HAWAII'S SCHOOLS
COURTESY OF KAHUKU HIGH SCHOOL
What started off as a hobby for senior Cameron Pitt has become 808Blogs, an online journal community where users can post pictures, messages and journals. The site took Pitt about four months to plan and design.
|
|
Technical marvel
Senior Cameron Pitt develops a Web site for local bloggers
By Mariah Schiaretti
Kahuku High School
Watch out, sites that host online journals, or "blogs" -- there's a new weblog community moving in, and it isn't just like any old online site community such as Xanga, Facebook or LiveJournal. It will offer more features like "mobblogging" (blogging from cell phones) and endless customization options to personalize users' blogs.
Kahuku High School
Name
Kahuku Journal
Faculty adviser
Lori Tanaka
Editor
Mariah Schiaretti
Address
56-490 Kamehameha Highway
Kahuku, HI 96731
Principal
Lisa Delong
Nickname
Red Raiders
Colors
Red and white
Enrollment
1,800 (grades 7-12)
|
You might be amazed to learn that its creator is still in high school.
Kahuku has been known for student accomplishments in both athletics and in academics. Now, senior Cameron Pitt has created a new category: entrepreneurship.
Pitt began in November with a new weblog community based in Hawaii. What started off as a hobby ended with a site called 808Blogs, which is in its final stages of beta testing and is expected to launch toward the end of this month.
"People can still sign up now," Pitt said, "but there may be some glitches or bugs till the ending of the month that will hopefully be worked out."
Pitt's friends have created accounts to check for and report problems and to show their support.
"I really like 808Blogs because it's something new, and it's not as advanced as MySpace, where everything is figured out for you," senior Jamie Ellestad said. "It's a challenge but a fun challenge. It allows me to use my creativity. Plus, it's inspiring because it's someone my age who put it together."
808Blogs, like Xanga and LiveJournal, allows members to post pictures, messages and blogs. A unique 808Blogs feature enables users to send messages -- both picture and text formats -- from their cell phones.
What really sets 808Blogs apart from all the other sites is its name. The slogan, "Local Kine Blogging," says it all. Pitt designed 808Blogs for locals to connect with other locals.
But membership is not limited to only Hawaii; it is open to all states and countries. "Amateur Web designers want to make pages that everyone would like. This site is initially for the audience here at home in the 808 state, but people from all over are welcome to join," Pitt said.
Pitt insists that he is only a beginner who has a lot to learn despite the fact that it only took him about four months to plan and design the site.
"I hope to have a career in technology," Pitt said. "Graphic design would be fun, too."
For Pitt, 808Blogs is one step closer to his career goals, and one huge step it is. It is because of students like Cameron Pitt that Kahuku can be called "The Pride of the North Shore."
Kahuku might be a small country school in the middle of nowhere, but the students who reside here have excelled in all areas. As Cameron Pitt has shown, Kahuku's tradition of excellence is carried on through our diverse population of students.
BACK TO TOP
|
Filmmaker for BBC details Sudan crisis
The former Kenyan ambassador visits the Kahuku campus
By Victoria Hurst
Kahuku High School
On Dec. 15, June Arunga, a journalist and former U.N. ambassador from Kenya, came to speak to Kahuku students about what causes poverty in the world.
"Why are some countries rich or poor?" Arunga asked the sophomores. A few seconds later, some hands went up; students guessed at the causes of poverty -- lack of technology, illegitimate government, lack of businesses and developers, civil war and natural disasters.
A junior stated that civil wars are a major cause of poverty in Africa: "Differences ... and imbalance in the distribution of powers caused the civil war in Rwanda, and they are still causing violence in other African countries today."
Our well-traveled speaker partially agreed: "We are all different and we get along. ... Problems are caused when the government gives another group more or less rights because of their differences."
Arunga then created scenarios to help students better understand the situations people in other countries are in. She also shared experiences from her life growing up in Kenya.
"No matter how hard you worked or how good your grades were, you weren't guaranteed a job," Arunga said.
COURTESY OF KAHUKU HIGH SCHOOL
Journalist and former U.N. Ambassador June Arunga leads a discussion with Kahuku students about the causes of poverty in the world.
|
|
Felita Reed, a sophomore who attended Arunga's presentation, said, "Probably all of us could get a job at McDonald's, but in other countries they don't have that opportunity. We're too picky about jobs."
Despite the difficulties people in other countries face, Arunga was able to overcome those challenges and later graduated as an honors law student at Buckingham University in the United Kingdom.
Following a discussion, Arunga presented a video documentary on Sudan that she created for the British Broadcasting Corp., "The Devil's Footpath."
Many Africans were driven off their land or killed because of the predominantly Arab government's greed for oil, according to the documentary. Surprisingly, those interviewed did not even know what oil was and why it was so important.
Students were surprised to see the terrible conditions that Sudanese refugees lived in. Student Tasha Strasser said, "I not only realized how grateful we should be, but how ungrateful we are."
The statistics are shocking: 1.2 billion people in Third World countries live below the international poverty line. It is depressing to see that so many things we expect to have are things others can barely dream to have.
"It helped me learn more about Africa and their problems," student Greg Nautu said.
BACK TO TOP
|
YOU ASKED
"If you could have one superpower, what would it be?"
Mika Bailey
Senior
"I would want the ability to fly. Then I wouldn't need a car, and I would be able to go anywhere I wanted without paying for expensive gas. Plus, I'd be able to save some people on the way."
Aaron Carrea
Senior
"If I had a superpower, it would be to breathe underwater. If I had this power, I wouldn't need to worry about drowning when I surf or swim, and if a tidal wave hit, I wouldn't need to worry, either."
Sonny Ah Puck
Junior
"If I had a superpower, I would want to see into the future and use it to prevent things from happening before they happen."
Dylan Ropert
Freshman
"I'd fly because you wouldn't have to drive anywhere, and go to the perfect surf spot and not have to paddle out."
Noelani Chew
Senior
"Teleportation, because I can be here one minute and then London in another. I can go anywhere."
Jackie Lautaha
Senior
"Read peoples' minds, because you can read their mind to see what they really think about you. It seems like a power that would be nifty at any given time."