Vol 92 No 3 December

THE PINI N Student-edited paper of McKinley High School

Honolulu, HawaiiVol. 92 No. 3 December 2013

Eight McKinley High School representatives met on October 24 to discuss preparations for the 150th school anniversary in 2015-16. Today’s sophomores will be seniors during the anniver-sary year.

Although they are still putting their ideas together, the com-mittee has agreed to four major events to be held before and during the anniversary. The first one is a golf tournament, which will probably be held in September 2014, and will serve as a fun-draiser for the 150th anniversary.

Also, there will be a fair during Black and Gold Week of the anniversary year. It will be open to the whole community, and there will be a need for lots of volunteers coming from MHS students.

Then, there will be a Homecoming Luau, also open to the whole community. Finally, the committee is planning an Anni-versary Ball. Members are still undecided on the dress code

Areas to work on also showed up, from videos and yearbooks to guests and visitors to prizes and souvenirs.

School plans for 150th anniversary celebration

by Keisha Togores

• Officially established in 1865 as the Fort Street English Day School by Maurice B. Beckwith

• November 1869, the English Day School moved to a new stone building on the corner of Fort and School Streets

• Fort Street School moved to the Princess Ruth’s Palace in 1865 and was renamed Honolulu High School

• In 1907, Honolulu High School moved to the corner of Beretania and Victoria Streets

• Name changed to McKinley High School• In 1923, McKinley High School was

moved to its current location

McKinley Trivia

2 THE PINION mhspinion.comNEWS

Individuality is shown through expres-sion. One of those ways is through dance. For Dance Club leaders Ryan Aberilla and Filamer Doronio, it is important to know about the diversity of different people and how they dance.

“People react to things differently,” Do-ronio said. At the leadership conference he learned how to deal with these types of people.

“You need to cooperate as a family,” Aberilla said. It is important to know about people’s personalities in order to adapt. He said that it is easier to get along with others if he is able to understand how they feel. Aberilla said that some people love interaction while others usually want to keep to themselves. He learned how to deal with different types of people in the conference so he could improve himself,

Dancers take spin as leaders

as well as those he works with.While it is important to work together,

problems come up. Dancing involves teamwork. People with differing per-sonalities usually have to work harder to cooperate. Doronio said that there are

always ways to solve these, and that there is always a way to move on.

“There’s always going to be another day,” Doronio said.

The leadership conference taught these two dancers how to adapt and overcome.

Filamer Doronio finds importance of learning from experiences.

Ryan Aberilla learns importance of teamwork.

by Silvana Bautista

Go Green Club’s president, Jeremy Tongpalan, found Kim Gennaula’s speech very interesting. Gennaula gave a speech at the leadership conference concern-ing perseverance. Her speech included the many failures of President Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, faced a lot of hardships in his life. This included losing his mother and his child. Also, Lincoln had run for office many times and failed before fi-nally becoming president.

Tongpalan said he was moved when he

heard about Lincoln’s many hardships. By including Lincoln, former news an-chor Gennaula showed Tongpalan that even highly acclaimed historical figures face failure, move on and improve. Gen-naula. who now heads Aloha United Way, gave students like Tongpalan a vision that anything is possible if they work enough for it.

In addition, Tongpalan said he believes leadership is important. He said that courage, thinking outside of the box, and taking risks are important for a leader.

After listening at the leadership confer-ence, Tongpalan said it was important to “dream big, shoot high and be different.”

Powerful speech moves emerging leader to actionby Silvana Bautista

Leadership conference inspires

Jeremy Tongpalan finds Abraham Lincoln’s story inspirational.

THE PINION 3mhspinion.com

The Pinion Staff

Adviser: Cynthia Reves Editors: Silvana Bautista and Sean Gleason Reporters: Isaiah Blanko-Rettig, Shaunna Keb, Jane Lavea, Daniel Le, Lin Song, Keisha Togores, Austin Watkins, Publication Information

THE PINION is published by the Newswriting Class and printed by the

Reprographics Learning Center.The Pinion

McKinley High School1039 South King Street

Honolulu, HI 96814Email comments or questions to

[email protected]

NEWS

If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immen-sity of the sea.

