Pinion vol 90 issue 4

February 7, 2012Vol. 90, No. 4 McKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

by Brannagan Mukaisu

RS 12-0888

President William McKinley High SchoolThe Pini n

Cheerleading takes student to London“Practice till you bleed, don’t chase

after success, prepare for it” and “go hard or go home,” said Tenemane Malufau-Howell (12), a cheerleader at McKinley High School. Over the winter break, Malufau-Howell went to London to cheer for and represent Hawaii as well as the United States of America. She was the only one from Hawaii to go. Not only does she cheer for MHS, she is also a cheerleader for the Universal Cheerlead-ers Association, and the Na Hoku All Stars. Through UCA, Malufau-Howell was chosen to go to London to par-ticipate in the New Year’s Day London Parade.

The opportunity to go to London arose when she attended a UCA Camp last summer with the entire MHS cheer-leading squad. During the camp, they learned many different team-building activities and cheer skills. At the end of the camp, “we had to go through a test,” said Malufau-Howell. She said they were tested on a “jump sequence, dance, also cheer, and whoever got the most points got to go to London.”

Malufau-Howell started cheerleading when she was 14 years old and was part of the MHS cheer squad for her Junior Varsity year (9th and 10th grade).

In her junior year, she joined the Na Hoku All Stars team, which is an outside competitive cheerleading league, where she competed in the Las Vegas Jamz Na-tionals. In her senior year, she returned to cheer for MHS and got this chance to go to London. “I missed cheering with friends, rallies, and MHS games,” she said. Malufau-Howell has been cheer-leading for a total of four years, but within the last year she has cheered for three different teams, Na Hoku All Stars

in February, MHS Cheer Squad in May, and UCA in December.

She said in London she “had an amazing time, just to see all the historic sites, and learn more about the culture or the food.” She left Hawaii with UCA on December 26 and returned from London on January 3, having to fly for 32 hours, a 16 hour flight each way. To pass the time she read, slept, and watched “Bur-lesque.”

In order to prepare for the parade, Malufau-How-ell said, “what Varsity does, is it’s this huge com-pany, and the coaches do not have time to teach 300 girls and boys, because there were maybe about 900 cheerleaders all to-gether and on top of that, there’s family and friends all in the hotel, so its like this big “Bring It On” movie in real life, so what they do is they sent out our uniforms, pompoms, a DVD that we had to learn a month and a half prior to when we left, we learned it, and then once we get up there we are ex-pected to know it, we have one rehearsal date and then we go straight into the pa-rade.” Varsity and UCA are two compa-nies that go hand in hand, Varsity makes the uniforms for UCA.

At the parade, they cheered for two hours. In the parade there were not only cheerleaders, but “all different types of

Malufau-Howell also got to see the homes of Elton John, the prime minister, and where Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga stayed.

acts going on... all at once,” The parade was televised as well as shown online at Varsity.com.

During her eight day stay in London, she stayed at the Guoman Tower and visited the Millennium Dome which has more than 600 stairs, visited cathedrals, plays, and went on a cruise. “We went to the London Eye which is this big ferris wheel that takes a good 40 minutes to go around just once,” said Malufau-Howell.

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2 THE PINION February 7, 2012

English teacher Tony Nickelsen was on the set of Hawaii 5-O. Check out his story online at myhsj.org/pinion.

continued from page 1

Cheerleader shares London experience

around just once,” said Malufau-Howell. “The money exchange was very new to me. The value of the dollar is super low. 60 American dollars is equivalent to 34 pounds,” she said.

Another experience was the food. “The cuisine that I also tasted was the local fish and chips, and the chips were actually pretty big. They weren’t the size of actual fries in America. It was the size of my middle finger. It was the smallest chip I’ve seen in London,” she said.

“London had a lot of baked foods, more baked food in their fast food restau-rants,” she said. “I was pretty surprised because a lot of the restaurants they do not fry it, they bake it, so the burgers they bake it, and the fries they bake it. The gelato was more authentic up there because they made it from scratch.”

Be sure to watch “It’s Academic Hawaii” February 27, 7:00 pm on KFVE. English teacher Tony Nickelsen coached seniors David Chung, Clarrise Lee, and Jayne Yang.

“I’m more of a competitive cheerleader so after high school I’m not going to be cheer-leading for maybe at least two years and I just want to get more tumbling, more basics, more skills and I wouldn’t mind going to competitive,” she said. She will be applying to Hawaii Pacific University as well as other universities and Europe gave her a posi-tive outlook on studying abroad. She said, “working with people hands-on is what I really like to do.”

Pinion Staff Adviser: Cynthia Reves (publishing) Nancy Wilcox (photography) Editor: Amanda Muramoto Reporters: Kelsey David, Brannagan Mukaisu, Pauline Yang, Jocel Siapno

Publication InformationTHE PINION is published by the

Newswriting Staff and printed by the Reprographics Learning Center.

