GEORGE F. LEE / STAR-BULLETIN
Patricia Oda, 21, a business major at Kapiolani Community
College; Jordon Chan, 18, a senior at Kalani High School;
and Dana Uyeno, 16, a junior at Kalani, hang out at places
like the Starbucks at Kahala Mall whiling away the time
during the HSTA and UHPA teachers strikes.

Strike has students
worried about plans

Free time to cruise the
malls and beaches not
all that welcome

By Charlene Anne Rico
Star-Bulletin

With teachers on strike, many high-schoolers can be found wandering idly through the halls of the malls. But all is not carefree.

Star Mikami, a 17-year-old senior at Kaimuki High School, was hanging out with her friends at Ala Moana Center recently, but she was worried that she won't be able to graduate on time and that her family's summer vacation to Las Vegas won't happen.

"I just hope (the teachers) go back soon so I can graduate and that everything kind of falls into place. I don't think that all of the teachers deserve a raise, but some do. I think they should settle on 19 percent instead of 22."

If Mikami does not graduate, she may have to be satisfied with a General Education Diploma (G.E.D.) in place of a regular high school diploma.

"I think it's kind of impossible for the whole senior class to settle on (the G.E.D.). Right now, it's kind of up in the air."

GEORGE F. LEE / STAR-BULLETIN
From left, Dana Uyeno, 16, a junior at Kalani High; Jordon
Chan, 18, a senior at Kalani High; Patricia Oda, 21, a business
major at Kapiolani Community College; and Jennifer Wong,
24, a foreign language major at Kapiolani Community
College; hang out at Kahala Mall.

Another possibility, Mikami said, is that the school will use as students' fourth-quarter grades the marks they received the week before the strike started.

Jordon Chan, a senior at Kalani High School who was visiting a friend during her lunch break at Ala Moana Center, also expressed concerns about the strike's impact on the start of his college career.

"I'm kind of irritated that nobody can come to a settlement, because I had plans for the summer to get a job and get ready for college."

Chan plans to attend Kapiolani Community College to fulfill his core requirements, then transfer to the University of Hawaii-Manoa to get his bachelor's degree in psychology.

"I had a course planned out for myself," he said. "I had an expectation of when I was going to graduate and how long it was going to take me to be in school.

"With this strike, it's going to hold me back, and it's going to throw everything off."

Lisa Nishiyma, a freshman at Kapiolani Community College has been making the most of her time by working more hours at her office job at Shirokiya in Ala Moana Center.

"(The strike) really doesn't bother me," she said. "I think teachers should get their raises. They deserve it, I guess, but the students are suffering.

"I feel sorry mostly for high school seniors because they (might not) graduate."

Sarah Bennett, a 21-year old senior majoring in Fashion Promotions at UH, was working at Locals Only. Bennett worked more hours when she wasn't in class, but hasn't really noticed a jump in sales in spite of the increased student traffic.

"More kids will come in over the week," she said, "but I don't think it's really benefitting the store."

Bennett has been spending her free time going to the beach and shopping but she said, "It's fun, but when there's no school and you should have school, it's like, 'I just want to go to school and get it over with.' "

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