The Pinion Vol. 91 Hall of Honor Edition

The Pini

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President William McKinley High School Volume 91

McKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

January 25, 2013

Hall of Honor Edition

Working Hard, Giving Back Ever since his days in high school, Gary W.B. Chang has been an outgoing student, joining a variety of activities such as football and student government positions. He graduated in the class of 1972. He worked as a law clerk for several judges, as a deputy attorney, an associate attorney, and a judge for the State of Hawaii. In 2005, he received the Ikena Award from the Hawaii State Bar Association for his many educational contributions.

Although having an incredible academic history, Chang admits he was not the best student in athletics or academics.

However, he learned to work harder than his opponents to achieve success. After the challenge of getting into law school, he continued to work harder. He would study a minimum of 6 hours daily and keep up with a regular exercise regime.

This hard work allowed him to accomplish more than one would expect, such

Perpetuating the Hula Dorothy Mae Elizabeth Soares Thompson, widely known as “Auntie Dottie,” was born May 16, 1921, and passed away on March 19, 2010. She graduated from President William McKinley High School in 1939 and left a legacy of Hawaiian culture as the co-founder of the Merrie Monarch Festival.

McKinley helped to define and influence the independent woman that she became. In 1996, she was awarded the County of Hawaii Department of Parks and Recreation “Living Legend” award, 2000 Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs Outstanding Non-Hawaiian Perpetuating the Hawaiian Culture award, 2007 Honpa Honwanji’s “Living Treasure” award, and 2010 YWCA “Hawaii Island’s Remarkable Person” award.

The Merrie Monarch Festival is a week-long commemoration, dedicated to the memory of King David Kalakaua.

This festival consists of craft fairs, enter-

Teaching the Hawaiian Cutlture After graduating from McKinley High School in 1955, Saichi Minoakanokapalakiko Kaiholani Kawahara spent his time promoting Hawaiian culture throughout cities in the United States. He now lives in San Francisco, California. When he attended McKinley, Kawahara was part of the concert and marching bands. He also took part in student government and was an Aztecs adviser. Kawahara was actively involved in Hi-Y, a club organized by high-school boys joined with the Young Men’s Christian Association, where he learned how to build a social network to help the unfortunate.

Due to his many accomplishments, Kawahara earned prestigious awards for his inspiring work. On March 27, 2010, he was presented The Hawaiian Music Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Hawaiian Music Award Association. His significant contributions to preserving the Hawaiian culture were additionally RS 13-0440

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Dorothy Soares Gary Chang Thompson tainment and demonstrations, to name a few. Created by Helene Hale along with George Na’ope and Gene Wilhelm, the first Merrie Monarch Festival was held in 1964. In 1968, Thompson took over the festivities as the executive director, and transformed it into a private community organization. Her goal was to move the festival more towards a Hawaiian theme and it was accomplished. In 1971, along with Na’ope, she introduced a three-day hula competition which rounds out the week’s festivities. From then on, each year they invited the best hula instructors with their groups to compete. This had a major impact on the community.

It revived the Big Island’s economy with spikes in hotel, restaurant and car rental sales, to name a few. This united the community with its preservation of the Hawaiian culture and the hula. And through this, Thompson was able to share the hula with the entire world.

Rather than exploit the festival and raise prices, she kept prices low so that everyone could enjoy the festivities. She provided the leadership and tenacity that was needed to spearhead the festival.

Auntie Dottie was the backbone and the spirit. Although she passed nearly 3 years ago, the world still enjoys her legacy, the Merrie Monarch Festival.

Information compiled by Annie Lien, Anthony Lee and Ariana Makasiale

as fulfilling the roles of various prestigious positions during law school.

Chang benefits the McKinley community through scholarships, offering the “Na Hoaloha O McKinley” (Friends of McKinley) scholarship, as he is the founder and president of Na Hoaloha.

This program offers scholarships to McKinley athletes and to increase the athletic budget. Most recently, this pro-

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gram donated $10,000 to the football team, which allowed it to travel to Oregon earlier this school year. Chang is a McKinley foundation member, speaker to student groups, lecturer on preventing sexual harassment, and a board member of the Hawaii Justice Foundation.

He and his spouse, Susan C. Chang, live with their two children, Kelly C. Chang and Ryan W.B. Chang. He is very active in the community and has joined countless associations and committees since becoming a judge. Even with all his duties, he still is an honest and ideal family man. He is a great ambassador of McKinley and is truly the epitome of pride, industry and success. No matter what success he achieves throughout the community-- some big, some small, he never forgets his roots at McKinley.

McKinley-- the school that “taught me about honesty, industry, pride, perseverance, and gave me the opportunity to develop life-long friendships.” Welcome Gary Chang, a new inductee, to the Hall of Honor.

Saichi M.K. Kawahara recognized by Willie Lewis Brown, a former mayor of San Francisco. A proclamation was later issued by the mayor to name April 14, 2001, as Saichi Fredric Minoakanokapalakiko Kaiholani Kawahara Day. In 1984, Kawahara organized the Kapalakiko (meaning “San Francisco” in Hawaiian) Hawaiian Band. He plays the ukulele, harmonica, autoharp, taiko drums, and is the falsetto lead of the band. The band’s mission is not only to entertain audiences but to educate them about Hawaiian music and dance as well. After retiring as an ironworker, Kawahara started a newsletter, The Kapalakiko, that is delivered to about 7,000 people quarterly. It contains information to interested readers on cultural Hawaiian events, such as concerts, canoe races and halau performances.

Kawahara’s dedication to preserving the culture of Hawaii has impacted

many. It has also brought people together and soothed those who have experienced the arts. Kawahara is remarkable and should be noted for his good deeds. His accomplishments and hard work are the reason he has been inducted in McKinley High School’s Hall of Honor.