless with the support of our full ‘ohana.

Please choose at least one way that you will engage with HPA. Then join in. On behalf of our community and our shared, remarkable history, mahalo. •

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STAY CONNECTED

Show your Ka Makani Pride FIVE WAYS TO JOIN THE MOMENTUM

HPA is on a mission to strengthen the bonds we share and make our school stronger than ever.

Here’s how to join in.

Share your story.

From this point forward, HPA will be sharing a lot more stories about the impact of students, teachers, alumni, and other members of the HPA ‘ohana.

Send us your news, or suggest a story at www.hpa.edu/update

Give back.

When you give to the HPA Fund, you help deliver an exceptional education based on the power and beauty of Hawai‘i Island—an education that opens doors to opportunity. www.hpa.edu/give

#kamakani Thousands of alumni, parents, and friends have found each other on Facebook and Instagram. Join the online ‘ohana for news, yearbook memories, stunning photos, and more.

Build community in your city or class.

We want to empower a broad coalition of leaders and volunteers to help strengthen the HPA ‘ohana and our school.

If you’d like to help as an event or class organizer, let us know at alumni@hpa.edu

Find an event.

We gather in cities as close as Kona and in countries as far as Kazahkstan.

Dates and details: www.hpa.edu/events

33

CLASS NOTES

Class Notes 60s:

fabulous cook and I left nothing on my

by the Transformation Center at

plate! Warm aloha to all.”

Bethel Church after graduating from

Andrew Perala ’72 is a freelance

their ministry school this last May

on Oahu’s Ford Island, and Jon

editor and writer and co-winner of the

(received certification for Trauma-

Hayashi ’67 is a Professor in the

1989 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

Informed Care). If anyone is visiting,

biology department at Paradise Valley

Meg Solmssen Lin ’74 says, “we now

I rent out two rooms through AirBnB

Community College in Phoenix, AZ.

have two outta three kids married off!”

and FaithStay (A Taste of Heaven).

Their daughter, Abbie, married Matt

It’s been so much fun hosting people

Moyer in Waimea at Anna Ranch.

from around the world who come

Lawrence Mugg ’66 is now working

Charlie Collins ’68 is a retired plumbing contractor from the Bay Area: “Now in Smokey Montana or it

Dale Lawrence ’73 shared the

to visit Bethel for conferences. My

could have been voggy Kona. Life’s

following update: “I made a big decision

mother, Bets, is doing well and staying

good here.” Robert Howell ’69 writes

this year and bought a brand new

at a wonderful care facility near her

that he’s enjoying “wood turning,

house in northern California near

grandchildren in Portland. She would

machine tool restoration, woodwork

Shasta Lake (leaving my amazing

love to hear from any and all of you

and metal work, homesteading,

mom, 4 children and 8 grandchildren

reading this (Bets Lawrence 3484 SE

livestock, fruit, brewing, etc.” on Maui.

in Portland, OR). I am now employed

(continued on page 39)

70s: Owen Koehnen ’70 writes that he

I made there are the most important

can “fix and build most anything.” He

in my life.” Justice Koch served on

retired from the U.S. Postal System

the Tennessee Supreme Court from

after 37 years, and also served in the

2007 to 2014; prior to this he served

U.S. Navy in Vietnam. Neville Bayly ’72

for 23 years on the Tennessee

writes: “Just got back two weeks ago

Court of Appeals where he was

from visiting my son Pete in Portland.

the presiding judge of the Middle

We had a wonderful time and I was reminded that he is a quarter of a century old. Oh my gosh, how did THAT happen? Of course I saw Marty and Denice Sheffer ’72. They invited me for supper and we had an all American meal of steak and potatoes. Marty is a

Justice William Koch Jr. ’65 is completing his fourth year as Dean of the Nashville School of Law. The School, which is devoted to providing high quality legal education to students who are unable to attend classes during the day, celebrated its 100th

Please submit your notes and photos to alumni@hpa.edu by June 29 for the next issue of Ma Ke Kula.

34 // S P R I N G 2 0 18

anniversary in 2011. He writes, “The years I spent at HPA and the friends

Section of the Court from 2003 to 2007. He was named Tennessee Appellate Judge of the Year in 2002 and was recognized as one of the 500 Leading Judges in America in 2006. He joined the faculty of NSL in 1997 and was named fourth-year “instructor of the year” three times prior to his appointment as dean.