--Antoine De Saint ExuperyThe Emerging Leaders Conference

was held on Nov. 1 in Hilton Hawaiian Village. The conference theme was “It starts with a vision.” The conference was supported by McKinley High School and

the Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders. High school student leaders and teachers in Ha-waii joined this event.

Introductions were made by Ron Okamura, Kim Gennaula, Katie Chang and April Nakamura at the beginning. Students then went to different rooms to learn about the subject they had an inter-est in. Each session was held by outstand-ing leaders in the society. From the topic of overcoming challenges to bringing people together, speakers gave the teen-agers precious knowledge. The leaders also shared their own experience with the teenagers.

A networking activity period was last. Students sat around the table according to a random order and exchanged what

they had learned from their day, as well as their own experiences as a leader. It allowed students to meet more people and to gain information.

Some athletes were also at the meeting. Their coaches said how they could try to get their players more invoved.

“It is always hard to let them stand in a line and listen to the guidance on a hot afternoon, but by trying to use different tones and ways, I can finally get them in-volved as well,” said an athletic captain.

“I want to be a leader and I think that person is the key role of a team. It’s hard though,” a junior said.

“Actually, every individual can be a leader in his or her own life. Even if one doesn’t have any position or title, it doesn’t mean he or she can’t be a leader,” said a math teacher. As a student, arrang-ing spare time well can show the ability to organize work. Supporting friends and giving others help means the ability to encourage a team. Besides, cooperating with classmates together to do projects, making a perfect presentation, or just be-ing a popular person all reflect the ability of leadership. “Leaders may not be the best one in the team but should be the key role to encourage and lead others,” said Stanley Lau, the founder of Hawaii Tech Support.

From the conference, the young leaders have learned a lot. There are still more things to learn as well as challenges to confront. However, as Senator Jill Tokuda said, “There’s a way to take your chal-lenges and deal with them. It’s what life is all about.”

“Leaders may not be the best one in the team but should be the key role to encourage and lead others.” --Stanley Lau, Hawaii Tech Support

Leadership conference inspires

by Lin Song

Student leaders assemble at Hilton, enhance leadership

What can you find at mhspinion.com?

• Flour baby story• Videos• PollsFollow us on twitter and instagram.Like us on facebook.

This baby has two faces. Photo by Austin Watkins.

4 THE PINION mhspinion.com

The 2013 College and Career Fair on Nov. 15 attracted lots of students and par-ents to come for information. The exhibi-tors as well as six volunteers from the Leo Club all put lots of energy into it.

The members were responsible for giving out information booklets at the en-trance as well as drinks to the representa-tives and solving the problems of guests.

“When I see their smiles and they say ‘thank you’ after I help them, I feel really great,” said My Lu, one of the volunteers.

An exhibitor said, “I’m so thirsty from introducing all the time and when I get the water they give, I just feel my life is saved!”

Giving out booklets seemed to be an easy thing, but standing straight for hours with a smile was tiring. Everyone was hungry after three hours of work-ing. They were given dinner. A volunteer said, “Both the food and experience are rewards of our hard work. ”

The Leos are looking forward to more chances to volunteering. “We can always learn something from the experience and

the event itself,” said Yujun Peng.Since 1973, the Hawaii College & Ca-

reer Fair has been Hawaii’s premier annu-al college and career fair linking Hawaii’s students, families and communities to higher education and career opportunities. Each year over 12,000 students and fami-lies visit the Hawaii College & Career Fair

statewide, making it one of the largest higher education events in Hawai’i.

The Hawai’i College and Career Fair is an annual, non-profit community event for high school students, teachers, counselors, parents, college students preparing for graduate study, and for adults planning career changes or continuing education. This statewide Fair is held on Oahu, Kona, Hilo, Maui, and Kaua’i.

Each year, the Fair has been planned and is closely supervised by a committee of educators and specialists with a wide range of training and expertise. The pur-pose of the Fair is to provide college and career information through handouts, ex-hibits, demonstrations, and opportunities to speak face-to-face to representatives of higher education institutions.