The PinionMcKinley High School1039 South King Street

Honolulu, HI 96814Email comments or questions to

[email protected]

OPINION POLL RESULTS

How do you feel about New Year’s Eve without fireworks?

It’s great! Let the pros do the shows - 20%

I don’t care. New Year’s is still New Year’s -

25%It’s boring. I can’t play

with fire! - 60%

Malufau-Howell said, “The people are very straightforward so they don’t say, ‘Excuse me I’m sorry’ in the tube aka subway. The people were really nice when you talked to them and they had very thick accents.” What she found to be funny was everyone in London told her she had an accent. The languages and cultures she encountered in London consisted of French, English, Irish, Slo-vakian and Russian.

For a future in cheerleading, Malufau-Howell said, Through her cheerleading journey, Malufau-Howell says the best part of being a cheerleader is “being a role model for some of the younger children and getting into shape because cheerleading is a pretty hard sport.” Her advice is to always “stay positive, take chances, challenge and focus on your-self. Put heart and soul into your dreams (110%).... Representing your school is the best thing you could do as a cheer-leader.”

The Pinion is now on Twitter! Follow us at mhspinion.

Macon Telegraph/MCT

Juzhen Zhang wrote a Chinese summary for these stories. Visit myhsj.org/pinion to read them.

Juzhen Zhang 将为以下文章提供中文总结。同学们可以到myhsj.org/pinion在线阅读此版本。

拉拉队 Cheerleader Goes to London属于老师的奖 Teacher gets award真实或谎言的文章 Truth or Lies?

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See Ms. Reves in E207

Check online to see Malufau-Howell do a cheerleading stunt at myhsj.org/pinion

February 7, 2012 THE PINION 3

... For anyone that keeps an adequate balance between telling the truth and posing no harm to anyone, it is permis-sible to tell lies.

-Shengyuan Su

... People deserve to know the truth if they ask for it even though it might hurt them. One time I knew something my friend did not know about her boyfriend. I thought about it a lot. “Do I tell her or do I hide it from her?” When she asked me, I figured it was the right thing to do to tell the truth because, if you ask for the truth, expect the truth.

-Shawnee Brent

... Being absolutely truthful is a very hard thing to do; however, many good things can come out of it. ...

When the truth is told, it’s easier to maintain and support the given idea or opinion because a story, tall tale, or his-tory is not needed to be invented/made-up. People who lie tend to invent stories in order to cover it up. However, just by asking them for details, they are rapidly twisted on their track or explanation and eventually forget some details to make sense of the lie. By not even lying, none of this heavy thinking is needed; just tell the truth and everything will be easier.

-Paul Santiago

TRUTHor

Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph/MCT

Sophomore English students were asked: Is it always necessary to tell the truth, regardless of the consequences, or are there times when it is permissible to tell a lie? What “rule” should guide a person in determining when to tell the truth or to tell a lie? Some

believe one must always tell the truth. Others believe lying, or “bending the truth” is permissible in certain cases.

... The truth can make you come off as a very rude person. For example, one time my mom asked me to go out to lunch so that I could spend time with her and my aunty. Honestly, I see them everyday, and I had better things to do. However, if I did say that I didn’t want to go, that would just seem rude because she’s offering to do something nice for me and her, but I’m turning it down. So, of course, I said I would love to go.

-Sydney Pederson

... Somebody made a simile that truth is fire and a lie is paper. When you want to tell a lie to cover the truth, it is not possible, just like paper cannot cover fire.

-Yin Hei Lao

... I believe that it is not always neces-sary to tell the truth and there will be times when it is permissible to tell a lie... Always telling the truth may hurt your loved ones, and maybe even yourself as well. ...My grandmother bought me this shirt, which didn’t exactly suit my taste, and asked me whether I liked it or not. I told her “not really,” and she ended up getting pretty upset and just walked away. Seeing her frown made me feel guilty. As you can see, the truth may hurt the people you love. When you hurt the people you love, not only do you hurt them emotionally, but you hurt yourself as well, because it might pain you to see

your loved ones unhappy. Before telling the truth, you must consider other peo-ple’s feelings as well as the consequences that come with it. Yes, you might be helping them out by telling them your actual opinion or the truth, but you may want to think about how that person will feel in the end as different people take the truth differently.

-Heather Situ

... Whenever you tell the truth, you can gain that person’s trust. By constant-ly telling the truth to someone, that per-son will know that you are trustworthy because you wouldn’t lie to them. I know from personal experience that telling the truth will gain a person’s trust. I lied to my parents a couple of times, and they wouldn’t let me do anything because they believed I was lying to them, so I started telling the truth every time I could. Now my parents believe I’m trustworthy and let me do what I want to do.