Q

Q

ALUMNI NEWS

A

A

Veronica Morriss ’03

Digging on dry land and under seas Morriss is a maritime archaeologist and co-founder of Interactive Heritage, a company that creates interactive 3D exhibits for at-risk and inaccessible archaeological sites (on land and underwater). These online exhibits allow visitors to virtually visit important cultural sites, and physically manipulate 3D models of ancient artifacts.

Interactive Heritage is currently working with Kamehameha Schools on a multi-year project (https://ks3d.org) to document and preserve a number of Hawaiian sites.

Morriss hopes that these exhibits will be used as educational tools for raising interest and awareness in Hawai‘i’s rich cultural heritage.

Maritime archeologist—what does that mean, exactly?

I primarily study shipwrecks, harbors, and maritime trade, and I am currently finishing my Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, where I study Islamic archaeology. I love working underwater on shipwrecks, but I also work on land.

I’ve been blessed to have an exciting career working on sites all over the world. In 2015, I excavated a 3rd Dynasty Egyptian boat burial near the

Djoser’s Step Pyramid. This was one of the oldest, and by far, coolest sites I’ve worked on. The 4,600-year-old boat was buried in sand beside a massive mudbrick tomb (mastaba). We do not yet know the owner of the burial, but the construction features of the boat are unique and have changed our understanding of ancient Egyptian boats.

Did HPA play a role in your choosing such an unusual career?

My experiences at HPA opened the door.

I took my first archaeology class with Tom Goodspeed, and back before it was common, Deighton Emmons taught me how to use a handheld GPS unit. I used these skills to map the Hawaiian field systems above HPA for a science fair.

This project created the opportunity for me to work with UH Manoa archaeologists in Kohala, and ultimately in Egypt where I fell in love with the Middle East. I’ve always been grateful for the guidance my HPA teachers gave me so many years ago.

What do you enjoy most about your current work?

I would have to say that excavating shipwrecks is what I enjoy most. One of my most memorable experiences was working in Bermuda on the English galleon, Warwick, which sank in 1619 during a hurricane. While Warwick sank in only a few meters of water, excavating

her was very hard work! When you dig underwater, giant plumes of silt settle over the site, reducing visibility to just a couple centimeters, and you must work primarily by touch. After a month of working in total blindness, we finished excavation and shut off our water dredges, which are effectively giant underwater vacuums. I finally got my first glimpse of the entire ship—with much of her starboard hull preserved up to the gundeck, the view was simply incredible! Our team spent a month meticulously recording the massive hull timbers as well as minute details such as tool marks left by the shipwrights.

To our surprise, we even discovered fragments of Roman pottery within the ship’s ballast. It turns out that these had probably been dredged up with pebbles from the Thames before the ship left England!

If you could wave a magic wand, what would you like to be doing in 10 years?

Ideally, in 10 years I hope to be doing the same things I do now while living in Waimea. Although I love travelling, Waimea will always be my home. •

35

PHILANTHROPY

WO ODS ON K . WO ODS I I I

Over the course of his intrepid life, Woody Woods has been many things: sailor, rancher, hotelier, pilot, entrepreneur—as well as husband, father, and longtime friend to HPA. He’s a man who understands the value of physical challenge, and how the mind and spirit can open to new possibilities when tested against the unknown.

B

orn in St. Louis, MO, Woods first came to Hawai‘i in 1954 as a communication technician with the U.S. Navy. When his tour of duty ended, he returned home to run the family farm after his father’s death. Yet his time in Hawai‘i proved spellbinding, and he eventually returned to live and raise his family.

“It was a fascinating period,” says Woods, speaking of his early days in Hawai‘i, “because there was a real absence of things you take for granted on the mainland. At the same time, it was a little early to be launching new ideas. You had to be rather bold and definitely confident.”

In the early 1960s, Woods worked on land planning for Laurance Rockefeller’s development of the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. He later founded

36 // S P R I N G 2 0 18

the Mauna Kea Hunting Club for the hotel using Parker Ranch lands, with ranch paniolo as guides.

In 1963 Woods struck out on his own with a 360-acre ranch in Pa‘auilo. He started Mauna Kea Motors, a Land Rover dealership, along with a hunting and touring operation called Hawai‘i Trails. He also built the Waimea Village Inn and established the Royal Hawaiian Air Service, the first scheduled air taxi to serve the islands.