Over 200 exhibitors participate in this Fair each year. This Fair includes col-leges, universities, professional schools, technical, industrial and trade schools, military services and academies, business and finance groups, and visitor and tourist industries.

Over 200 colleges and organizations including public institutions, private insti-tutions, Hawai’i institutions, US mainland institutions and even international institu-tions were at the fair. Students and parents have learned a lot of information from the introduction of the exhibitors.

“My son would like to go to college in California. The information about the ap-plication and financial aids are very help-ful, ”said a father.

Volunteers experience College and Career Fairby Lin Song

“We can always learn something from the experience and the event itself.” --Yujun Pang

Art from Open Clip Art

NEWS

THE PINION 5mhspinion.com

by Lin Song

As the application season comes again, one unavoidable ques-tion is raised: Stay in Hawaii or go to mainland for college? Next to deciding whether or not to go to university, it is likely to be the most important decision that a Hawaii high school student will face.

Different people have different reasons to stay or to leave.

Education The education in the mainland might be a big attraction. “I

don’t plan to stay in Hawaii because I’d like to major in art. The education in the mainland or Europe will be better,” said Victo-ria Lu.

Cost Here are statistics about tuition and fees from College Board.

UH Manoa: $9,904 in-state, $27,472 out-of-stateKCC: $3,240 in-state, $9,180 out-of-stateUniversity of Oregon: $9,763 in-state, $29,788 out-of-stateUC Berkeley: $12,864 in-state, $35,742 out-of-stateUSC: $46,363 in-state, $46,363 out-of-state

As you see, lower cost is one of the reasons for students to choose to stay in Hawaii. Actually, the expense is usually far lower than the published price.Y ou can use a college’s net price calculator (most colleges have these on their websites) to get a customized estimate of your net price for that college. Campus transfer is also a good choice.

Independence If you decide to stay home, you can receive a very good

education. If you go to the mainland, you might receive an excellent education-- and “another education” which is to be independent.

Living on the mainland enables Hawaii students to have a wider variety of experiences than they would have here -- ev-erything from meeting people from divergent backgrounds to making their own travel arrangements, to “road trips” across the country. Many students might be forced to do their laundry for the first time.

Eugenia Pang, a junior, is eager to go to a mainland college. “The life to live by myself in mainland can bring new things and new friends. I’m looking forward to that kind of life. ”

Many students who choose mainland schools do so because they want to “get off the rock and experience new things.” That’s fine, but many of these “new things,” like freezing weather, limited sunshine, lack of the aloha spirit and igno-rance of the state drive them back home after their freshman year. So respect your own choice. When you think you are wrong at some points, make proper and reasonable adjust-ments.

We always have to make choices. That’s what life is all about. Whatever the choice is, your life won’t be definitely successful or terrible just because of the university you go to. If you are accepted by a university, it means some of your abil-ities are already affirmed. Wherever you are, think positively, make use of the conditions and believe in yourself.

To go or not to goHawaii students facecollege decisions

NEWS

6 THE PINION mhspinion.com

Writers from McKinley High School Pinion visited the Civil Beat newsroom in Kaimuki in October to explore, compare, and get ideas for their own newsroom.

Presenting were Alia Wong, who was a long-time intern at Civil Beat before land-ing her position as a reporter, and Eric Pape, who is a deputy editor at Civil Beat.

Pape has worked as a journalist on five continents with publications such as Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Los An-geles Times, and Foreign Policy

The Civil Beat newsroom was orga-nized yet chaotic. Everything was neat except for the individual desk of each writer. The Pinion staffers took notes on how to make their newsroom look more sophisticated.

The kind of ideas that they got for their newsroom is being organized, a comfort zone, and having a lot of space for ideas and writing.

Pape advised students on how to be-come a great news writer. He said, “To pencil out your ideas, it’s good to get off the computer.”

Writers are often stuck to the computer. Pape said you could pencil out your ideas anywhere, on post it notes, the white board, or anything that you look at every day to remind you.

Wong also explained how each of them has their own personal space to work, al-lowing them to get comfortable and get their work done.

