School in Focus

29 seniors named National Merit Scholarship Semi-finalists

At ‘Iolani, 29 members of the Class of 2011 qualified as National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists for 2011.

These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $3.5 million that will be offered next spring.
More than 1.5 million juniors in over 21,000 high schools entered the 2011 National Merit Program by taking the 2009 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semi-finalists, which represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state and is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

In Hawai‘i, there were a total of 64 semi-finalists.

‘Iolani’s 29 Semi-finalists

Ian Akamine Sean Chambers Richard Chang Tyler Cundiff Lauren Faris Khaydan Gabriel Mark Grozen-Smith Michelle Huang Zhenghua Huang Shelby Isa John Ishida Sho Kajima Jeffrey Kawahara Victoria Kim Jaylen Kohara

Christina Liu Erin Lundy Spencer Luther Teresa Ou David Pham Kim Roy Jamie Takayesu Tyler Tokunaga Colin Tseng Joshua Whiteley Kira Wong Andrew Wu Andrew Zhou John Zobian

‘Iolani Wins National Economics Challenge

‘Iolani School won the 2010 National Economics Challenge Championship conducted by the Council for Economic Education in May, with the top team from among over 1,200 teams across the country. Team members included: Sean Cockey ’10, Andrew Ellison ’10, Jesse Franklin-Murdock ’10, and Mark Grozen-Smith ’11. In the final round, ‘Iolani defeated Bellaire High School from Bellaire, Texas 14-7.

The competition took place in New York city. This year marked ‘Iolani’s fourth national championship and 11th state championship. ‘Iolani has also won two second place national titles. Governor Linda Lingle honored the team during the summer.

Mathletes go to National Competition

Nikolai Chen ’14 belonged to the 2010 Hawaii State MATHCOUNTS Team.  In May, along with teammates Jun Hao Li (Waiakea Intermediate), Brian Kim (Punahou), and Ethan Vo (Washington Middle), he competed in the 27th Annual MATHCOUNTS National Competition.

The purpose of the MATHCOUNTS Competition is to increase enthusiasm for and promote achievement in middle school mathematics throughout the United States. The state team members were the top four scorers of the more than 300 students in Hawai‘i who participated in the Hawai‘i MATHCOUNTS Competitions.

Summer School’s Fourth of July Celebration

‘Iolani Summer School students in kindergarten to fifth grade marched in the  annual Fourth of July parade on July 2 at the school’s Kozuki Stadium.

Wearing red, white and blue, students waving homemade flags, banners and favors participated in the program “Honor and Sacrifice” that followed the festive parade. Members of the Warriors in Transition unit, troops wounded in combat and based at Schofield Barracks, and veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion were honored as special guests. Captain Katie Kalama was a featured speaker. Kalama served 8 years in the Army as an OH-58D Armed Recon Helicopter Pilot.  She has been stationed in Korea and Iraq and now belongs to the Hawaii Army National Guard and works with the Wounded Warriors at the Warriors in Transition Battalion.

The program also showcased a student dressed as “Uncle Sam” while different summer school classes presented original songs and dances. The crowd quieted, however, during a moment of silence and prayer for the fallen men and women of the military.

This year, more than 2,600 students in kindergarten through twelfth grade from across the state, the mainland and foreign countries enrolled in three and six-week summer classes.

Print this Page

- Email to a friend

Resize the default text size