From sky to ocean, Hawai‘i has provided a stunning backdrop for two of Woods’ greatest passions: soaring and sailing. In 1968, Woods founded the Mauna Kea Soaring Club and soon set Hawai‘i altitude records by riding the air waves over Mauna Kea to 25,500 feet. He went on to compete nationally in the sailplane racing

37

PHILANTHROPY

circuit. Today, he is considered a patriarch of the sport. Woods also devoted himself to the restoration of antique aircraft through his company, Aero Meridian, and led the development of SkyRanch, a premier fly-in community located in Carefree, AZ. Likewise, on the ocean waves, Woods has been a driving force for sailing education and nautical history. He’s navigated, raced, and/or built numerous sloops, yawls, and other craft, sailing them across the Pacific to Hawai‘i or through the Panama Canal to the U.S. east coast. His brainchild, the privateer Lynx, launched from Rockport, ME in 2001 and still operates today as a faithful representation of a 17th-century vessel dedicated to the maritime education of school groups and the general public. In 2011, Woods was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Maritime Education by the National Maritime Historical Society.

Throughout his many adventurous years, Woods has remained a faithful friend to the Academy. He served as an HPA trustee, and in 1976, gifted the Waimea Village Inn to establish the Lower and Middle Schools. Woods also established the Woodson K. Woods IV Scholarship Fund to honor his eldest son who died tragically at the age of 14 in a traffic accident. Many grateful HPA students have benefited from this generous memorial fund.

Most recently, Woods donated the pinnace Imi Loa to revive HPA’s sailing program and to provide HPA students with an exceptional avenue for hands-on learning. (See page eight for more about this emerging initiative.)

“As much as possible, I’m interested in getting teenagers—and anyone who’s interested, really—out into the world where they can learn and experience life with their five senses,” says Woods.

“We all spend too much time behind screens these days. Even as students are moving forward, aiming for the future, I believe there is great value in also looking back to the fundamental skills of our forebears. Celestial navigation, boat-handling, even soaring silent without an engine above Mauna Kea—these things have great lessons to teach about independence, or teamwork, or just the beauty of nature’s laws.”

As HPA works to increase experiential learning within the K-12 curriculum, the Academy is honored to receive Woods’ assistance and grateful for the example he offers today’s students.

His life and generosity will inspire the next generation of sailors, pilots, entrepreneurs, and confident explorers who leave HPA for adventures of their own. •

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WOODSON K. WOODS IV SCHOLARSHIP

A Generous Legacy Since 1979, the Woodson K. Woods IV Scholarship has helped numerous students achieve the dream of an HPA education. The current recipient of the Woods Scholarship is Ilan Naibryf ’18. Naibryf is originally from Argentina, but in 2002, his parents fled the economic depression there and moved to South Florida, where he spent his elementary years adapting to a new culture and new language.

Naibryf says that his mother, Ronit Felszer ’87 always spoke “so kindly, warmly, caringly, and highly” of her experience at HPA, and that led him to apply for his sophomore year.

Though he had some reservations about attending a boarding school so far from home, he quickly adjusted to life at HPA and immersed himself in all it offers: he’s part of the state championship-winning varsity boys soccer team, as well as the state championshipwinning boys cross-country team. For his independent science research project, Naibryf is currently designing a prosthetic hand that can be controlled with the user’s mind. He is also a prefect in Perry-Fiske dormitory.

“Because of my scholarship,” he says, “my sole focus is on the most important aspect of school—learning and growing relationships.

I hope one day I will be able to help students achieve their goals just as Mr. Woods has helped me.”

Naibryf plans to attend the University of Chicago in the fall.

CLASS NOTES

(continued from page 34)

much needed down time with our son

Hill Rd, Milwaukie, OR 96727)... just

Luke (4) and daughter Alix (1). Next

remind her how she knows you. She

year we will be moving down to San

has recovered well from a traumatic

Diego so if you’re in the area I’d love to

brain injury in 2010 but has lost her

reconnect. Aloha.”

filters. :) My brother, Lyn ’77, passed

80s:

away in July. Very sad, but the family’s doing okay. Hey classmates, next year

Krisanta Lasko Silva ’88 writes that

is our big 45 year reunion! Anyone

she is “still a homeschooling mom of

planning on going?”

four beautiful children. We are about to

Kevin Kelley ’76 writes: “It has been a busy year. I sold my parents’ house in Kane’ohe and found and bought a

James Melrose ’98 moved back to Hawai‘i Island in

graduate and send our second child to college! I recently became a 3rd - 5th grade Latin teacher. Fun new venture!”

wonderful house in a small town north

2016 to work with his dad, Ken

of Charlottesville. Beautiful part of the

Melrose, in the family business,

state -- the only thing I miss from my

Pa‘ahana Enterprises. As project

a retired US Navy physician, now a

previous residences are military bases.

managers for the HPA campus

stay-at-home-mom with four children,

master plan, son and father are

and Suzi Tuszewski Reader ’88 writes

helping the Academy keep this

that she is a Regional Vice President for

critical initiative on task and

Arbonne in Burbank, CA.