Pinion videographer Austin Watkins asked Pape what to do when the person you’re interviewing does not want to talk

to you. Pape said that he should convince them that he is serious with his work, show them that he is experienced, and try to be vulnerable.

He also advised that anytime you in-terview someone, make sure that you are prepared. Know everything about your topic, be competitive, humorous and sen-sitive. “Have a game face, be professional, and be sensitive,” Pape said.

The Pinion partners with Civil Beatto give staffers professional knowledgeby Jane Lavea

“It’s good to get off the computer.” --Eric Page, Civil Beat deputy editor

Back from left: Gene Park (engagement edi-tor), Alia Wong (reporter focusing on educa-tion), Eric Page (deputy editor). Jane Lavea, Austin Watkings, Silvana Bautista, Daniel Le, Lin Song, Sean Gleason.

The Bill of Rights became law on Dec. 15, 1791. Freedom of Press is one of those rights. Express your thoughts about this freedom in the High School Essay Contest sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists. Deadline is March 7, 2014. Topic: “Why is it important that we have news media that are independent of the government?”

NEWS

THE PINION 7mhspinion.com

Black text flashes across the screen, an attempt to shoot a bullet into someone’s heart. A facebook wall post, an anony-mous comment on Tumblr or Ask.fm, a tweet - it can lead to rumors and insults which brings tears and and a large cut in someone’s self-esteem.

With the anonymous option, bullying has been taken to a whole new level.

While threatening to take someone’s money or shoving their books to the ground as you walk past are all obvious forms of bullying, cyberbullying often does not attract attention until it is too late.

Victims are often too afraid to stand up for themselves.

Online, bullying becomes much easier as it all comes through the form of text. It is easier to type things online, where there is almost no way to get caught.

Cyberbullying does not occur as often on Facebook or Twitter since there is no anonymous feature available. However, websites such as Tumblr and Ask.fm do offer that feature, and there is no way to track the bully unless one attempts the te-dious act of tracking the IP, which allows one to track the bully’s location.

Recently at McKinley High School, a cyberbullying issue hit nationwide news as the cheerleaders were accused of this issue. As punishment, the team was not able to attend practices or wear and use anything that relates to their sport.

Bullying can be prevented. The admin-istration held a mandatory meeting for all sports teams where the administration talked about the consequences of bullying and how it can affect the victims.

Public Service announcements can be played every morning on the school’s bul-letin, events could be held to raise aware-ness against bullying. Motivational guest speakers could give words of wisdom about bullying to many students.

However, it is up to the student if they would like to take in all the information to better themselves or to just let the in-formation slip out the other ear.

by Catherine Truong, guest writer

Cyberbullying gains attention at McKinley

“You represent us, so we wanted you guys to get the message first.” --Principal Ron Okamura

After McKinley High School cheerlead-ers were accused of cyberbullying, all the athletes had to go to the auditorium after

school to discuss cyberbullying.“You represent us, so we wanted you

guys to get this message first,” said Princi-pal Ron Okamura. The principal said that whatever athletes do, it reflects back onto themselves, their school, and their fam-ily. Okamura said he wants the athletes to

know “what’s cool and what’s not cool.” A form of bullying that happens on-

line is called cyberbullying. About 4,400 people die each year and 100 attempted to because of it. As for high school students, 14% have committed suicide and 7% have attempted. This is why cyber bullying is such a serious crime according to bullying statistics. http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/bullying-and-suicide.html

McKinley athletes were reported for cyberbullying on TV.

“Is that the kind of news that McKinley would want to portray? I don’t think so,” an HPD officer told the athletes. “The way you do anything is the way you do everything,” the officer said.

He showed a video about cyberbullying and also handed out a questionnaire. He also said that cyberbullying is against the law in Hawaii.

Athletes attend manditorysession on cyberbullying

by Daniel Le

HPD officer and principal speak

NEWS

8 THE PINION mhspinion.com

Katniss Everdeen may have won the Hunger Games, but the sequel quickly establishes that things are worse than ever for her. Katniss finds herself once more competing, but this time against 23 previ-ous winners.

