Super Students
Saturday, January 24, 1998
Name: Joy Matsui
Age: 14
School: Aiea High School
Favorite subject: Science
Pastimes: Watching television
Future: Oncologist or pathologist
Two years ago, Joy Matsui didn't listen to classmates who told her she wasn't big enough to play saxophone in the school band. Playing music in the band
"A lot of people told me that I couldn't play it because I was really small at the time, so I wanted to show them that I could," said Matsui, who stood 5 feet tall then.
Now a freshman at Aiea High School, she's grown 2 inches and persevered toward becoming a good alto-saxophonist.
While attending Aiea Intermediate last year, Matsui was selected as one of two representatives from the Central District eighth-grade honor band to participate in April's Maui Intermediate Band Festival as part of an exchange program. Later in the school year, she got the John Philip Sousa award as an outstanding band student.
She has also been active in student government. Matsui was student body president in the eighth-grade. She is currently president of her freshmen class and earned a 4.0 GPA last quarter.
Matsui excels in whatever she puts her mind to, said Cheryl Chun, Matsui's former band teacher at Aiea Intermediate School.
"When she started in the seventh-grade, she wasn't really a great saxophone player," Chun said. But after much practice, Matsui became a "terrific" student, exceeding teachers' expectations.
Matsui said she's wouldn't trade band for anything else. "Everybody is friends with everybody," she said. "It's like a great big family."
Shirley Iida, Star-Bulletin