Employment should follow soon.”

David Albachten ’76, in his reincarnation as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher, has published his first peer-reviewed paper in a journal: “From critical thinking to academic writing, Building better Turkish L1 English academic writers.”

In November, David took his paper on the road to the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association’s

on budget. James earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado School of Mines and worked for Halliburton in Colorado and California prior to his return to Hawai‘i. He and his wife, Heather, live in Holualoa with their two boys.

presentation title: Teaching L2 “Digital Natives” English Academic Writing: Insights from a 1,000-student study into their use of technology.

Kathleen Gormley Boeger ’79 recently returned to the Big Island.

Her daughter is a freshman at HPA. Kathleen writes: “Love being back home. Can’t wait to connect with my HPA friends.”

Kim Sweet Hines ’90 is a Project Manager at Frayer Enterprises in Oklahoma, and Suliana Manley ’93 was promoted to associate professor of physics with tenure at the Swiss federal Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

to a session on Language Teaching Insights for the 21st Century, with a

90s:

institute of technology, EPFL (École

115th Annual Conference in Honolulu, at the Crossroads: Innovations and

Tanis Woody Batsel Stewart ’81 is

in 2016.

Cay Cay Lawrence ’78 writes:

Stephen Ridgway ’94 owns a live

“It’s with deep grief that I report our

sound and event production company

brother, Lyn Lawrence ’77, died in July.

based in Denver, CO, and Morgan Levi

Dale ’73, Bryn ’74 and I would like

’94 has been living in Tulum, Mexico for

to commemorate him in an informal

the past 10 years with her husband and

gathering this summer at the HPA

three children.

alumni reunion.”

Lisa Dutton Jardine ’79 is spending

David Wilson ’98 writes with the following update: “Just wanted to share

the 2017-2018 school year in Los

that my wife Christine and I started

Angeles while her husband completes

a wine brand in 2015 called Wilson

an orthopaedic sports fellowship at

Foreigner. We’re working with unique

Kerlan Jobe. “I am spending some

(continued on page 41)

39

ALUMNI NEWS

Shaking up the Search Box IN THE SPRING OF 1994, Eric Heneghan ’86 and Adam Heneghan ’88 were two twenty-something entrepreneurs running their first digital advertising start-up, Giant Step, in Chicago, IL. Their long-standing interests in film, graphic design, and technology extended back to childhood, thanks to the influence of their architect father and HPA teachers like Howard Hall. Now, on the cusp of the Internet era, the Heneghans knew the advertising industry was about to change. From their Chicago location, the brothers were well-positioned to influence bigname companies headquartered throughout the Midwest. Provided they could get anyone to listen.

“Remember, there was no playbook for what we envisioned back then,” explains Eric (top right).

“There were no websites or social media. We were just two Waimea boys howling in the wind.”

Then came a keynote speech by Proctor & Gamble CEO Ed Artzt to the American Association of Advertising Agencies; a speech later dubbed “the shot heard ‘round the advertising world.”

Artzt predicted a paradigm shift based on “new media” that would change how corporate America spent its advertising dollars.

Almost overnight, the Heneghans and Giant Step were in big demand. Eventually, the brothers formed a strategic alliance with ad giant Leo Burnett that grew into Burnett taking an equity position in their company. In 1999 Burnett’s parent company, Bcom3 Group, bought them out.

Still in start-up mode, Eric and Adam launched a second advertising group, Elevation in 2002, which then spawned their current venture, elicit.

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elicit aims to transform the website search box.

“Companies spend big money getting customers to their sites,” explains Adam, “but you lose them fast if the search box gives out too much information.” The elicit tool allows a company’s marketing team to curate search results based on marketing strategy. For the customer, the answers are more relevant and readable, with the look of a well-designed product page. “Based on our clients so far, conversion rates triple and site abandonment drops by half,” reports Eric.