The biggest change from the previous movie is the director. Thankfully, Francis Lawrence maintains the tone established previously by Gary Ross and further ex-pands upon it.

Once more we feel the bleakness of Panam and the sterile, manufactured hap-piness of the capital and those who live there. However what really comes across here is the sadness of the scenario.

The Hunger Games existing is horrible enough on its own, but Katniss and her fellow victors being forced to compete once again is another level of cruelty.

As with the previous movie, the love tri-angle aspect is present but not the focus. For Katniss and Peeta, the film portrays the terrible situation they’re in. Katniss is forced to play as a love-sick girl as part of President Snow’s twisted show.

When it came to Katniss’ and Gale’s relationship, I felt it had a very “Romeo and Juliet” feel to it. They may never be together without risking the image Kat-niss and Peeta have created.

When we finally get to the arena, Kat-niss finds herself once again fighting for her life alongside Peeta and a few allies. However, it’s not so much the other com-batants they’re facing, but the arena itself.

I felt the environmental difficulties that the arena put forth were Katniss’ and her allies’ biggest challenge, the other contes-tants not making much of an appearance after the games initially begin.

Overall, “The Hunger Games:Catching Fire” is a strong installment in this con-fident series, and I can’t wait for what’s next to come.

‘Catching Fire’ leavesviewers ready for more

For over three weeks, the movie “Grav-ity” has held the number one spot for box office sales. At first, when I saw the trailer long ago, I wasn’t really interested. “Gravity” just seemed like a linear boring story in space with big name actors. How-ever, after seeing its success, I decided to see what was so great about it, and boy I sure wasn’t disappointed.

“Gravity” is about Dr. Ryan Stone, a scientist on a space shuttle mission headed by astronaut Matt Kowalsky, a talkative, charismatic leader full of colorful stories that he shares with his crewmates as well as mission control. As the two are on a space walk, debris hits the area where they are working, and soon the pair finds themselves detached from their ship and stranded in space.

From beginning to end “Gravity” keeps you on the edge of your seat, and even throws in a couple of jump scares and dis-

comforting scenes. “Gravity”delivers a vi-sual feast for your eyes with stunning jaw-dropping shots of earth from a multitude of perspectives. However, when it comes to the story, I feel that it doesn’t hold up to its excellent visual effects. For you see, in reality, the storyline is very simple and follows a point A to point B route with a

few major plot points. Although the story gives little depth to the plot and the char-acters, how they presented and ordered it was very well done and makes up for the former. In the end, I couldn’t have seen the movie done in any other way and I would give “Gravity” an 8/10.

by Sean Gleason

Some arena scenes were filmed on Oahu’s North shore.

by Sean Gleason

Student reviewer gives ‘Gravity’ 8/10

EDITORIAL

THE PINION 9mhspinion.com EDITORIALS

In the past, humans ate in order to stay alive - in order to survive. As time passed and the food industry evolved, food and eating has become more of an aspect of social life rather than a way to survive.

Many of the food products sold in stores do more damage than people real-ize. Various additives and chemicals are added to foods that many people eat every day. In order to avoid unhealthy food, it is important to pay special attention to labels.

If Americans knew what they were ac-tually putting into their bodies they would be flabbergasted.

One popular but unhealthy additive is high fructose corn syrup, which can be found in soft drinks, salad dressings and breakfast cereals. HFCS is made from genetically modified corn and then processed with genetically modified en-zymes. Studies have shown that more

than half of HFCS samples contain mer-cury, which has been linked to cancer and liver damage.

Another common additive is enriched flour, frequently found in bread, pastries, cookies, pizza and pasta. The human body treats it as refined starch because the flour has been stripped of its nutrients after it’s been bleached using toxic chemi-cals.

MSG is used as a flavor enhancer and can be found in salad dressings, chips, frozen entrees, soups and is often found in Chinese food.

There are alternative wholesome foods that provide the body with the nutrients it needs. The healthiest vegetables are dark, leafy greens. One healthy vegetable is kale, which is rich in vitamin K, fiber and antioxidants. It’s been known to fight cancer.

