Story and photos by Mike Foley

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• Class of 2009

• '09 Scholarships

During the annual commencement ceremonies on May 28 in the BYU-Hawaii Cannon Activities Center, 232 Kahuku High and Intermediate School seniors graduated in the Class of 2009.

Despite on-and-off drizzling rain, thousands of family members, friends and neighbors filled the BYUH facility, joining government and community leaders, the chairman of the Hawaii State Board of Education, the Complex superintendent and school principals, faculty and staff to honor the graduates.

Senior Class President Kamalani Macy [pictured at right] introduced the program. Then members of the first Hawaiian Language Immersion Program graduating class opened the ceremonies with a traditional wehena chant, followed by the processional of graduates. The senior class officers — Macy; Taofi Sanft, vice president; Joren Plunkett, treasurer; and Ayesha Magalei, secretary — greet each one as he or she arrived on the stage.

After the grads were in place, the Kahuku High JROTC posted of the colors and Vocal Motion sang both the National Anthem and Hawaii Ponoi state anthem. Heyleen Molitikaand Nathan Fuluvakathen paid tribute to the parents and grandparents of their fellow graduates, and recognized all of the VIPS in attendance.

Over $1.56 million in scholarships

Next, school officials read the list of 50 Kahuku students, or a little over 20 percent of the graduating class, who earned more than $1.56 million in scholarships, with additional awards expected to continue coming in.

While many of the scholarship recipients have been known for months, school principal Donna Lindseypublicly announced the winners of the traditional Red Raider Awards — made possible by a $20,000 donation from the James and Abigail Campbell Family Foundation — for the first time that evening. The following seniors were surprised to hear their names:

• Valedictorian: Cody Kimball, Kiana Keng-Yu Lin, Holly Berlin, Christian Baltazar, Jonathan Lautaha, Aysia Tan, Lisa Ke'ilani Akoi, Rebecca Hurst, Kaisha Ho Ching, Dyland Ropert, Tialei Wesley, Andrina Ramosand Elliot Maua'i. Unlike some schools which only recognize one valedictorian, the Red Raiders recognize everyone who made a perfect grade point average — often surpassing 4.0 because these exceptional students have already earned AP or "advanced placement" college credit.
• Leadership: Kamalani Macy
• Service (over four years): Victoria Hafoka, student body president
• Activities: Joren Plunkett
• Scholar Athlete: Cody Kimball and Andrina Ramos
• I Dare You: Joshua Villanueva
• Outstanding Red Raider: Jonathan Lautaha and Minnie Whitford

Principal Lindsey also called out the following graduates who received the traditional Hamashige Endowment Foundation honors: Christian Baltazar, Brenden Joanou, Rebecca Hurst, Patricia Correa, Jonathan Lautaha, Nile Te'o, Nicholus Gouveiaand Eleni Toluta'u. The Hamashige family, who lived in the Kahuku area many years ago and all their children attended Kahuku, created the endowment in 1996 to identify and reward the meritorious achievement of over 100 graduating Kahuku seniors since then.

Valedictorians choose movie themes

The Kahuku High valedictorians chose themes from popular movies to make their remarks, drawing on such feature films as:

• The Joker in "Batman," who asked why are you so serious: In other words, take time to have fun.
• "Rocky": Our dreams can come true.
• "Johnny Lingo": Mahana turns out to be beautiful in the end.
• "Sandlot": This is just the beginning; the future is knocking at our door.
• …as well as the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "Jungle Book" and "Transformers."

Presentation of diplomas

The presentation of diplomas at Kahuku High graduation ceremonies always brings out lots of enthusiasm and recognition, as marked by loud cheers and blaring air horns, large picture posters, lots of shaka signs, parents and others jockeying for pictures, and some fancy footwork as the grads moved across the stage.

Strangely, as the audience quieted down, the seniors seemed to get more excited as Windward Complex Superintendent Lea Albert, who is also a former Kahuku High principal, accepted the recommendation to matriculate the students, uttering once again her classy line that they were "now and forever graduates of Kahuku High."

