Fifth-grader Patti Ihara is putting in extra hours after school practicing with a violin ensemble, which will entertain at the school's centennial banquet.
They are among the dozens of students, parents, teachers and alumni who are participating in Maemae School's "100 Years of Excellence" celebration.
About 700 people are expected at an April 20 banquet, the high point of the centennial festivities, which have also involved publication of a memory book, burial of a time capsule, production of an oral history video and a string of events ranging from a field day and celebrity read-aloud program for students to a golf tournament for alumni.
It sounds like a private school pulling out all the stops to celebrate itself.
But the festivities revolve around one of Oahu's oldest public elementary schools. The spirit and self-awareness of the school often inspire the comparison.
"We have a tremendous level of participation from parents, alumni and teachers," said Principal Beatrice Zane just before she left last week on the fourth grade's field trip, an annual study jaunt to the Big Island as the finale of the Hawaiian studies program.
Among the adult chaperons were volunteers who played that role with their own children 20 years ago and still earmark vacation time to take the trip each year.
"We have a contest every year for the design on the T-shirt and the yearbook cover," explained fifth-grader Erin Fujimoto, a Mililani resident who spends the week with her grandmother to be near school.
She and classmates Christine Wong and Patti Ihara talked about their involvement in the celebration. Patti is one of a group of student violinists who will perform at the banquet at Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall.
Erin and Christine will read poetry at tomorrow's Maemae Day program at Borders Bookstore in Ward Centre. "Our class will sing 'Istanbul,' and other classes will do songs from different countries," Christine said.
There are 740 students in the 31 classes at the Wyllie Street campus, which is attended by youngsters from the surrounding Liliha, Nuuanu and Puunui neighborhoods. Last year, there were almost 300 requests from parents in other areas, who wanted a chance for their children to participate in the district exemption lottery that placed youngsters in about 30 vacancies.
"So many schools face negative response from the community, criticism from parents," said retired teacher Janice Kimura, who is back at the school as volunteer coordinator. "At Maemae the first question is, 'How can we help?' This kind of spirit is what keeps this place special."
"This place is a second home for me," said Kimura, who attended the school for six grades, then returned to teach until her retirement in 1995. Her son and daughter attended the school while she taught there.
Ah Yin Thom is one of several former students and teachers to speak on the oral history video. She was a Maemae student in 1913 and 1914. Two of her great-grandchildren attended in the 1990s.
Thom was one of the neighborhood children befriended by Elizabeth Waterhouse, who is credited with persuading government officials 100 years ago to open a school in the area.
"Mother" Waterhouse, wife of a prominent merchant, conducted Sunday School at the Maemae Chapel, a branch of Kaumakapili Church. As she became aware that young children from the area were not attending school, she opened a free private kindergarten. She also taught sewing classes at her Wyllie Street home across the street from the chapel.
After five years and burgeoning attendance, the Waterhouses prevailed on school officials to open a public school. A plaque commemorating her contribution is beneath one of the large shady monkeypod trees on the campus.
Maemae School was in the headlines in 1940 when Department of Public Instruction officials decided to upgrade it to an English Standard School. Children had to qualify to enter Maemae by passing an oral examination measuring their proficiency in English.
Parents picketed the school in September, irate that their youngsters could not pass the test and were going to be transferred to some other school. A compromise was reached with the establishment of separate classes for first- and second-graders who did not meet the English Standard qualifications.
"In education today there is a strong push to make the family an integral part of the school," Kimura said. "Parents feel really a part of what's going on there. They come for tutoring, as mentors; they help with clerical work. They are part of the centennial, and they speak at Career Day. Many of the people who came for the read-aloud program were former students or parents."
One parent's contribution will be performed at the April 20 celebration. Former Miss Hawaii Patricia Anderson Murray, formerly a Maemae parent, wrote lyrics for "Aloha Maemae," a centennial song set to music by Ron Miyashiro.