Since many sources of protein are also high in fat, it is hard to find a nutritious

source. One of the best sources of protein is fish - specifically salmon, which is rich in vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids. Research shows that it may prevent brain aging and memory loss.

A good alternative to enriched flour and carbohydrate sources is whole wheat bread and steel cut oatmeal. Whole wheat is a source of dietary fiber, iron and B vitamins.

Steel cut oatmeal is minimally pro-cessed, without any additives. These can lower the chances of heart disease, diabe-tes and obesity, as well as lower choles-terol, blood sugar and pressure

The USDA recommends that every meal should be filled half with fruits and vegetables, a quarter with healthy carbs or grains and a quarter of protein.

Foods that should be avoided are can-dies and other sweets, white grains and fatty sources of protein such as fried meat.

Consumers need to read food labels

by English teacher Irene Tanaka as told to Austin Watkins

In December 2005, I taught 7th grade. The middle school that I worked at was right across the street from an elementary school. Christmas was right around the corner and I had one student, we’ll just

call him Chris, who would go to pick up his little sister, we’ll call her Karen, after school.

One day Chris came into my room with Karen, his little sister and she was bawling her eyes out.

Chris came up to me saying, “Miss, I need your help. I can’t get my little sister to stop cry-ing!”

Trying to calm Karen down, I asked her what was wrong.

She said, “We were learning about Christmas in school today and they told us that Santa Claus comes down your chimney to give you presents. But we don’t have chimneys in Hawaii! So Santa Claus isn’t gonna come!”

She started to cry again and Chris looked at me as if to say, “Miss, you’ve got to help me. I don’t know what to do and if my dad sees her like this, he’ll kill me!”

So, thinking on my feet, I said, “You

know what menehune are, right?” “Yeah,” she said. “Well, for Hawaii, menehunes are elves

and every year Santa chooses one mene-hune from Hawaii and he has the little menehune get him a special key,” I said.

“Special key?” she asked.“Yeah, it’s a key that lets you open

the doors of any house in Hawaii. So on Christmas Eve, the little menehune that holds onto the key meets up with Santa at the top of Diamond Head. They meet up and the menehune takes Santa to all the good little boys’ and girls’ houses and uses the special key to open all their doors. They go in, give you your presents and leave before you even know it.”

With tears still in her eyes but a big smile on her face, she said, “That’s really how it happens?”

“Come on, I’m a teacher after all.” I felt all slick as I said that.

“So I will get presents! Yay! Thank you so much Miss!” Karen said.

A Christmas Story

by Felicia Ly, guest writer

10 THE PINION mhspinion.comFEATURES

by Austin Watkins

Jimin Lee

I usually have bad birthdays. It started when I was eight. For my 8th birthday, I went to the beach with my dad and brother. It was really fun and I was having a great time until I realized I was drowning. I got very scared and I started to panic. I did not know how to speak English at all back then so I just stayed there, crying on top of my floatie, trying to reach the bottom. I suddenly felt a push on my floatie and I turned to see a very nice guy pushing me towards my dad. That was my first bad birth-day. I had thought that I was going to die.

Joseph Piemann

When I was 7 or 8, I remember sitting in a car. We drove off and went on the freeway then suddenly a car hit our car. It just started spinning and finally hit a wall. People came and helped me and my mom. Soon I was at the hospital being put to sleep so they could do surgery on me. I woke up in a hospital bed wondering will I make out or will I be here forever.

Christian Li

When I was 10, my sister and I vowed to always go to the park to play around. One day my sister almost had a car accident while she was trying to get the ball. My sister did not notice the car and if the driver had not stopped, my sister would have died. I had nightmares of that day and I got scared of what would happen if my sister died, so I stopped playing with her and enjoyed my own life. Today, I play with my sister most every day. Now I’m old enough to take extra precautions to look after my sister instead of having my own fun. I should make her happy first.

Editorial Life is to be appreciated

Students share life experiences“A man is not completely born until he is dead.”

- Benjamin Franklin

Young students in high school often do not think about death. Although our lives may be just beginning, our endings could be just around the corner.

