Saturday, January 4, 1997
Name: Hazel NakanoAge: 50
Position: Technology resources teacher, Waiakea Elementary School
Education: UH-Manoa
Pastimes: Sewing, baking, reading
Nakano and other volunteers opened 4-foot-deep, concrete-lined boxes set in the ground, stood in them, and pulled fiber optic cables through underground conduits between buildings.
She also cleaned out colonies of crickets, sleepy toads and piles of muck.
She's done this for the past year. The year before she spent in planning and the one before that in a course on computer networks, all on her own time.
"It was really foreign to me," said Nakano, whose favorite activity used to be reading to children. "I felt if I didn't just jump in and do it, our kids would lose out."
An example of the payoff took place recently when a group of Waiakea Elementary kids traveled to Bishop Museum. While they were still on the plane, Nakano had other kids, unable to make the trip, visiting the museum's web site.
By the time the travelers returned, the stay-at-homes had already used special computer programs to prepare presentations on the museum.
"She is so excited for the kids' sake to get them wired in," said Paul Okubo, parent of a fourth-grade computer user and a wiring volunteer.
The wiring work is still going on, said Principal Janice Jenner. "She is the one who brought the school into the 21st century," Jenner said.