-Andrew Nguyen

... There are many reasons why you have to tell the absolute truth. First, you should always tell the truth so that you don’t lose the trust of others on you. For example, when you didn’t do your home-work and just copied someone else’s work. Your teacher found out and asked you about it, but you decided to tell a lie. You’ll be in more trouble because the next time that you do your homework and you really did it this time, your teacher might think that you just copied someone again.

-John Rhyan Illacas

4 THE PINION February 7, 2012

February 7, 2012 THE PINION 5

by Jaynielle Bannagao (9)

by Xiao Ting Pan (9)

by Richard Hong (10)

by YongLan Lin (11)

Nengajo--They are postcards that the Japanese send to friends and family for the new year. (Similar to Christmas cards, but instead express thankfulness and friendship to it’s recipient.)

Japanese teacher, Sandra Oda, had her students draw their own nengajo for the 2012, the year of the dragon.

Keith Simmons/MCT

6 THE PINION February 7, 2012

Valentine’s Day

My Heart is like Glassby Natasha Moananu (10)

My heart is like glass.Be careful while you’re holding my heart,

‘cause it could shatter into pieces when it falls.Falling in love is like placing a glass at the end of the table.

My heart is clear.It breaks after every tear.

My heart is fragile.When it breaks it’s too much for me to handle.

My heart is glass.Sometimes I think it’s better to leave it broken

than for me to cut myselftrying to put it back together.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Tree of Lifeby Calvin Tran (10)

Who am I?

I am an apple treeIt all starts from a small seed

Then slowly I grow big and strong

The great big trunk of the tree is my bodyThe fresh verdant oval shaped leaves represent my hair

The stiff brown branches are like my armsAnd my legs and feet are the long scattered roots

And finally my bright shiny scarlet applesThey are a beacon of my loveOne for each and every one

My friends, my family, and the people I love

The apples represent a deep, strong bondThe longer my friendship is, the bigger the apple growsThe stronger the love is, the sweeter my apples becomeSometimes friendship and love are lost, that’s when my

apples drop

This shows the deep memorable scars of my love and friendship

All the bad and rotten apples one by one descend to the ground

Leaving me lighter and free to carry new applesI am an apple tree

“We took this pic at Aloha Tower after our adventure to Kailua.”

From: Stacy Suda (11) To: Shutaro Nakase (10)

“My heart isn’t complete without your help.” From: Sarah Liu (11) To: Dat Vo (11)

I just loved your article about Hawaii Five-0! I’m a fan of this show, and I would totally freak out if I met the actor that plays Steve McGarrett. I love him a lot. I am also proud of being a McKinley High School student because this shows that our school has the nicest buildings out of the other high schools on Oahu since famous people or TV stars come to our school. My dad met the actor Scott Caan, and he is a very nice guy. I also feel proud of my uncle and aunty because they made signs for Hawaii Five-0. I would love to watch this episode … to see the actors, actresses, and McKinley High School! Thank you again. Wooo! Hawaii Five-0!

Kendell Blaisdell (10)

I would like to say something about our Round 1 HSA results. There are some things that I like about the HSA and some things I don’t like about it. First of all, what I like about the HSA is that it helps you improve your skills in different subjects and can show you where you are right now. You can see your progress in your HSA test scores. Knowing how you are doing is a good thing because throughout high school you will have to learn more about these subjects until you go into college. Sec-ondly the things that I don’t like about it is that the HSA is a serious test which makes all students have that worried look and depression, including me. Having those kinds of feeling doesn’t make your day right and it shouldn’t be that way. Lastly, another reason why I don’t like the HSA test is that once you get your results, you get very frustrated because, if you fail the test, you will have to take it again later on. That’s why people hate it and why some people who score like 1 or 2 points away from passing feel frustrated and irritated. In conclusion, I wouldn’t say to not have the test but to just say that it could be a nuisance. All in all, the HSA can be a good thing because later on it will be a study guide before you move on to the next level.

Alex Ku (10)

I really like the article about “English teacher gets her dance on” because I ac-tually had her for English. I really think it’s cool that teachers have a secret life outside of school. It is cool knowing that your teacher is also a dancer for Polyne-sian Cultural Center. This is something I should know because Mrs.Serrao was my English teacher. Please find out what other teachers do outside of school.

Arman Nazarian (10)

I enjoyed the article on the Pono Proj-ect because I didn’t know what it was about, I heard about it from people and saw them wearing the T-shirt but no one told me what this was really about. But after I read this I clearly understood what it was about and why the creator wanted to make it. This article described how difficult it was to make, but it also showed the determination of the creators. This is a unique program that says a lot about our school and our students. This was a great story to put on the front page.