With the unfortunate disappearance of Dayne Ortiz, a Farrington High School senior who was swept away in rough seas off Mokuleia, the thought of death and tragedy has befallen many high school students across the state of Ha-waii. The search for him ended after two days of continuous searching. This re-minds us all of the presence of the hand of death and how it can fall upon These experiences are the type that allow you to think different on life. When you try to cross the street and you almost get hit by a car, from then on you look at the world through different eyes. You’re more appreciative of the things around you and the people in your life.

Speaking through my own experi-ences, I can relate to these as well. I survived my own near-death experience before I was even born. While I was still inside of my mother, the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck twice and I was choking. But I was able to get it off right before my mother gave birth to me. Although I feel very bad for anyone that dies, a child who is not even given the chance to live their life is just unimagin-ably horrible.

For those of you who are seniors read-ing this article, a lot of changes will be occurring soon in your lives, but just know how fortunate you are to have had one for eighteen years prior. For we are not born to die, but born to be alive, de-spite the words of Franklin.

THE PINION 11mhspinion.com

“When I was young, an incident hap-pened that changed me and my family,” said Meaghan Ababa. She is a 15-year-old sophomore of McKinley High School. She was a victim of a near-death experience at the age of six.

She suffered from a myocarditis in-flammation of the heart. But at the time she only felt as though she had nothing more than a cold or fever.

Ababa wrote a paper on this experi-ence for an English class assignment. Later The Pinion took a minute to talk to her.

The Kapiolani Women and Children’s Hospital that Ababa was located in was not set up to perform a heart transplant that she might need, she was then transferred to Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles by the Air Force. As she arrived in LA, the hos-pital said that her heart had stopped three times. She was then placed in a cardiac assisting machine to keep her alive.

As this happened, Ababa’s brother in Hawaii informed her Sunday School teachers and classmates of the situation. The class bowed their heads and raised their prayers to God, asking him to heal Ab ba. At the moment they began to pray, Ababa’s parents saw their daughter’s heart

begin to beat independently. Eight years later, Ababa now lives a healthy and active life as a part of McKinley’s soc-cer team.

The memories of this experience are now vague to her. However, she tries to live a life as an active everyday student, not letting the experience hinder her life.

by Austin Watkins

App ReviewsVine by Shirley Huang

An app I like is “Vine.” Vine allows you to record small segments of video and put it together.

Vine gives you an opportunity to share how your day was, share something you saw, share funny videos, or just blog about anything.

A highlight of the app is that you can reblog your favorite videos and put it on your profile, so that you can watch it over and over again.

People say pictures are worth a thou-sand words, but videos are worth a mil-lion words. Be creative on Vine, funny, or just be you, because Vine is fun!

iFunny by Daven Woo

An app I like to use daily is called if-unny where other people can post hilari-ous pictures, gifs, and videos. This app is a good way to get a few laughs in the morning.

There’s a section called the featured section for the top posts only. The mak-ers of ifunny choose the top twenty and put them in the daily featured section. At around noon, they select another twenty posts.

This app is what keeps me awake in school. I would recommend this to ev-erybody. I will continue to use and view ifunny daily.

Whatsapp by Alice Cheng

I love texting with my friends. We share interesting stuff or jokes all the time.

Some people might not have an un-limited texting plan for their phone, so I would recommend a useful app called “Whatsapp.” It is a social network-ing app. People can text whoever they want for free. It is convenient and saves money.

Although the messages you send to the others are all free, you need to pay one dollar to buy the app. I think it’s worth it, though, because people only need to pay once and can text with others for free forever unless they change their phone.

FEATURES

Students share life experiences

12 THE PINION mhspinion.com

McKinley continues the tradition of Tiger BallOn Nov. 8, student and teacher teams faced off in a basketball fundraiser.

Tigers get into the winter sports season with soccer

Left - Sophomore Jessica Park goes for the ball against Kalani. Goalie Kolina Babauta prepares to block a Kalani score. Photos by Kelly Lu. See more game photos at mhspinion.com

Photos by Jacky Hua-Vo

SPORTS