| WHAT'S NEW AT PBA? Thursday, September 23, 2021 | | Your donation to our Annual Fund creates pathways for more families to join PBA's peace-based educational community. Make your donation here! | | Dear readers of the What’s New, A post-Walk/Run for Peace report this afternoon: as of this writing, PBA students, parents, alumni, teachers, administrators, partners, supporters and a significant number of pets walked and ran 590.98 miles on September 18 and 19 – Happy International Day of Peace, September 21! I want to thank everyone for your participation, and to those of you who have already pledged support and/or will pledge support between now and October 19, the deadline to make a pledge for participants, thank you also. I was able to contribute a little over 20 miles to the effort, and the cross country team I coach walked and ran about 165 miles between us. The team and I started out with an early morning run around Diamond Head and Kapiolani Park on Saturday the 18th. There was a cool breeze, lots of folks outside enjoying the clear skies, and we swung the Buddha Bus by the Health Bar afterward for açai bowls following our run. Not a bad way to start the weekend! Turnout for the meetups at Diamond Head on the two evenings following were great fun also. We had the good fortune of good weather, good company, and only a few blisters reported from participants at the end of the walks.
|  PBA student and Mr. Josh pose for a photo before starting their walk.
| A few anecdotes: David Burkett was pretty certain he would win the prize for most miles walked after putting in an astounding 45.76 miles between the two days, but his classmate Ryan Lim clocked in with 56.58 miles! 36 students participated in this Fall edition of the Walk/Run for Peace, up from 32 participants the previous spring. | PBA alumni Paris Hitchcock, Chris Knight and Lisa Roerk joined our efforts. Paris and Lisa brought their dogs with them for the fun. And Bishop Matsumoto and Dr. Warren Tamamoto, President of the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, walked with us also. Of course, we will be able to count our efforts a real success if the work of our community inspires our families and supporters to donate to the school. So, on behalf of the school community, I want to ask you to consider making a donation to the school for the W/R4P. If you are a parent or friend of one of the participants, that person will surely ask you soon to consider making a donation on behalf of their efforts for the Walk/Run for Peace. But if you are a reader of the What’s New and inspired by the story of the school community’s 590 miles, you can find more information online here: https://pacificbuddhistacademy.org/giving/walk-run-for-peace Thank you all for your support for our unique school. It is our hope that all who wish to attend PBA are able to do so! | | CEO and Former PBA Alumnus Speaks on Starting his Own Business in Japan | |  Shawn Quinn enjoys the natures beauty in Japan
| Japan is known to design cute and creative characters for all to admire. Mascots, known as yuru-kara ( ゆるキャラ ), are characters in different colors and sizes that are popular throughout Japan. Their purpose is to promote tourism, businesses, and events. Class of 2013 PBA alumnus Shawn Quinn is the founding CEO of Mascot Monthly Mix, which operates as a subscription box company of Japanese snacks from various mascot-represented locations. He currently lives in Tokyo, where he is also head English teacher at 100 Classics Japan. After graduating from Sophia University in Chiyoda-ku with degrees in international management and economics, Shawn co-founded Mascot Monthly Mix with fellow PBA alumnus Daniel Cuthrell. “We work with Japanese mascots in order to help them curate a ‘taste-tour’ of their hometowns, including local specialties and other popular Japanese snacks. Our goal is to give customers a unique experience they can’t get anywhere else, and help folks | learn about these mascots and the wonderful places they come from,” said Shawn. The company features everything from seasonal KitKats to specialty coffees, fruit juices, and Japanese sodas. “In July, we worked with Taimee of Mie Prefecture, the official mascot of the town Minami-Ise, whose mother was a tangerine and father was a sea-bream. The mascot is a tangerine/sea-bream hybrid and in their box we included a cup noodle exclusive to Mie Prefecture, among other items.” When asked about his favorite parts of running a company, Shawn credits both his customers and team saying, “I’d be a bad business leader if my first answer wasn’t, ‘I love interacting with our customers.’ And it’s true! I also really like putting together the team that is Mascot Monthly Mix. As cheesy as it might sound, it’s my job as the CEO to build the right kind of team, and to shoulder the decisions that keep us going. Moreover, it's my job to keep us aligned with our core values, which means if I’m doing my job correctly, MMM operates as part of a community: benefiting our customers, the many other organizations we work with (especially the mascots and their hometowns), and ourselves. What is the point of being a company if we’re not all made better for it?” Shawn’s success does not come without hard work. “In Japan, the idea of a subscription-based business is almost unheard of. International shipping is also so broken right now that it costs us less to ship from Tokyo to Madagascar than it does from Tokyo to Hawaii. Though, I’m going to phrase this in the way that PBA taught me: the bad with the good, every setback is an opportunity. The hard work pays off, as I love learning about how much everyone enjoys experiencing unique parts of Japan through the mascots we work with,” said Shawn. As an English teacher, Shawn has had the opportunity to reflect on his time at PBA. “Curriculum in Japan typically relies on rote memorization. At 100 Classics, we believe that other approaches to learning can enhance students’ language abilities. Our unique philosophy reminds me a lot of PBA,” he explained. “Mr. Toyama is probably going to be reading this, so I want to say that he has inspired me to follow my passions. Mr. Heffernan is also one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. When I’m teaching English, I hope that I’m a cool cucumber like he is.” Mr. Heffernan reminisced about his time as Shawn’s teacher saying, “Shawn was one who loved to think outside the box and came up with some crazy answers to many of the challenges I presented to his class. He always did it with a smile and the more constraints I placed on him, the bigger his smile got. At one particular boat race, he and some of his senior classmates came back dressed in cardboard armor riding a pirate ship with their teacher (me) raiding up and down the pool harassing student-built boats all the while dodging catapults. It was a crazy day.” PBA wishes Shawn the best of luck on both his career as an English teacher and endeavors with Mascot Monthly Mix. To learn more about Mascot Monthly Mix and to subscribe, visit https://www.mascotmix.com | | SCHOOL ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS | | .png?v=1632336477035)
Students participating in the Walk/Run for Peace take a break for a photo op. | | 
The 2021-22 Cross Country Team is ready for the season! | |  IMPORTANT DATES
October 11 - Indigenous People's Day (Office Closed) October 22 - Teacher-In-Service | | |
