Waipahu rallies to help
students make history
Arbie Campuspos, 13, says he doesn't even like social studies, but he got so caught up in creating a video documentary on U.S. nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands that his parents worried it was monopolizing his time.
Now they are glad that he did. Campuspos and three classmates at Waipahu Intermediate School earned free trips to Washington, D.C., to showcase their history projects at National History Day next month. The school is working hard to raise the money to take the rest of the team with them.
"This is a real opportunity," said their social studies teacher, Lorena Aping. "Some of our kids haven't been out of the state or even much beyond Waipahu."
Waipahu caused a stir at the recent state History Day, when Aping's students took first place in three of four categories in the middle school division, winning all-expenses- paid trips to the nationals. Another five of her students placed high enough to advance to the nationals, but without the free trip.
"Some schools traditionally do well, but this year, all of a sudden, boom, it was Waipahu Intermediate," said Warren Nishimoto, director of the University of Hawaii's Center for Oral History and one of the judges. "Talk about school spirit! When the winners were announced, they were just jumping, doing high fives."
The History Day contest, sponsored by the Hawaii Council for the Humanities, is open to public and private school students in grades six through 12, with separate divisions for middle and high schools.
It is designed to help students move beyond memorizing dates by personally examining notable events in history through video documentaries, display boards, performances or essays. Students are encouraged to use primary sources in their research, such as letters, diaries, documents and interviews.
"We dominated that History Day," Edward Oshiro, principal of Waipahu Intermediate, said with a chuckle. "I'm so very proud of our History Day participants and of how the community has responded."
The school has been hard at work selling chili tickets to raise money for the trip, and just received a major boost from Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii, which is donating $2,500 and also helping sell chili tickets, Oshiro said.
National History Day runs June 14-21 at the University of Maryland at College Park, on the outskirts of the nation's capital. Each trip costs $1,500, a daunting amount for parents at the school, where 60 percent of the students qualify for subsidized lunches because of low family incomes.
"It's really hard, especially for our parents," Aping said. "A lot of them are really supportive, they do want their children to go."
Campuspos decided to do his project after learning that Marshall Islands residents were coming to Oahu for medical help. He tracked down a U.S. atomic veteran who measured radiation levels after the testing, but is still trying to hook up with someone from the Marshall Islands to discuss the lingering effects from the bomb tests.
Students are allowed to continue improving their pieces before submitting them to the next level of competition.
"If you find something you're interested in, and you do your own research into it, you'll like history more," said Campuspos, who moved to Hawaii from the Philippines at age 2 and will be making his first trip to the mainland.
The Waipahu winners in the intermediate division were:
>> Campuspos for his documentary, "U.S. Nuclear Testing in the Marshall Islands: Denied Rights of the Marshallese."
>> Monique Albano and Sara-Malia Scott for their performance, "The Bonus March of 1932: Peaceful Protest or Civil Unrest."
>> Kimberly Fletcher for her display, "Hawaii Longshoremen Strike of 1949: A Successful Step in Labor History."
Kailua Intermediate School's Kelsey Anderson took first place in the historical essay category for her paper, "The Bombing of Hiroshima: Did the U.S. Have the Right to Use the Atomic Bomb and Did They Use it Responsibly?"
Waipahu students Ricky Tabalno, Dominique Dacanay, Rowena Reyes, Kevin Acacio and Austen Hagio also qualified for the national competition, along with 14 other middle school students from across the state.
Donations to defray trip costs may be sent to Waipahu Intermediate School, at 94-455 Farrington Highway, Waipahu, HI 96797. Make checks payable to the school, with the notation "History Day."