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| Riho Umitani Qualifies for the 2023 National Championships of the National Speech and Debate Association
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| Dear Readers of the What's New, |
| We danced the night away at the Elks Lodge on Friday, April 21 for this year’s Senior Banquet. Except for the chaperones at the front door, few noticed the two sophomores, Alexandra Keating and Riho Umitani, slipping out early to ensure a good night’s sleep for the Hawaii State Forensics Championships of the Hawaii Speech League. A good thing, the early evening: The three of us met the next morning at 6:45 a.m. at Punahou School for a full day of competition, three preliminary rounds to determine finalists, a championship round to determine final rankings, then the long wait for the awards ceremony to end the day at 10 p.m. |
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| The outcome? While Alexandra Keating narrowly missed qualifying for the championship round in Impromptu Speaking, Riho Umitani was announced the state champion in Original Oratory (OO) for her ten-minute speech “Rewriting the Quitting Narrative,” an achievement that will send her to the National Championships of the National Speech and Debate Association in mid-June in Phoenix, Arizona. Riho’s OO championship marks the second consecutive year she qualified for the national tournament. Last year, she qualified by placing second in the Informative Speaking event, and we traveled to Louisville, Kentucky for an education on the high-octane quality of national competition. I am proud of the full Dragons Speech and Debate squad: ninth graders Maya Galvez, Collin Hanney, and Dash Lauritsen; sophomores Alexandra and Riho; and junior Rintaro Kawai. During a full year of training and competition, we dabbled in Lincoln Douglas and Public Forum Debate and sunk our heels into Impromptu speaking and Original Oratory. The team as currently composed has ambitions to improve our participation in Lincoln Douglas Debate. |
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| Meanwhile, the team has thrown our efforts into fundraising for Riho’s trip to Arizona and a future Big Island tournament for the full team next winter: soft drinks and juice, baked goods, and a blowout Taco Tuesday the last week of the school year. The future is bright for Dragons Speech and Debate and we are establishing a strong foundation as a team. We have recruitment work to do – we have only five team members this year, so I will look to embed public speaking in PBA language arts classes more centrally. But I look forward to traveling to Arizona with Riho in June, where we will meet with second chaperone and 2021 HSL Informative Speaking state champion Naho Umitani. |
| We will be certain to include a story about our trip when we return later this summer. |
| Warmly, |
| Spring PBA Dragon Athletes
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| Aloha PBA Sports Fans, |
| We have a number of shout outs for our Spring Sports at PBA. First of all, our golf team let by dynamic duo Coach Mike and Coach Robert have finished their successful season. Juniors, Ryan Lim and James Robinson, sophomore Michael Shin, and freshmen Zac Robertson, Dash Lauritsen, Noah Batara, Jack Poiani and Liam Antipala answered the call to chase after that little white ball. They were up before dawn for some of their matches and always had on a smile. I had nothing to teach these young men about sportsmanship that they did not already demonstrate on the courses. |
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| I’m really proud of all of them and look forward to competitions next year. Sophomore, Sean Fitch, competed at the HHSAA Judo State Championship on Saturday, April 29th at the Stan Sheriff Center. Sean was the ILH league champion in the 198 pound weight class. He was seeded 3rd in the State. To add to that achievement, his PAC-5 team, in which we co-op with, took home the gold for both boys and girls in team competition. This accomplishment was a first in PAC-5 Judo history. Congratulations to Jolie Rapoza (9) who hung up her glove and bat for softball and gave track and field a shot. She is a speedster and we look forward to her future development. |
| Brady Blum '23, Breydon Gono '23, and Chase Sukekane '23, completed in an amazing season with our boys volleyball co-op with Hawaii Mission Academy. They were consistent starters and played with amazing team work. It has been an honor to watch those seniors develop over the years together. Currently we have two PBA student athletes, sophomores Evan Derauf and Rylan Villamor going out for spring football. PAC-5 football has one week of practice in the spring for preparation for the fall season. Dedication starts now and is a consistent habit if one wants to be highly successful. Congratulations to all athletes for representing yourselves well in all endeavors! |
| Aloha, |
| Student Jewelry and Entrepreneurship
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| After the success of our first Artist Showcase, some guests inquired about purchasing student artwork. In the early planning stages, that was originally the direction we saw the event going: A school-wide student marketplace. The task of having each student process payments and change for their art became too big of a hurdle to overcome this year, but we’ve since found a way to provide students in Beginning Jewelry Making class with the entrepreneurship experience of starting a small business. Students in the class have created original pieces that are now available for sale! Their teacher is Ms. Megan, who has been making and selling jewelry since she was in high school herself, and her brand Welo is available at Polu Gallery in Waikiki and Haleiwa as well as online. Newly added to her Welo website are pieces by the following eight PBA students: Karli Koyanagi ’23, Kira Iwashita ’23, Skye Li-Chan ’23, sophomores,Sophia Arguijo and Skye Kamali'o, and freshmen Malie Lindsey, Winnie Crawford, and Shekinah De Vol. |
| Techniques learned in the elective class include threading, wire wrapping, and manipulation of different jewelry findings such as clasps, jump rings, headpins, and crimps. “Jewelry making is an interesting class for me. I have learned how to use needle and round-nose pliers to make earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. I like that if something is broken, I can easily fix it myself without having to ask a professional,” said Malie. The purpose of their final project was to develop a personal style. Students were tasked with designing and creating a collection |
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| of pieces, pricing them, providing a description of length and materials, and taking photos of their work. Products can be found at the link below, with 100% of website sales going to the student artists in the form of an Amazon gift card. |
| Ms. Megan spoke on what inspired this project saying, “I tried to design this elective as a class that I would’ve wanted to take myself in high school. Going through the process of what is needed to run a small business is a great experience, and I think that the students became more motivated to master their techniques when they knew that people in the community would be buying their jewelry. The girls are always asking me how my small business is doing, so I thought I’d give them the opportunity to join me on the journey!” We hope you enjoy viewing the students’ hard work and creativity. Please note that items labeled, “Out of stock,” have already sold. These pieces will also soon be on display for in-person shopping at the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii Book Store located at 1727 Pali Highway. Thank you for supporting us and happy shopping! |
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1754 Lusitana Street, Honolulu, HI 96813
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