COURTESY OF MCKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL McKinley Christian Club members Kalani Holland, left, and Amanda Griffith pray for each other on campus.

Tigers in prayer

Christian Club members fully express
their faith at campus events

Prayers are now recited on a campus that was once the controversial site for a forum discussing God in the school's Code of Honor. Members of McKinley's Christian Club, advised by April Nakamura, begin each meeting with a prayer.

McKinley High School Name The Pinion Faculty adviser Barbara Hotta Abrew Editors Amanda Griffith, Kent Salcedo, Kelli Miura, Cheryl Asuncion and Yuri Miura Address 1039 S. King St., Honolulu 96814 Principal Milton Shishido Mascot Tiger Colors Black and gold Enrollment 1,800 To our readers With this entry, the Hawaii's Schools column will be going on summer break. Thanks to all the schools that participated this year. See you next school year!

Founding the club at a public school was not smooth sailing. For about seven years, the club was not allowed to be an "official" club. They were told they could be a philosophy club, but not use the Bible.

The club decided the best option was to remain an unchartered club than to compromise their beliefs; they never lost their faith.

Two years ago, the club was finally given the go-ahead to be chartered. Some would call this a miracle.

Two main goals of the Christian Club are to grow closer to Jesus and to show others God's love through outreach activities.

The club hosted two major public prayer events this school year. The first was "See You at the Pole," held Sept. 15. McKinley students gathered around the school's flagpole before school started and joined hands in prayer with fellow classmates and faculty.

Students prayed for moral and spiritual awakening on campus. Student Sandra Chee said: "I enjoyed praying for and with others. People were more open, and we got to share God's love with other people."

The second major prayer event was "Light Up Hawaii," held Dec. 8. This was a statewide event where believers came together and prayed for all high schools. Prayer requests for students, teachers, staff and administration were honored.

Nakamura said: "I really enjoyed praying with students and faculty here at McKinley and also members of our community. We prayed for our classrooms and asked God to bless our campus. It was an awesome experience, and hopefully we can put together another event like this one."

McKinley welcomes
Japanese students

Sister-school visitors tour the campus
in a 21-year tradition

In mid-October, 13 students from Kanazawa, Japan, were welcomed by their sister school pen pals here at McKinley as part of a 21-year tradition. Ten students from McKinley's Japanese language program acted as hosts.

Students from Kanazawa presented omiyage (gifts) to the McKinley students. After introductions, the Kanazawa guests took their traditional picture on the oval in front of the statue of President McKinley.

The McKinley hosts then took their Japanese friends on a school tour. Kanazawa students sat in on a variety of classes and met McKinley teachers and students. Principal Milton Shishido extended his aloha at lunch time by taking the Kanazawa teachers out to lunch.

After lunch, the Kanazawa students made several presentations. Junior Cindy Trinh said, "I liked the last presentation where the Kanazawa students fed our McKinley classmates blindfolded because it was funny."

When the school bell rang, Kanazawa and McKinley students headed off to the Ala Moana and Ward area. Stops were made at Borders, Jamba Juice, Starbucks and shops all over Ala Moana Shopping Center. To end the day, the McKinley hosts walked their friends back to the Pagoda Hotel.

The next day, Kanazawa and McKinley students visited the Arizona Memorial. Junior Kristina Ramilo said, "I enjoyed the Arizona Memorial, but my pal fell asleep. It looked like they didn't enjoy it that much."

Students then returned to McKinley to have lunch in the library.

The McKinley students later entertained the guests. Senior Joseph Harris performed with a yo-yo, and senior Chris Aoki played his guitar and sang the Beatles' "Across the Universe." A hilarious game of charades was made more interesting because of the cultural gap between the participants.

Later, at a farewell party, a Kanazawa teacher gave each McKinley teacher a handkerchief made out of kaga yuuzen dye from Japan. The McKinley hosts gave their omiyage and bid their final aloha to their new friends and teachers.

Kanazawa's visits are always successful because of the warm McKinley ohana. Everyone on campus looks forward to this annual visit.

Robotics team qualifies
for nationals

The McKinley High School Robotics Team, Kika Mana #368, won the Regional Robotics Competition with "Naia V," and qualified for the 2005 National Championship in Atlanta.

The competition, sponsored by NASA, was held April 21-23 in Las Vegas.

Team Kika Mana performed in the Curie division with teams from the East Coast and Midwest. McKinley placed 11th out of 85 teams represented.

Creating the robot took six grueling weeks of brainstorming, designing and building. Each team was required to submit a robot plan to participate in the competition.

Time constraints forced many students to stay after school late into the night. The team also worked on weekends and holidays to get the job done.

In the past four years, the team has traveled to San Jose, Calif., Los Angeles, Seattle and Las Vegas.

Students’ repair work
serves dual purposes

A school project that is part of a curriculum, helps save the school money and assists the custodian with repairs is always ideal. Such a project was completed by Robert Hong and his Period 6 Auto Tech 2 students, who repaired broken desks.

Hong first got the idea from McKinley custodian Wesley Shibata, who had trouble finding state Department of Education welders who would repair the desks. When Shibata asked Hong if he would weld desks, Hong thought the idea was a good one because his Auto Tech 2 students learn different welding techniques.

Welding desks is one of the course requirements in Auto Tech 2. The skill of welding has a new need in future industry because new cars will be manufactured with adhesive and spot welding to make the weight of the cars lighter.

Students also work on other projects like the McKinley "M" used in an annual event and other projects requested by faculty and staff.

What do you enjoy most
about the Christian Club?

Sarah Imamoto
Senior
"I really value and enjoy the openness and honesty that we share. We've gone past just knowing each other as members of the club, and we've all become friends. We learn the word of God together and raise each other up."

Kalani Holland
Sophomore
"I enjoy spending time with peers and time with God. I like to be around people who love God, too; it's the best!"

Alexis Hirabara
Junior
"The thing I enjoy most is spending time and worshipping God! This is the best way to spend your lunch period, with friends and God!"