In offering the senior farewell remarks, class president Kamalani Macy noted, "Knowledge is of no value unless we put it into practice"; and at the end, she added, "Class of 2009, we made it. Congratulations."

Memories of graduations past

The Kahuku High 2009 commencement ceremonies also caused several fathers and even a grandfather in the audience to reflect on their own graduations in years past…and how they relate to the latest generation of grads.

For example, Harold Pukahiof Laie, Kahuku High Class of 1957, was there for the his grandson, Coleson Pukahi, who has accepted a football scholarship from Montana Western University. He recalled his own commencement was "okay for that time, but it wasn't as exciting as now days. We had 75 of us in the old Kahuku gym that the plantation used. We didn't have soft chairs, just benches; and, of course we had a program. In fact, I was honored by the Kahuku Plantation because of my work with the Future Farmers of America." After, he said, he went home for a small dinner with his family, "and we had a graduation dance."

After graduation, Pukahi had a 33-year career with the Army National Guard, and a second career directing the intramurals program at BYU-Hawaii for 15 years. He said though the number of his fellow Red Raider graduates "has dwindled to almost half," they hold reunions almost every year for the past 10-15 years."

"I'm still a proud Red Raider for life, and I'm glad today's graduations recognize everybody. Kahuku has always been strong in football, but we've also established a great academic program. My sons and now my grandson have benefited from the academics."

One of those sons, Roger Pukahi, also of Laie, graduated from Kahuku in 1981 and soon after joined the Hawaii Army National Guard where he is now a Lieutenant Colonel flying CH-47 Chinook helicopters."

He recalled their commencement ceremonies were held in the morning at the Polynesian Cultural Center. "It was a Saturday morning, and it was sunny, and after we had parties. We had 262 in our class."

"I think one of the best things about Kahuku High is the dynamic mix of cultures," he continued. "Everybody's really close, even now. We're still friends, even 20 and 30 years after."

 

The senior medley

Steve Hoag, father of new Kahuku graduate Jessica Hoag— who plans to enroll at BYU Provo, said that his own graduation from Kamehameha School in 1984 was held in the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu with, of course, "lots of leis at the end."

Hoag, who is Director of Administration and Assistant to the President at Hawaii Reserves, Inc. — as well as bishop of the Latter-day Saint Laie 2nd Ward — said that in addition to the strong athletic programs at Kahuku, "the academic programs are just outstanding. My daughter is better prepared for college than I was. When I went to BYU Provo I hadn't taken a single AP class, but she's taken five. Kahuku prepared her very well."

"If students and families apply themselves at Kahuku, all of the opportunities to excel are there. I know the teachers and parents also get very involved. That's what's unique about Kahuku. This is a close-knit community with a tradition of excellence in academics."

Don Ramos, the proud father of valedictorian graduate Andrina Ramos — who will attend Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, is another Red Raider alum and life-long Kahuku resident who has strong loyalty and feelings to the school, where he works in the library. He pointed out that Andrina followed in the footsteps of her older sister, Donna Ramos, who was also a valedictorian in the Class of 2004. Donna graduated from Pacific University is working on a master's degree at Chaminade University.

Ramos said when he graduated in 1978 there were about 150 seniors, and they held commencement at the PCC. "It was daytime, nice and hot. To see my daughters graduate is a very happy moment for me."

 

Alfred Grace, Chief Operating Officer of the Polynesian Cultural Center, was also proud of his daughter, Weathirly Grace, who graduated that evening. "We thought she was going to go to Provo, but she's going to attend BYU-Hawaii and we can't get her out of the house," he joked.

He added that graduation from Tongariro High School in his native Turangi, New Zealand, was much different than the one for today's Kahuku seniors. "We didn't have graduations back then, although the kids got together and didn't go to school all the last week. Basically you passed the exams or you didn't. Those who passed went on to university, or you got into a non-academic line of work. Most students chose not to go on to university."

"It always seems that public schools struggle to provide some of the support services private schools have, but in this case Kahuku has done a really good job of trying to meet the needs of our students," Grace added. "I also think that the strength of the parent association is critical, and here at Kahuku we have a strong one."