Gavin Mateo (10)

I like your article on “Student experi-ences Vietnam” because it’s really inter-esting to see someone travel out of state and explore new places and cultures.Also, since I’m Vietnamese, it’s really fascinating to read something about my culture. I didn’t know Vietnam had a rice plantation, plus I haven’t been to the places you’ve mentioned in the article. I also like how it’s based on one of the stu-dents at our school. She also shows that she’s a community contributor because she communicated with a teacher to cre-ate PAAC club, and it actually happened. Manabu seems like a dedicated student who works hard and is also interested in learning and viewing new experiences. I enjoyed reading your article based on Vietnam and a student at our school. Your message to us was very inspiring and it makes me want to view what there is to life.

Ann Nguyen (10)

Dear editor...Editorial

February 7, 2012 THE PINION 7

8 THE PINION February 7, 2012

Last November 23, the 121 stu-dents of the Freshman House called “808-Tigers”went to an educational field trip to Sea Life Park. The purpose of this trip for the students was to learn, to get to know their fellow House students better, and to bond with their five House teachers, which are Gregory Staszak, math teacher, Akenese Nikolao-Mutini, social Studies teacher, Bob Morikuni, physical education teacher, Matthew Johnson, English teacher and Harolyne Grant, science teacher. The teachers mentioned were the ones who conducted this trip. Grant said, “Currently, there are two freshmen and two sophomore Houses in the Small Learning Commu-nities at McKinley High School, each House plans its own bonding/learning activities, usually by quarter or semes-ter. I volunteered to do the paperwork

McKinley High School has announced its OC16 Teacher for School Year 2011-12. The teacher who got this award is a social studies teacher who has 10 years experience of teaching, nine of which have been at McKinley.

Top left to right: Freshmen Joshua Mar-tin, Macjun Otarra, Aaron Van, Bruce Socito,Gilbert Antonio, Dexter Ballesteros. Bottom left to right: Jones Garcellano, teach-ers Akenese Nikolao-Mutini and Harolyne Grant, Marlon Yabut.

Freshmen house attends educa-tional tripby Jocel Siapno

the park. Besides eating and shopping at the park’s stores and restaurants, the group was able to answer questions in the trip assignment booklet by attending dolphin shows at Hawaii Ocean Theatre and Dolphin Cove, seal & sea lion shows at Kolohe Kai stage and Seal Habitat, observing fishes in the Reef Tank, Green Turtles at feeding time and penguin watching. “I think the kids had the most fun at the Touching Pool Exploration. They got to put their hands in the water and hold living ocean animals,” Grant added. Students Matthew Connor, Wil-son Yang, Binh Mai and Laila Khong all agreed: “The sea cucumbers are the slimiest things in the Touching Pools!”

By the time the three school buses pulled away from Sea Life Park, drove the scenic route around Makapu’u Beach, the Blow Hole, and Hanauma Bay, no one seemed to mind that they hit rush hour traffic. Commute time was used to scan through a lot of photos, discuss booklet answers, and compare park sou-venirs. “Where shall we go next trip?” Johnson asked the group getting off at the MHS gym. The common shout rang out: “Let’s go back to Sea Life Park!”

this first 808-Tiger trip.” Chaperones included school counselors, behavioral specialists and ELL teacher assistants.

“We chose Sea Life Park on Oahu’s south shore because it is such a beauti-ful outdoor venue. Adults love it, so we knew the students would too,” Grant continued. The first event of the day was a lecture by Sea Life Park trainers on how the animals are cared for and trained. The trainer also told the group that all Sea Life Park animals were ob-tained from waters within five miles of

by Juzhen Zhang (12)

Teacher receives award

He wanted a career that could make him feel fulfilled and satisfied, so he chose to become a teacher. In his mind, he sees McKinley as a beautiful place for teachers to teach and a nice environ-ment for students to get a good educa-tion. “I feel very fortunate to be a teacher at MHS,” he said. For his students, he

“hopes that they all can find a career that is suitable for them and in this way become happy, productive, law-abiding citizens.”

He said each subject has its own strengths; however, social studies can lead students to the right and moral way in our community. He quoted Dr. Mar-tin Luther King, Jr., who said “We have guided missiles and misguided men.” Therefore, he felt that becoming a so-cial studies teacher was meaningful. He said, “We have an opportunity to help our youth become the guided men and women of tomorrow.”

He is a very humble teacher because when Principal Ron Okamura informed him about the award, he was surprised, and his first feeling was to “gratefully decline it on the grounds that with so many other qualified teachers here - well, how could I accept?” In the end, he hum-bly accepted the award on behalf of all McKinley’s faculty.

When speaking of his goals for the rest of his career, he said, “It can seem that the more you teach, the less you feel you know, and it is like a dog trying to catch his tail. One day I hope to catch the tail.”

Principal Ron Okamura said that Bott also “has been a strong advocate in trying to get Presi-dent Obama to come here and speak to all of our students.” Photo by Jayna Wong (12)