Principal’s Message

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 November 20, 2006 9:26 AM | Permalink