McKinley pep rally Waving small American flags, Tita Cabuyaban and her friend Darshelle Tatupu cried as the McKinley High School band played "The Star Spangled Banner" and the school color guard paraded a larger Old Glory past bleachers of students and staff.
helps students put
disaster in context
It was a time to reflect on Tuesday's
tragedy and be reminded
of the "business at hand"By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com"It was just sad," Cabuyaban said, recalling the deadly terrorist attacks that rocked the world this past week.
"I felt sorry for all those people," Tatupu echoed.
While governments, businesses and others took time to remember and mourn, so did Hawaii schools like McKinley.
"Let us come together to show our respect for innocent Americans who have lost their lives," McKinley student body President Felix Lui told the packed gymnasium of schoolmates. "Let us come together today to show the undying American spirit."
Teens filed into their seats as "America the Beautiful" played in the background. With pompom girls leading the alma mater and athletes wearing "Tiger" shirts, the assembly resembled the pep rally that it was originally scheduled to be.
But there was one big difference.
"Some of you -- 18-year-olds -- when you look at the television and the media write-up, you wonder, 'What is to happen to me?'" Principal Milton Shishido told the teens. "These are very anxious times, but for a fact, things must go on. Today, we join the nations in prayer and remembrance. Tomorrow, please come back to us ready to do the business at hand, and that is to learn and to teach."
Along with the heroes of the tragedy on the mainland, the school also honored its own heroes, including McKinley Athletic Director Neal Takamori, who administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation earlier this year to entertainer Moe Keale after Keale suffered a heart attack. Keale was present and hugged Takamori.
Student leaders encouraged members of the school community to wear red, white and blue on Tuesday to mark "Spirit of America Day," the one-week anniversary of the terrorist attack.
Cabuyaban said she spent the morning in Miss Bright's history class watching the national remembrance service on television, which brought tears to her eyes. She asked her teacher if she could take the flag to the assembly.
"I thought (the assembly) was good because I don't think the kids really understood," the McKinley sophomore said. "I thought it was important because we should be thankful it didn't happen to us. So I'm thankful that it didn't happen to us but sad that it happened to everybody else."
After the assembly, Cabuyaban said she thinks fellow students got it.
"Now they understand why we had this," she said.
