DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM The 15th Air Base Wing hosted 650 Waimalu Elementary School students and 200 teachers and chaperones yesterday at Hickam Air Force Base.

Waimalu kids
salute their friends
at Hickam AFB

The students praise military
partners for their generosity

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

Hickam Air Force Base's Hangar 7 came alive yesterday with the youthful, boisterous voices of 650 Waimalu Elementary School students, teachers, parents and chaperones.

Many of the them, like sixth-grader Chelsea Korodan, 11, came dressed for the occasion in red tops and blue denim jeans to show off their "patriotic spirit."

Waimalu Principal Kaylene Yee said the school took the day off to visit Hickam "to thank their military partners for all the care and loving they have given to the school and the students."

DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Fourth-grader Jaysen Ishida, above left, and others saw a reproduction of a human skull, part of a display by Central ID Lab Hawaii.

Waimalu is one of 14 schools where Hickam airmen and women donate their time to tutor students and maintain and repair the campus as part of the base's school partnership program.

Lt. Col. Michael Benjamin, deputy commander of the 15th Support Group at Hickam, said 17 units at the air base participate in Hickam's School Partnership Program with 10 elementary schools (Nimitz, Waimalu, Hickam, Pearl Harbor, Mokulele, Aliamanu, Aiea, Waimanalo, Makalapa and Pearl Harbor Kai), two intermediate schools (Aliamanu and Waimanalo) and two high schools (Radford and Kailua).

He said that last year, more than 300 Hickam airmen and women gave more than 3,100 hours of their free time to tutor and mentor schoolchildren and attend job fairs. They also participated in numerous beautification and landscaping projects, which ranged from removal of playground equipment to repainting classrooms and cafeterias at schools.

Yee has nothing but praise for the Hickam program.

"It's unreal," she said. "They will do anything for us. They even held a car wash last year and donated more than $1,000 which we used to retrofit our playground equipment."

DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Teacher Cynthia Casaming, above, led the children in patriotic songs at the start of the tour.

Korodan, a student representative to Waimalu's school community base management program, said the students decided to take their appreciation to Hickam "since they are so busy."

Last fall, the school had planned to hold an appreciation concert at the Waimalu campus to seal its partnership contract with Hickam. "But then Sept. 11 happened," said Cynthia Casaming, Waimalu music teacher. "So we thought if they can't come to us, we can go to them."

In the large hangar, the students, led by Casaming, gave a nearly hourlong concert of patriotic songs, which included their rendition of the Air Force theme song.

Yee said she hoped the field trip would give the students "a better understanding of what the military does and what careers and opportunities are available in the military.

"That's all a part of our career awareness program at our school."

Chloe Maeshiro, president of Waimalu's student council, said she wanted to see "how our military works."

"They (Air Force) help us out a lot," said Maeshiro, 11. "They come to our school and clean it up. They help students with reading and speech."