Students create global
By Susan Kreifels
vision at Kauai summit
Star-BulletinKAPAA, Kauai -- Waianae High School junior Doulan Reis is a global thinker even though he has never been out of Hawaii.
His task last weekend: Persuade student delegates representing Asia-Pacific countries to pass a resolution that Pakistan and India cease all hostility over Kashmir. Reis, an avid news reader, succeeded.
Seventeen high schools from around the state sent 163 students to Kauai over the weekend for the annual Pacific and Asian Affairs Council Global Vision Summit. Waianae High has the biggest PAAC club in the state, with 57 active members and 33 conference delegates.
Students of this isolated community believe it's important for them to look beyond Hawaii's shores. "By the time we get to be leaders, we will have new ideas," said club member Wendy Alcantra.
That attitude -- global thinking -- is exactly what Gov. Ben Cayetano believes Hawaii needs to propel it to success. It starts, he said last week, with education.
That's one of PAAC's missions, said Executive Director Lisa Maruyama -- curing what she called the "myopia" that has hurt Hawaii's development.
The private, nonprofit organization, which promotes international discussion in Hawaii, has sponsored the program for all of its 45 years. This year the program has 390 members in 22 schools.
But every year the council sweats out Department of Education funding that it needs to continue the program. This year $42,000 is on the chopping block. In past years, the council has gone around the department and directly to legislators to argue the program's importance.
Cayetano would have applauded the weekend conference as students grappled with a simulated collapse of the world economy, a supertyphoon in Pacific island nations, and a mistaken Chinese attack on a U.S. ship in the oil-rich, strategic Spratly islands.
They struggled with real world-like conflict and compromise. And they took their tasks seriously -- little talk about prom dates in this group.
Examples: Faced with global economic collapse, lobbying by Mililani High School's Amy Horner, a Cambodia delegate, led to nations agreeing to send consultants, not money, to help poor countries develop local education.
Delegates thwarted an unexpected war threat by India against Taiwan, earning that self-interest among countries can waste precious time.
The Micronesian delegation from Kaimuki High School staged a walkout. Delegate Lauren Yoshinaga chastised larger countries for their "unnecessary babbling" about war. "We were unable to say our share," Yoshinaga complained.
Students understood the impact of global thinking on all careers. Chris Parayno of Hilo High School wants to be an aeronautical engineer. "The next step" between countries, he said, "is space travel with joint-space stations."
