Hawaii State Assessment Testing

Hawaii State Assessment testing will take place in October for freshmen & juniors and in April of next year for sophomores. More detailed information of the following testing schedules will be distributed to students and parents. Please note that bell schedules will be modified to accommodate the mass testing. Early release students need to make arrangements with employers when the modified schedules are posted.

October 17, 2007 (Wednesday) - Grade 9 Language Arts
October 15–19, 2007 - Grade 11 Language Arts & Science
April 2008 (date to be determined) - Grade 10 Reading & Mathematics

To help students prepare adequately for tests, parents can do several things to provide support and create a positive test-taking experience.

1. Make sure that your child is in school during the testing sessions. Do not plan any doctor or dental appointments on test dates.

2. Encourage your child to listen carefully to all test-taking directions given by the teacher and to ask questions about any directions that are unclear.

3. Make sure that you are aware of your child's performance and that you can help interpret the results when they become available.

4. See that your child gets his/her regular amount of sleep before the tests and is well-rested.

5. Make sure that your child eats his/her usual breakfast on the day of the test. Hunger can detract from a good test performance.

6. Encourage your child to do his/her best.

FCCLA National Conference, Anaheim, California

Christine Shindo & Charlotte Badua

My experience at the FCCLA National Conference in Anaheim, California this summer was very fun. As a group, we made side trips to Disneyland, Universal Studios, and Six Flags. But this trip wasn’t only about having fun. We had to work and make our project better. Although it took a lot of work, it was worth it because my partner Charlotte Badua and I had the opportunity to go to nationals. At the state conference, we received a gold medal. At nationals, we received a silver medal.
Overall, I’m glad I joined FCCLA because it had a good impact on me, as a person. Being in this club made me a better leader and gave me better communication skills. It was a great way to meet new people and build friendships. I would definitely recommend others to join this club. I had a lot of fun, while at the same time, building and developing many skills that will help me in the future.

Christine Shindo, Senior, FCCLA President

Mr. Takemoto goes to Washington

National Recognition for MHS Cisco Networking Academy

MHS graduate, Elayne Man and MHS Cisco Networking instructor, Kory Takemoto were selected to represent Hawaii at the Cisco Networking Academy's 10th Anniversary Celebration which will take place in Washington DC on October 2-3, 2007. The expense-paid event will honor one student and one teacher from each state who have exemplified the extraordinary impact that the Cisco Networking Academy has made "educating the architects of the networked economy" in the US over the past decade.

Elayne achieved her Cisco Networking Certification at Mililani and has pursued her studies in computer technology as a University of Hawaii Regent Scholar.

“The ‘real world’ has constantly emphasized information technology’s impact on the future and I believe that the combination of this class (CISCO Networking) and SkillsUSA has adequately prepared me for my career after high school. The Cisco class is actually industry-standard which helps me align myself to our school’s expectations and beyond.”
Elayne Man, 2002

Mililani’s Cisco networking students took 1^st and 2^nd place in this year’s SkillsUSA Internetworking competition reflecting the continuing success of Mr. Takemoto’s program.

RECENT NOTE: Mr. Takemoto has decided to forego the Washington DC trip and celebrate the honor at home with his newborn twin girls. CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN!

Congratulations, Mrs. Yama!