Looking back on their careers to date, the Heneghans are quick to point out the influence of HPA, particularly the importance of teachers and coaches who were impressive—and sometimes maverick—individuals. “I mean, who has a computer lab connecting the entire campus in the late ’70s and early ’80s?” asks Eric, referring to HPA instructor Howard Hall. “There was a passion for technology, especially the math side,” continues Adam. “It complemented the creative uses of technology that fascinated our dad. In retrospect, having access to those remarkable tools gave us opportunities we would not have found otherwise.”

Sports played a key role as well, and their HPA records sent both Eric and Adam to Division I universities on athletic scholarships. Adam ran cross country at Indiana University Bloomington; Eric wrestled at the University of Iowa for the legendary Dan Gable, who later became the first angel investor in Giant Step.

“HPA played a part in all of that,” says Eric. “From the computer lab and sports, to Dan Gable, to asking him to be an investor, to Giant Step, then elicit, and beyond. We set our sights high. HPA teaches you not to be intimidated in any way.” •

CLASS NOTES

(continued from page 39)

vineyards including my family’s ranch in Napa and we’re making wines with minimal intervention. Check out our website wilsonforeigner.com and follow us on Instagram @wilsonforeigner.

Hoping to make it to the 20-year reunion in the summer! Aloha, Dave”

00s:

Kaiao Archer ’01 writes from

limited releases), and have also been

Tiana Maple Crabbe ’01 writes:

the Aloha Beer Company where he

in talks of doing collaboration brews

is lead brewer. “January marked

with breweries from the mainland.

“I’ve been busy in Papaikou the

our one-year anniversary of being

past few years raising children. I am

open, and it’s great to be able to look

have been involved with beginning

married with two children: Horatio

back at what we accomplished in

with the buildout phase, and it’s

(2 yrs) and Viola (6 mo). We get to see

that first year. On the brewing side of

incredible to see this place go from

Frances Ross ’01 on her days off and

things, in 2017, we were able to dial

being an empty shell to a busy,

in some of our flagship beers, and

thriving business. We have two

have fun with a few rotating beers

bar/restaurant areas, each with

as well. I’m excited to see what 2018

their own unique vibes, staffed by

has in store, as we aim to step up

wonderful people full of aloha. We

our distribution throughout Hawai‘i,

are all passionate about what we do,

start a more in-depth small batch

and all enjoy sharing that passion

beer program (specialty beers and

with our friends and family.”

celebrated New Year’s Day with Laura Hughes ’01 and Heather Emmons Matsunaga ’01 in Pa‘auilo. I can’t wait to hear from our classmates!”

Manhee (Mani) Won ’01 is a Director at Yido Pottery. Rowoon Lee ’03 is currently managing an international

“This is the first project that I

trading department at a family-owned business in Korea, and Hara Kim ’03 is working as a Director at Hara Logistics

is a fourth-year rabbinical student at

in Korea.

the Jewish Theological Seminary. He

10s:

is serving as the rabbinical intern of

Nathan Kwarara ’10 is an Investment

I’m an entrepreneur at heart and I

Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the

Analyst at the National Superannuation

continue to halfheartedly pursue a job

LGBTQ synagogue of New York. He

Fund in Papua New Guinea.

related to my degree (mainly because

writes: “I got engaged to my fiancé,

the obsession with world domination

Toby, this past July; we actually

following update: “Traveling around the

was unhealthy). School has taught me

planned to propose on the same

world and US. Always in contact with

to know I can. The world has taught me

weekend (but I beat him to it).”

the amazing friends I made at HPA and

Tosho Hendlin ’03 writes: “Luckily

to ‘No I can’t.’ Teaching English online.”

Moana Abe ’08 writes: “I opened

Emily Prah ’10 submitted the

traveling to visit them once a month;

Edward Shah ’03 studied at Le

my own bake shop, ‘o’ more goodies’

whether it means going back to Hawai‘i

Cordon Bleu Sydney and is now the

in Japan! I manage the shop and bake

to see Jackie, Boston to see Courtney,

Executive Director for K. Shah Energy

on my own, so I still don’t have a real

Nashville for Sophia or Las Vegas for

Resources (Oil and Gas).

store, but I sell baked goods at a

Kat and Grayson. Recently moved up

Lucia Polak Pane ’05 is a front end

farmers market on weekends. I wish I

to Seattle with my boyfriend who is

web developer at the Baha’i National

can open the real store someday. You

working at his family company,

Center and an online fitness and well-

can check what I bake on Instagram:

Polyform. And applying for business

ness coach. Steven Gaughan Philp ’05

@omoregoodies.”

schools up and down the west 41

CLASS NOTES

coast as well as taking the LSATS

the Trump Administration!”

you all for everything. Mahalo, Ro :)

in preparation for next year and law

He graduated from the University

GO KANIs!”

school applications. I’m also modeling

of San Francisco in 2013 with a B.A.

and working one-on-one with DWTS

in Media Studies and a minor in

December 2015, Michael Severino ’11

[Dancing With the Stars] producer on

Journalism.

was offered a position at Merrill Lynch

photo shoots.”

