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Students excel
despite dire challenges
The Star-Bulletin is proud to honor these six high school seniors for outstanding achievement under extraordinary circumstances. Each will receive $1,000. The awards were established in 1987 to recognize public high school students who overcame major obstacles as they achieved academically, in extracurricular activities and in community service. These are the stories of this year's honorees.Mehana Bisquera-Chang | Melissa Tavares | Ernest Chun-Olinger
Travis Fernandez | Ha-Dan 'Diane' Phan | Coreen Oshiro
HANA, Maui -- Mehana Bisquera-Chang avoids the harsh sunlight because it aggravates her chronic disease, lupus erythematosus, and weakens her immune system. Mehana Bisquera-Chang
'I never concentrate on what
I can't do,' says the Maui girlHer illness and medication leave her fatigued some days.
Yet the member of the National Honor Society has a GPA of 4.0 as she graduates Saturday. "I never concentrate on what I can't do," she said. "I just enjoy and am grateful for what I can do and what I have."
When she was in the eighth grade, Bisquera-Chang's kidneys failed temporarily for more than three months. She made two-hour trips three times a week from her home in rural Hana to Wailuku for dialysis treatment.
Despite being unable to attend classes for a year and a half, including her freshman year at Hana High School, Bisquera-Chang continued her studies at home. In her sophomore and junior years, she received school awards for the highest marks in mathematics.
Although she is unable to participate in athletic activities, Bisquera-Chang has been a volunteer and organizer of community events, including the annual Hana Aloha Week and Hana Taro Festival. She enjoys playing the piano and has done several recitals sponsored by the Maui Music Teachers Association.
She plans to attend the University of Hawaii and is considering becoming a registered nurse or a music teacher. She has received $5,000 in scholarships and grants for her studies.
After school, Bisquera-Change often plays the piano in a special room her father, William, built for her under the shade of a wiliwili tree. It's an activity that helps her focus on the positive aspects of her life.
Bisquera-Chang's mother, Anita, said the music has helped in healing her daughter and her family.
As the strains of Bisquera-Chang's favorite composition, Ludwig van Beethoven's "Fur Elise," drift on the afternoon air, William Chang said: "That's something I'll miss when she goes away."
Gary Kubota, Star-Bulletin
Her dad calls her the hammer in the family: She's the strong one. Melissa Tavares
'I learned how to be strong, even
though I was suffering inside'Melissa Tavares has grown strong from her parents' mistakes.
The youngest of five children, Tavares moved out of her home at age 14 because her parents' drug addictions had gone haywire. Her mother moved around frequently, while her father landed in prison.
Yet Tavares somehow kept it together. She maintained a C+ average, fed the needy and helped clean up Kawainui Marsh with classmates. She worked a part-time job to pay for expenses, and kept herself clean and sober. She's even inspired some of her friends to study and behave, too.
"I have no idea how she's done it -- probably through her stubborn self-determination," remarked Arleen Young, college and career counselor at Kalaheo High School in Kailua. "She's kept her nose clean, given all the things she's been up against."
Tavares, who graduates Friday, plans to study psychology. She hopes to help other high school students through their troubles.
Her mom, now clean, and her dad, now out of prison, both gave their blessing for her to share her story if it can help her, she said. "I love my parents. They're good people, but they've had a hard life."
"I want a stable life. I want to graduate from college, I want a good job. I don't want to raise my kids on welfare," the teen-ager said.
When things were tough, Tavares focused on graduating high school and going to college. "I learned how to be strong, even though I was suffering inside," she said.
Tavares credited her grandmother's influence on her early childhood and her writing with helping her get through. She spent her high school years writing in her journal. She also wrote long letters to her father in prison. And she wrote her senior paper on how substance abuse affected her life.
Her will has convinced her school counselor, her family, friends and, most importantly, herself that she will succeed.
Young said, "She's breaking the cycle."
Lori Tighe, Star-Bulletin
The boy who dreamed of flying jets took a running leap onto his body board and "soared into the air" for one ecstatic moment. Ernest Chun-Olinger
Paralysis hasn't stopped his
drive to compete and succeedBut when he landed on his head and broke his neck, Ernest Chun-Olinger's world turned upside down at the young age of 13.
It has been five years since he lost the use of his legs and partial use of his hands in the accident. Confined to a wheelchair, Chun-Olinger at first refused to go to school or leave the house because he felt "everybody was looking at me."
But his mother made him go and his friends helped push his wheelchair and "took me out no matter what."
Now 18, Chun-Olinger hasn't allowed his wheelchair to stop him from doing much of anything. The graduating senior is so outgoing and popular at Waipahu School, he was voted Homecoming King and was elected to the Senior Prom Court this year.
Going back to school was "a giant step towards the road to recovery," he recalled. "They all saw me as Ernest, a person -- not Ernest, the boy in the wheelchair."
The hardest thing about being disabled is "watching others surf and play basketball. I was an active person and I don't like to just sit around," he said. So, he competes in races, tennis and basketball with other wheelchair athletes and paddles a board at the beach.
Chun-Olinger has a 3.0 GPA and plans to study computer programming next fall at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, where he hopes to live on campus.
Chun-Olinger focuses on "all the good things" in his life, including a steady girlfriend, good friends with whom he can "talk story and laugh," and a devoted family. He shares himself, too, by tutoring younger children at the YMCA after school.
His school counselor, Lillian Yonamine, called the young man "such a neat kid. He's the kind of person who strives to do his best. He never looks back to what his life was like before, he just looks ahead. He doesn't use his wheelchair or the limited use of his hands as excuses ... he doesn't put limits on himself."
"I have grown not only physically, but emotionally," Chun-Olinger said. "Through this experience, I have a deeper understanding of my life and what I can do."