Driving force behind integration, Yamaguchi wins 2007 CTE Educator

By Caitlin Kuroda, Trojan Times

As a pioneer of Career & Technical Education at Mililani High School, Language Arts Teacher Monica Yamaguchi was recognized for her efforts by being chosen as the Outstanding Secondary Career & Technical Educator for 2007.
Yamaguchi has been an advocate for Career and Technical Education since the early nineties, when she was part a team called Tech Prep, which eventually evolved into School to Work, and finally to a genuine integration team. "I've brought the academic area, one of the major four core areas, to the forefront of Career and Tech Ed," Yamaguchi explained. "And so I guess I've been kind of like the missionary for that in our school."
For the past six years, Yamaguchi, with her partner, Industrial Arts Teacher Todd Yoshizawa, has been teaching in both the Language Arts and Industrial Arts departments through the integration program that she developed.
"I'm actually very embarrassed to have won it because I'm not a full-fledged industrial arts teacher," Yamaguchi commented. "But I really do feel honored and appreciative to have the support of my industrial art teachers who have really taught me so much along the way. So this award, really to me, is not about me. It's about how this department really pulls together and nurtures each of its teachers, especially the new ones."
Yamaguchi attended an award ceremony on May 19 at the Kapiolani Community College where she and other contributors to Career and Technical Education were honored.

AIGA Graphic Design Workshop

Workshop held for aspiring student designers
By Ben Dumond, Trojan Times


Sponsored by HMSA, the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) held their fifth annual student workshop at Mililani High School on April 21 and 22.
Twenty-nine students from four different schools across the state, Campbell High School, Kaimuki High School, Mililani High School and Radford High School, participated this year and with the help of the 16 professional gralphic designers, the students were able to create posters to reflect this year's HMSA theme of "Mental Wellness."
The workshop cost participants $20 (covering food and an AIGA T-shirt) and lasted 14 hours in total, testing students on both their graphic capabilities and ability to construct and execute original concepts. Students were instructed to create a poster to discuss one of four mental illnesses in a positive light. Aside from having a main theme handed down from HMSA, the AIGA Workshop also incorporates a theme for the workshop itself each year. This year's theme was "Brainstorming" and through an array of various exercises, students were able to attain new methods on formulating ideas.
"We definitely want them to learn from what the overall theme is... so we'd really like them to incorporate that into their other projects that they do and really put more emphasis into brainstorming," said Leslie Tamonte, one of the 16 facilitatoras present at the workshop. Tamonte headed and ran the event with the help of Ryan Hirata, a former graduate of MHS.
When questioned about the planning for the workshop, Hirata stated, "It's all about execution. That's what we get worried about. executing the workshop so that students get the most out of it. We put a lot more pressure on ourselves just so that (the students) get a better product."
Throughout the workshop, facilitators spent their time helping students come up with ideas and improve their poster ddesigns using their expertise and the elements of design as guides. After the posters were completed, a critique session was held between students and designers.
Tamonte also shared her thoughts about the workshop as a whole, "It's really enjoyable to see the end result... It's really amazing that you guys can do it in the short amount of time given because even us, as designers, we see it as a somewhat of a difficult task..."
Many students found the workshop enjoyable as well as beneficial. Senior Vidushi Jetley said, "(The workshop) was a lot of fun and it was really helpful for people who want to go into graphic design as a career. I think the most important thing (I learned was) time management because you're constantly given projects that are due in a couple of hours..."

Hawaii High School Business Plan Competition

Chris Avery - Finalist, Divisional Winner Medalist

Crystal Corpuz

Channing Guyer

Sean Lee - Finalist, Divisional Winner Medalist, Written Exam - 2nd Place Overall

Sean Okamoto - Written Exam - 3rd Place Overall

Kristina Pate

All student competition participants will be received two sideline tickets to this year's Sheraton Hawaii Bowl courtesy of Dana Alden. Mahalo to our three mentors from First Hawaiian Bank (Lloyd Okazaki, Gregory Sitar & Norman Doi) who helped students prepare for the competition

HMSA Teen Video Awards Results

ANTI-SMOKING
Jordan Teruya - 2nd place

ANTI-DRUGS
Derek Barbadillo
Floyd Dawkins
Alex Delapena
Latanya Faamausili
Andrew Pezzulo

ANTI-DRINKING
Jesse Cole

FFA earns Outstanding Results at State Convention

By Ryan Mendoza

This year's FFA state convention was held at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel from April 27-29. Students flew in and placed well in three different categories: Agriculture Demo, Corsage, and Plant Identification.

