'Twas a very good year, indeed! Lei of aloha to all!

Thank you.  These are the two most important words to end school year 2007-2008, the centennial of Mid-Pacific’s presence in Manoa. We celebrated big time with in-depth class inquiries about our surroundings, revived Kite Day (certainly to be an annual event), and produced the opera Kahalaopuna, Princess of Manoa.  Our children’s successful experiences are attributed to strong community effort, beginning with parents.  

Thank you, parents, for your incredible support of your children’s learning and for your support of the faculty and staff. Your attendance at school and class events, inquiry presentations, student conferences, `Ohana and Parent Community Association (PCA) meetings, as well as generous support of the Children’s First Campaign, Annual Fund, Moon Over Manoa, and M Club Gala, demonstrate strong commitment of your time, talent, and treasure to Mid-Pacific Institute.  


In particular, I would like to express our warmest appreciation to `Ohana leaders Kim Soares, Pamela Yoshihiro, Nicole Chung, Judy Dang, and Terri Young — who actively organized so many of our school events and whose physical presence on campus enriched our community. We are entirely indebted to Kim Soares for eight years of faithful service and leadership as the president of the `Ohana.  Her enduring positive spirit and ability to bring parents together helped to bridge the transition from Epiphany to Mid-Pacific Institute. Although Kim steps down from her leadership role, she will continue to take an active part in our school community.  

Special thanks to the following parents who coordinated these important school events, which have been essential in building a vibrant sense of community:
•  Welcome Barbecue — Denise Hirano, Pam Yoshihiro, Judy Dang, and Nicole Chung
•  Moon Over Manoa — Paul Czubryt, Lisa Fife, Linda Lileikis, Akiko Marutani
•  Spooktivity —  Tracy McConnell, Andrea Stoebenau, Karen Kawamura, Monique Todebush, and Linda Hasegawa
•  Teacher/Staff Appreciation — Pam Yoshihiro, Wendy D’Innocenti, and Karen Kawamura
•  Kahalaopuna, the opera — Paul Czubryt
•  Field Day 2008 — Nathan Gudoy

We were blessed to have a number of parents who volunteered their time as lunch supervisors in the dining room throughout the year: Kako Silvestre, Sheila Washio, Tania Monturi, Monique Todebush, Linda Hasegawa, Cathy Shintaku, Karen Kawamura, Sue Kam, and Jill Miura,  And parents in the preschool classrooms who came in on Friday afternoons to help with nap supervision so that the preschool teams could meet with me:  Michele Aucello, Kalei Cadinha-Pua`a, Andrea Stoebenau, Jill Trowbridge, Lauren Ly, Karen Kawamura, and Linda Hasegawa.  

Mahalo to room parents who made phone calls and coordinated special events for their child’s class:
Preschool – Michele Aucello, Ann Park, Lynne Rosevear
Kindergarten — Karen Kawamura, Sabrina Ako, Sonia Driscoll
Multiage 1-2 — Sheila Washio, Susan Donlon, Tracy McConnell, Daphne Yoshikawa
Multiage 3-4 — Jaime Mamiya, Cindy Kaita, Nicole Chung, Kim Soares, Catherine Trapasso
Grade 5 — Judy Dang, Pamela Yoshihiro

Our hard-working teachers and staff understand and embrace our children first philosophy and tirelessly work to provide your children quality learning experiences. We never take for granted the assistance from our office staff — Margery Jacobson and Sally Schultz, tech support from Scott Yoshinaga, health aide Shirleyann Young, and the maintenance crew assigned to this campus. Thank you, faculty and staff, for your dedication, energy, creativity, and collaborative spirit every day.

We bid aloha to Mrs. Gail Fukumoto after 41 years of service to the community as a teacher and to Mr. Louis Rivera for over 20 years as a faithful and hard-working member of the Facilities and Maintenance Department and bus driver. I am happy to report that Mr. Louie has agreed to continue to take students on excursions in the yellow school bus throughout the summer program and upcoming school year.  

Field Day 2008 was an apt ending to the school year!  Under glorious skies, the children from preschool through fifth grade participated in several water activities or “stations” organized by P.E. teacher Pam Jenkins, with support from parent coordinator Nathan Gudoy. From what I could tell, students enjoyed every activity, but I think the most daring fun was the water slide for grades 1-5.  The upbeat music (Ms. Koshi’s own mix) set the pace and rhythm for the morning. Students were also treated to shaved ice at one of the water-break stations.  We gathered en masse for our traditional dance, this time the “cha cha slide,” the beat so irresistible that it was impossible not to join the fun.  After Field Day, parent volunteers manned the food table laden with pizza, fruits, veggies, and cold beverages for everyone.  A huge thank you to the MPI maintenance crew who helped to set up all the equipment necessary for the field day activities.

Due to the overwhelming response from the children and parents, we have decided to plan a field day event each year for the last day of school, and I can’t think of a better to end the year. There is no doubt at how well this event strengthens and celebrates our sense of community among students, parents, faculty, and staff.

We are busily preparing for summer school (an enrollment of nearly 200 students) and also getting ready for the upcoming school year. Construction crews are replacing sidewalks with cracks with new, sturdier concrete.  We should be completing some renovations to the playstructure area.

Summer school office hours are 7:00am-3:30pm daily.  The office will be closed June 11 (Kamehameha Day) and July 4.

We wish you a safe and fun summer packed with special family experiences and memories!  Thank you for a wonderful, memorable year!

For our children,

Edna L. Hussey
Principal



 

 






 

Posted on June 10, 2008 9:57 PM | Permalink