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Aloha! As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I am proud to share that our middle school students are reaching beyond the boundaries of our campus to make a difference in the community and in the lives of others. I am so proud to acknowledge two middle school students who live our school motto: the honor of my school is mine.
Eighth grade students Olivia Overton and Lauren Yoshihiro lead the middle school students and faculty in a wonderful community service project called Operation Christmas Child. Olivia and Lauren submitted the proposal to middle school activities coordinator Ann Kondo, who in turn helped the girls to facilitate the activity over a four-week period. Each homeroom was responsible for creating five themed shoe boxes filled with small gifts. The shoe boxes were sent to less fortunate children in other countries. The culminating activity was a presentation of the boxes at the middle school chapel service Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006. More than 105 boxes were created. Mrs. Gina Overton (Olivia’s mom) and Mrs. Pam Yoshihiro (Lauren’s mom) assisted the students by delivering the boxes to Central Union Church. Many thanks to Olivia and Lauren for their leadership, to their parents for their support, and to all the students and faculty for making this world-wide community service project a huge success!
I am also proud to acknowledge eighth grade baseball players Jarren Dang, Dane Fujinaka, Matthew Oda, and Todd Takabuki. The boys will be part of the Ehime-Hawai’i Goodwill Baseball Tournament in Japan Nov. 20-23, 2006.
Back on campus, the seventh grade team has just completed their autobiography unit and had an opportunity to share their projects throughout the halls of Atherton last Thursday during a long homeroom. The extensive study of self provided a multi-dimensional profile of our students, and helped them to know each other much more deeply.
The sixth grade participated in a campus beautification service project on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006. Sixth grade teacher Rianne Graves coordinated the event that also served as a bridging activity with the fifth grade students. The entire fifth and sixth grade spent the afternoon scouring the campus for trash and debris from the planters. This event was one of many planned throughout the year to help the fifth and sixth grade students get to know each other and ease the transition to middle school.
Wishing you all a fabulous weekend! Enjoy time with each other. Aloha.
Posted on 9:26 AM| Permalink
MPI middle school students sent festive gift-filled shoe boxes to children in various parts of the world as part of the Operation Christmas Child project. The students brought more than 100 boxes to chapel on Thursday morning, Nov. 16. The MPI Elementary School also participates in Operation Christmas Child.
Posted on 9:18 AM| Permalink
Mid-Pacific’s eighth grade English students attended a presentation by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston at the Japanese Cultural Center Saturday, Nov. 4. Ms. Houston, author of Farewell to Manzanar, shared her experience as a Japanese American interned in the Manzanar Camp during WWII. Eighth graders will be reading Ms. Houston’s autobiography in the third quarter and were eager to get their book signed by the noted author.
Posted on 12:08 PM| Permalink
Aloha Parents and Students in the Middle School!
This has been a wonderful week full of fun activities and community service projects for the Aloha United Way. Beginning last Friday, students attended the first Middle School Dance and donated a dollar admission to kick off the AUW Drive in our Middle School. Monday's lunchtime included a "shout out" for a dollar during lunch time, Tuesday included a costume contest during lunch, and various clubs held a bake sale from Tuesday through Thursday--all to benefit AUW. Thank you for all your donations of baked goods which helped to make our fundraising efforts successful. I will be able to report the total collected in next week's message.
Posted on 2:26 PM| Permalink