Pat Gee, Star-Bulletin
WAIMEA, Kauai -- "I told them I'd be back and I am," Travis Fernandez said of his return to school for the last month of his senior year. Travis Fernandez
Waimea High senior fulfills
his vow to graduate on timeFernandez, 18, spent six months of this school year hospitalized for treatment of a cancerous tumor in his chest. But the three-sport letterman kept up with the help of tutors on Oahu and on Kauai. He'll graduate on time with Waimea High's class of 2000 Friday.
Principal William Arakaki calls Fernandez "a highly disciplined and a very consistent student." Fernandez has been on the honor roll every semester since he entered high school and is a member of the National Honor Society. He was elected to the Kauai District School Council for three consecutive years. And he lettered in football, basketball and track, playing linebacker on the varsity football team as a sophomore.
In addition to his medical team and tutors, Fernandez can thank his brother, A.C., who donated the healthy bone marrow crucial to Fernandez's recovery.
"I first started feeling bad in December 1998, right after football was over and I just made the basketball team," he said. "At first they thought I had pneumonia but the medication didn't help."
X-rays and a biopsy determined Fernandez had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and that a cancerous tumor has formed in his chest. Radiation and chemotherapy failed to stop the growth of the tumor.
Doctors decided his only hope was a bone-marrow transplant. His youngest brother A.C., then 8, was the donor. He has another brother, Tyson, 14.
"My grandmother was so scared" about his brother donating bone marrow, Fernandez recalled. "She thought they were going to take a bone out of A.C. and stick it in me."
"See, what they do is they put a needle in the donor's hip and draw out the bone marrow and then they inject it into the recipient like a blood transfusion. The donated marrow goes into your system and finds its own way into the bones," Fernandez said. "I've learned a lot about this stuff."
"My family was great," Fernandez said of his ordeal. During his stay at Kapiolani Hospital on Oahu, "my mom would stay during the weekdays and then she'd go home and my dad and brothers would come over for the weekend. A teacher brought three of my good friends over."
Fernandez's cancer is in remission and he said the tumor has been reduced to a lump of scar tissue that the doctors don't think is worth the bother of removing. But he won't be considered cured until he has been cancer-free for five years.
Next fall he plans to attend Kapiolani Community College. Inspired by his recovery, he plans to study how to operate early detection equipment such as CAT scan and ultrasound.
"I've already got a lot of practical experience," he said.
Anthony Sommer, Star-Bulletin
Ha-Dan 'Diane' Phan
In the summer of 1998 she had a 70 percent chance of dying. Two years later, Ha-Dan "Diane" Phan is graduating with honors. 'I prayed every day to
hope to get better'The Kaimuki High School senior lost her entire junior year to battling an inoperable brain tumor. While undergoing daily chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Phan, 19, continued her education with home schooling and studying. She finished with a 3.8 GPA.
"I studied whenever I felt good enough," she said.
That was not easy.
The location of the tumor, at the base of her skull, put pressure on her lower jaw. It made it difficult to swallow food or drink water. When she did eat, the chemotherapy caused vomiting and left her feeling nauseous.
"I was in so much pain," she said.
Phan moved to Hawaii from her home in rural Vietnam in 1992 with her mother, a younger sister and an older brother. While she was undergoing treatment, Phan's family told her to concentrate on getting better and not worry about school.
"I just wanted to get back and see my friends," she said. "I had to graduate with my class."
She plans to attend Kapiolani Community College this fall and, later, the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
School counselor Tom Schemel said Phan's combination of humility and strength sets her apart.
"She just wants to be a normal kid," he said. "Just knowing what she went through, seeing her standing in front of me at the beginning of the year ... she is so strong."
In January 1999, Phan had a severe bout of pneumonia, but did not feel sorry for herself. "I prayed every day to hope to get better," she said. In September, she returned to school for her senior year. By November, chemotherapy had ended and her tumor was in remission.
When asked how she was able to maintain her studies while fighting her illness, her answer was simple, "I just had to try," she said. Her advice to other students who may be going through tough times is just as simple, "Don't give up!"
Steve Murray, Star-Bulletin
Coreen Oshiro
Coreen Oshiro struggled against bone cancer since childhood. Seven years ago, her left leg was amputated and she underwent extensive chemotherapy. 'There was a time when I didn't
know if I would make it'The 18-year-old Kaiser High School senior has pressed on to excel in academics and participate in numerous extracurricular activities.
Oshiro uses crutches to help her walk around and sometimes wears a prosthesis, an artificial replacement for her right leg. She is ranked 12th in her class of 286 and maintained a cumulative GPA of 4.029.
"She takes a lot of initiative and is very self sufficient," said student activities coordinator Rinda Fernandes.
Oshiro complimented her parents for raising her to become an independent person. "They've been really encouraging to me to go out there and do whatever I can," she said.
Oshiro helped members of the Leo Club to arrange an awareness march at the state Capitol for Help Hawaii Children's Cancer Foundation two years ago -- and was recognized for her effort with a nomination for the Kaiser's Prudential Spirit Award.
Counselor Nanette Umeda said she's never seen Oshiro complain or be discouraged. "She's very upbeat," said Umeda. "She never asked for help."
In 1993, Oshiro underwent 28 chemotherapy treatments at Kapiolani Medical Center and experienced the typical side effects: fatigue, loss of hair, loss of appetite and nausea.
"There was a time where I didn't know if I would make it 'til today and in the condition I am," she said. Oshiro has been cancer-free for six years. "I'm in a good position right now," she said. She plans to go to California Lutheran College to study elementary education. She hopes to incorporate her experience as "someone who is physically different" in her teaching.
"I'm just excited," said Oshiro. "You realize life is too short to wait. I'm taking advantage of this opportunity."
Rosemarie Bernardo, Star-Bulletin