After graduating from UH Hilo in

Roland Setu ’10 wrote from Apia,

in Honolulu where he now works as

Samoa to say: “Thank you HPA for the

a Financial Advisor. Angel Wu ’11 is

for the past two years as a Digital

great memories! One year was a heck

studying early childhood education at

Communications Associate at the

of an experience at HPA. Mr. Hayslip

Penn State, and Russell Laros ’14 is a

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

used to say... ‘get soaking wet.’ Hope

Computer Science and Business major

“It’s a nonprofit that works closely with

everyone is getting themselves wet

at Lehigh University, class of 2018.

Congress focused on promoting federal

and experiencing the real life through

Scott Fetz ’14 wrote with good news

legislation that would help with income

involvement and participation wherever

about a new career path: “I will be

inequality including: health care,

you may be. I miss everyone, I miss

graduating this June from Seattle

housing assistance, food stamps, etc.

aloha! Love felt through smiles from

University with a double major in

It’s been a very busy year as we take on

staff members and students. Thank

(continued on page 46)

Teddy Lederer ’10 has been working

Kira Kamamalu ’01 Paddlers, 2017, oil on canvas with palette knife, 24” x 12”. Kira splits her time these days between two creative pursuits: her life as a classically trained, island-inspired fine artist, and her role as co-owner and art coordinator at Gertrude’s Jazz Bar in Kona. Kira has exhibited internationally at the

42 // S P R I N G 2 0 18

the Florence Biennale invitational exhibition, and is currently working out of her art studio and woodshop in Holualoa, where she teaches “paint and sip” classes.

As co-owner of Gertrude’s Jazz Bar, named for Gertrude Stein, Kira hosts social artworking events and pop-up farm dinners.

Q

Q

ALUMNI NEWS

A

A

Malia Bolton ’00

Taking care of her crew In the summer of 1998, before her junior year at HPA, Malia Bolton ’00 helped her family plant the first 20 acres of coffee trees on the slopes of Hualalai Mountain for what would become the Kona Coffee and Tea Company (KCTC). Today, that plot of land in Waiono Ranch is planted with 130 acres of sustainably grown (and award-winning) coffee, which is milled, roasted, and served with aloha in the heart of Kona. Their farm-tocup operation relies on composting and local resources like seaweed from NELHA (Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai‘i Authority) and food waste from local restaurants to build their soil.

Malia serves as director of operations at KCTC, overseeing the café, retail, marketing, and sales operations. Her younger brother is now managing and operating the company’s wet and dry mill.

This year is KCTC’s 20th anniversary.

We asked Malia about working with family, sustainable agriculture, and Ka Makani connections.

What inspires you about your work?

I started out in the field picking coffee and doing what a coffee farmer does, and I grew to appreciate the product and to be inspired by the purveyors and pioneers long before me who helped to establish this industry.

I admire local companies like Big Island Candies and Kona Brewing, and I have watched how they take care of their crew and how they provide an extraordinary and authentic local product. We aspire to do the same.

How does KCTC approach sustainable agriculture?

Our family is deeply committed to sustainable agriculture because we believe it’s just the right thing to do.

We only have one earth and we want to enrich and nourish our soils, which will in turn provide the highest quality product. In addition to reducing our waste, composting, and relying on solar panels for energy at our mill, we have plans to partner with a local non-profit, Mana O Pono, to plant edible landscaping at our café this spring.

I always tell people that our secret ingredient is love. Because we control the whole process from farm to cup, we strive to go beyond sustainable to be thrive-able! Our goal is to not only lessen our environmental impact, but to be innovators and to teach those who are interested in learning.

What do you enjoy most about your current work?

It’s a true passion to work with my family and to serve the community that I am blessed to live in. I see coffee as my current medium to share our aloha.

Did HPA help to set you on your course?

The relationships that I made at HPA have filled my life with so much love.

