eatures F s t r o p Special S Inside!
November 25, 2013
Honolulu, Hawaii
Volume 89, Issue II
Decline in ‘Iolani National Merit semifinalists By Elisabeth Kamaka
Index
Features - 2,3 College Sports Commits - 4 Editorials - 5 Athlete Profiles 6, 7 “Back in my Day” -9 Guess Who! - 10 By the Numbers 12
semifinalists from Hawaii this year. Mr. Strawn said ‘Iolani typically represents between 24 and 49 percent of the National Merit semifinalists from Hawaii. In 2008, 36 Iolani students were named finalists, the highest number in the past decade. Punahou School had the highest number of semifinalists in Hawaii this year – 22 although that number was also down from last year, when there were 30. Punahou’s graduating class is also nearly twice as big as Iolani’s. Mr. Ben Lah, Associate Director of Admissions, said that it’s considered a success for a school to produce even one National Merit semifinalist. Schools with superior academic credentials may have three or four, he said. Here’s how the National Merit Scholarship Program picks its semifinalists, according to its website. Every September, the program selects 16,000 students from the top 50,000 students who took the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) test as juniors. Those 16,000 are designated as semifinalists. But wait. Here’s where it gets tricky. The 16,000 are not the top scorers nationally. Rather, the program allocates a certain number of semifinalist slots to each state. This number is proportional to the national percentage of graduating seniors who come from the state; thus, it is more accurately a state merit competition. This year, Hawaii was allotted 68 semifinalist slots compared to 70 last year. Once a state’s allotment is determined, the index scores of students in that state are arranged and the top scorers are identified. The National Merit Scholarship website displays the selection score indexes for
each of the states this year, and provides comparative data from previous years. According to the scores, the overall performance data reveals that this year was an epic SAT year for the Class of 2014 in Hawaii. The Hawaii selection index score rose from 211 last year to 215, nudging out some highly qualified ‘Iolani students who performed well on the test. And while this four-point difference may seem slight, Mr. Strawn compared the change to the Richter scale that measures the force of earthquakes; a small numerical increase represents a large increase in magnitude. Mr. Todd Fleming, Director of College Counseling, said he believes the higher scores may also reflect the growth of SAT preparatory programs across the state. Iolani has one of the oldest and most comprehensive programs; 25 or 26 of the 68 Hawaii students honored as semifinalists this year took the Iolani summer prep program, Mr. Strawn said. The SAT prep program runs nine months and is the combined effort of Mr. Strawn and approximately 16 other ‘Iolani teachers. The teachers work together to help students improve their approaches to the writing, verbal and math sections of the SAT. But even with more preparatory programs available, it ultimately comes down to the student’s composure and performance on the day of the test. Ms. Vicki Higashihara, Guidance Counselor for the Class of 2014, noted that not all students will be able to perform on the test as well as they performed on practice tests. Sometimes, added Mr. Strawn, “it depends on what students have for breakfast in the morning.”
WHAT HAPPENS UNDERWATER
Quick Look ‘Iolani National Merit SemiFinalists by Year
2014 National Merit SemiFinalists by School
Photo courtesy of JuanJaén / Flickr
Sixteen ‘Iolani students were named National Merit semifinalists in September, the lowest number in at least a decade and less than half the number honored five years ago. The number is also down from the 30 students in the Class of 2013 who were National Merit semifinalists last year. Several factors account for the decline in semifinalists this year. Staff members involved in testing and college admission say that the decrease does not mark a trend or a lower level of student achievement. One reason for the decline is more students from more Hawaii schools are doing better academically, making National Merit recognition more competitive, said Mr. Christopher Strawn, Latin teacher and director of ‘Iolani’s SAT preparatory program since 1992. Strawn said scores statewide this year took “a massive jump” and noted that several schools that haven’t consistently produced National Merit semifinalists were on the list this year. Students from Mililani High School, Seabury Hall and Parker School are among the semifinalists this year. “The students in the class of 2014 throughout the state of Hawaii did better on the test,” Mr. Strawn said. “So it’s actually a good thing, and the fact that ‘Iolani had 16 semifinalists and … last year we had 30, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I love to dominate, but the idea that other schools are doing preparation or doing work with their students or focusing on this is a good thing.” The 16 National Merit semifinalists from the Class of 2014 places the ‘Iolani students among the top 10 percent of high school seniors nationwide. The 16 students comprise an impressive 24 percent of the
By Sydney Kimura and Grace Lei
“She took a part of me. She was grabbing the top of my suit and her nails were really long and she scratched and I looked down and there was blood and a part of my birth mark was missing,” said Mollie Taylor ‘15. Getting punched in the jaw, elbowed in the eye, and scratched so hard in the chest that a birthmark rips off. This is only what happens on the surface during an intense water polo game. To be honest, these injuries
rank as preferred as opposed to the “invisible” underwater attacks. So the question really is, what vicious acts happen underwater? Water polo players make the sport seem effortless despite the intense physical contact that happens above the water. However, underwater, there is an entire separate game being played. Kelsie Kodama ‘14 said, “People can play really dirty because there’s so much that happens underwater, but the officials only
see what happens above.” Players are kicked in the stomach and punched in the chest. Boys grab each others’ speedos and girls clutch each others’ swimsuits. Kodama noted that the referees only call what they can see, so most of the underwater action goes unnoticed. Alana Higgins ‘15 said, “I think it’s easier for people to do dirtier moves because its like hidden almost so there’s kicking and scratching.”
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