For Agriculture Demo, Seniors Sarah Aoki and Kiana Dela Cruz took second. The team worked well together as they did in the district competition in February, where Aoki and Dela Cruz received first in the same category.

In the Corsage category, Junior Bryson Akau and Senior Michelle Oyabu placed third, while Seniors Ashley Hirao and Emilie Jimenez received honorable mention. Hirao said, "I think we could've done way better, just that we didn't practice as much, like how we did for (districts). This time we weren't as serious."

Commenting on the experience, Hirao said, "This year's convention was really good especially since it was in Hilo! It was such a different and positive experience that brought me closer to the other members of FFA."

Seniors Kara Nakachi and Chantelle Costa placed first in Plant Identification. When asked about the challenge of participating in a state competition, Costa said, "We studied just about as much as for the district competition. The format was the same, just that we had to memorize a little more plants." Second place went to Seniors Mandy Horimoto and Michelle Oyabu.

This year was a success for FFA, and their accomplishments would not have been reached without FFA Advisor Jeffrey Yamaguchi. Dela Cruz said, "(Yamaguchi) has always been there. Whenever we had questions about anything, he always answers them. He made sure we did what we were supposed to, and supported us throught everything. Yama's like a dad to all of us."

Mililani CTE Students Win Big!

2007 SkillsUSA, DECA, FCCLA, HOSA, Competition Results

SkillsUSA

Yvette Barron - SkillsUSA State President SY06-07

Elishia Jackson - SkillsUSA State Vice-President SY06-07

Chris Avery - SkillsUSA State Parlimentarian SY06-07

State Pin Design - Courtney Ro

Statesmen Awards - Elishia Jackson, Courtney Ro, Denece Wong, Danielle Daranciang

Advertising Design, 3rd place - Michael Taylor

Cabinetmaking, 1st place - Andrew Russell

Carpentry Construction, 3rd place - Lauren Wolfe

Internetworking, 1st place - Trent Tamate

Internetworking, 2nd place - Timothy Barron

Job Skills Demonstration, 2nd place - Keynon Kong

Promotional Bulletin Board, 1st place - Leanne Sakamoto & Courtney Ro

Promotional Bulletin Board, 2nd place - Cera Rios & Marie Esposito

Promotional Bulletin Board, 3rd place - Chris Min & Denece Wong

Related Technical Math, 2nd place - Todd Taomae

Related Technical Math, 3rd place - David Teraoka

Television/Video Production, 3rd place - Chris Avery & Yvette Baron

DECA

Civic Consciousness, 1st place - Shawna Pao and Joanna Lee

Medallion winner for Business Services - David Hazlett

Outstanding Hawaii Chapter DECA Member - Shawna Pao

Outstanding Hawaii Chapter DECA Officer - Christine Martini

Outstanding Hawaii Chapter DECA Advisor - Mrs. Loraine Honda

Outstanding Hawaii Chapter DECA Scrapbook - Mililani High School DECA

FCCLA

Culinary Team: Bronze Medal - Arianna Chun-Chambers, Chelsy Cachola, Noel Nakamura

Star Event: Focus on Children, Gold Medal - Charlotte Badua & Christine Shindo

HOSA

Ruel Reyes - HOSA State Vice-President SY07-08

Dental Spelling, 1st place - Jaimee Sambrano

Dental Spelling, Honorable Mention – Chloe Fonacier

Extemporaneous Speaking, 1st place - Brittney Cambridge

Veterinary Assisting, 1st place - Brysen Kawamura

Medical Reading Team, 1st place - Aviee-Ann Lee, Jenna Maligro, Rebecca Wedge,

Dental Terminology, 2nd place - Chelsey Ann Nakanishi

Clinical Specialty, 2nd place - Renni Fay Iwasa

Researched Persuasive Speaking, 3rd place - Natalie Jacob

Medical Terminology, Honorable Mention – Ruel Reyes