I don’t know many people who are as close with their high school friends and even their extended families as our Ka Makani crew. •

43

Q

A

ALUMNI NEWS

Q

A

Harmony Graziano ’15

Uncovering the richness of Pidgin Graziano is completing her junior year at Columbia University where she’s a B.A. candidate in Arabic and linguistics. We asked her about college-level research and her HPA mentors.

We hear you have a linguistics research fellowship this year— what’s the focus?

My fellowship is organized by Long Island University and sponsored by the National Science Foundation. My mentor is the director of the Endangered Language Alliance, a New York-based nonprofit that seeks to preserve underdocumented languages in and around the city (there are over 800!).

Through this fellowship, I’ve discovered a deep-seated interest in the documentation of creole languages.

I was born and raised in Hawai‘i on Kaua‘i and, naturally, grew up around people speaking pidgin (or, as I’ve learned to call it in academic terms, Hawaiian Creole English). It was only when I came to college that I realized how fascinating and rich Hawai‘i’s pidgin is as a language and how it tells, through its vocabulary and grammar and everything in between, the story of Hawai‘i and its people.

44 // S P R I N G 2 0 18

Wow. What aspects of Pidgin interest you most?

My research has been motivated by trying to get other people—academics and pidgin speakers alike—to see what I see in this language: an incredibly diverse history, a complex amalgamation of cultural values, and the contributions of Cantonese, Portuguese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Hawaiian, and English speakers to the language during its brief but fascinating tenure.

Specifically, right now I am examining the distribution of certain locative prepositions: What are the rules governing pidgin usage of “to” and “at”, among others? How did they develop? What do they tell us about different perceptions of physical relationships in the world? I want to completely eradicate the idea that people who speak pidgin are somehow not as intelligent as people who speak “standard” varieties of English, or that pidgin is somehow “less” of a language in any way, because neither of those things are true. If something can sound wrong in a language, that means there is a functional and living grammar in that language, and pidgin is no exception!

What role, if any, did HPA play in your work?

My HPA teachers patiently helped shape me—as a thinker and a scholar. I wouldn’t know how to write a coherent or grammatical sentence, let alone a

paragraph or essay, if not for Jaime Johnson’s English 9 class, the first exposure I had to any kind of structure in writing. The rules she taught me allowed my creative voice to be free.

Mollie Hustace’s AP art history class was my first glimpse at critical analysis and the creativity that motivates and enriches academia. Though I don’t think of myself as a math person, Patricia Kassis in her algebra II trig honors class showed me the versatility of thought, how you can approach a problem from a hundred different perspectives and every method produces unique and crucial insight. Sarah Hayslip in her AP comp class forced my writing to be precise and persuasive, and I often hear her voice in my head when I’m writing and editing. These women, in their brilliance, strength, and love, showed me how to be my best student and best self. •

ALUMNI EVENTS

HPA ‘Ohana: Near and Far

ON CAMPUS On January 8, alumni from the classes of 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 came “home” for a day of fun and friendship that included class visits, lunch with faculty, and the alumni soccer game. College-age alumni offered current HPA seniors their perspective on life after HPA. From left to right: Catharine Gussman ’16 Nana Ueno ’16 Erika Horton ’16

TAIPEI Special guests Head of School Robert McKendry and Dean of Students Fred Wawner were hosted by former faculty member Caroline Lay for an evening of beverages and family-style pupu at Opaka Bar and Kitchen in Taipei on Thursday, November 2.

YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO REGISTER! Join us for Reunion 2018 May 31 to June 3. See the schedule and register at www.hpa.edu/reunion

CHICAGO Hosted by Eric Heneghan ’86, HPA guests joined Head of School Robert McKendry, alumna and Middle School science teacher Laura (Rice) Jim ’91, and Village Campus Hawaiian Studies teacher Kuwalu Anakalea at Sunda in Chicago on September 22.

NEW YORK Taro Hori ’85 hosted HPA at his company, Media 3 Ltd, a broadcast facility and live shot studio in Manhattan, on Monday, October 16 with Head of School Robert McKendry and Mike Donnelly ’83.

WASHINGTON, DC Trustee Robert Budway ’76 was the host at Hula Girl Bar & Grill in Alexandria, VA on Sunday, October 15 with Head of School Robert McKendry and Mike Donnelly ’83.

BOSTON Last September, east coast alumni joined College Counseling’s Andrew Kelsey and Cindy Montgomery for pupu and drinks at La Casa de Pedro in Boston.

45

CLASS NOTES

(continued from page 42)

being able to live on campus and be

Marketing and Management, and a

completely immersed in the exciting

minor in Entrepreneurship. I was just

academic and athletic atmosphere.

hired at Nielsen Market Research for

I plan to graduate UH Hilo with a

their Innovation team in Boston and

bachelors degree in marine science

will be starting there full-time after

and minor in chemistry and biology. I

graduation! Nielsen is the #1 Market

hope to go on to graduate school for

Research firm in the U.S. so I’m pretty

veterinary medicine with a primary

excited to be starting the next phase of

focus on marine mammals. This career

my journey :)”

will allow me to help individual animals

‘Alohi Chambless ’15 wrote to Ms. Johnson to tell her about her journey in Nepal: “We spent a couple of days

Elliot Kastner ’09 now

and to work on solutions to our world’s current climate change issues and

oversees the introduction and

detrimental human impacts on our

in Kathmandu and then headed out on

manufacturing of new products

marine ecosystems and animals.”

an epic adventure trekking. The trek

at Boston-based Formlabs, a

was 22 days around Manaslu. Instead

company on the cutting edge

University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton

of taking the common path we explored

of making 3D printing more

School of Business. He writes that

around trails only locals knew about.

Everyday we were hiking around 8 hours. Later in the trek we reconnected to the main Manaslu circuit and went over Larke La pass, which was about 17,000 feet. After the long trek we hit the Kali Gandaki river for about a week.

The stretch of river that we rafted on had no maps and was very uncommon to be rafting. I was lucky enough to get some guide time in the raft. I loved it! On our way home we had a quick

affordable. He writes, “At Formlabs we envision that as the cost of 3D printing is reduced, many challenges in the design and manufacturing of novel products will be eliminated.

I’m honored to champion new products like this. It’s my hope to serve many start-ups over

market.”

rigor. My primary activity is a fledgling YouTube channel I set up called ‘Futurefi.’ In each video, it talks about what the world would look like if one future technology was invented.”

We want to hear from you! photos to alumni@hpa.edu by

and Restaurant Management at

for exposing me to outdoor adventure.

Northern Arizona University and is

I hope the outdoor program at HPA is

working at a restaurant in Flagstaff.

Hailey Briseno ’17 writes, “I am currently attending University of Hawaii at Hilo and absolutely loving it. My

baseball for Mississippi Valley State

college experience has been very busy

University and was selected to the

but also fun with being on the UH Hilo

Southwestern Athletic Conference

women’s soccer team and just recently

2016-17 All-Academic Team. Iolome

being recruited for the UH Hilo cross

Tufaga ’16 is currently studying Hotel

country team, as well. It has been great

46 // S P R I N G 2 0 18

disciplined as I adjust to the academic

Please submit your notes and

explore more! I wanted to thank you

Kanaikai Gaughen ’16 is playing

find myself becoming somewhat more

of bringing unique products to

Turkey I loved. I need to go back and

others.”

“the course load is challenging, but I

my career and leave a legacy

stop in Turkey. Of what I did see in

thriving and you continue to inspire

Tom Yoo ’17 is studying at the

June 29 for the next issue of Ma Ke Kula.

The HPA archives include a number of unidentified photographs. Some, like those above, appear to represent a single class or time period and may have been taken by the same photographer. A student? A teacher? We may never know. If you recognize the subjects or can share clues to the origin of these photos, write to us at alumni@hpa.edu. Otherwise, enjoy the vintage atmosphere!

47

HPA’s Upper School terrace farm, Ulu Mālama, strives to be a living model of sustainable agriculture, offering positive solutions to some of today’s most pressing ecological concerns. The work of the farm is to honor and learn from the rich traditions of those who cared for this land before us while also exploring modern innovations in regenerative agriculture. As the name implies, this truly is a caring and generous place, offering the bounty of the land as well as abundant learning opportunities. Photo by Michael Hanano ’18

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65-1692 Kohala Mountain Road Kamuela, HI 96743 www.hpa.edu

Out of the ordinary.

When you make a gift to the HPA Fund, you help provide curious students with academic and co-curricular experiences that go far beyond the ordinary. From research on ocean reefs to traditional Hawaiian agriculture in our school farm-gardens; from earthquake surveillance in the Energy Lab to representing Ka Makani on the playing field, the uncommon opportunities open to HPA students empower them for college and life. Mahalo for your generosity.

Help reduce our impact on Island Earth: make your gift online at www.hpa.edu/give