Class of 2013 basks in ‘Golden Lights’ at senior ball

In the light of candles the senior class enjoyed their senior ball last night in Keʻeaumokupāpāʻiaheahe dining hall.

Previously, the ball was to be held in a tent on the field below Kahekili gym, but was moved indoors due to poor weather.

“It was pretty stressful, trying to get a hold of the food and DJs to change the venue,” said Mr. Greg Lopez, senior class adviser.

The night’s theme was Golden Light. The hall was decorated simply with tea light candles, twigs and white roses.  Students sat in the golden glow of the candles.

“The theme was made to revolve around the decorations. We wanted something simple so that students didn’t feel that they needed to dress in the theme,” senior Riley Shiraishi.

The night started with Stella Blues’ Neptune Buffet. The entrees included crab stuffed fresh fish with ginger cream sauce, sautéed shrimp and scallop skewers with a garlic lemon grass butter.  There was a variety of pies for dessert.

“I really loved the food. It was a lot better than the food at the other banquets. The desert was really good, too,” senior Kanoelehua Bulusan said.

After the dinner, DJ JC AND Jay Jay of Next Level Entertainment got the party started on the dance floor. Students danced to songs of nearly every era.

Attendance was smaller than planned, with somewhere around fifteen students being dis-invited after racking up an unexcused absence this past Tuesday, February 19. Senior absences had been higher than usual on that day, a day rumored to be “Senior Ditch Day.”

“For a small party, we had a lot of fun. I was pretty happy with it, even though it rained, and we needed to change the venue, everything went through pretty easily,” Senior Class President Hulali Brown said.

The next class event will be Senior Bash. The class officers are hoping to make up for last-minute venue change by doing something special for the Bash. According to Mr. Lopez, they are hoping to start at 5:00 to have a sunset barbecue and a band.

“I just want to thank them for being such a great class. They are the ones who did most of the work. I guide them, and they do all of the leg work,” Mr. Lopez said.

Junior Prom 2012: Students “come away with” smiles

WAILUKU–The junior class and their dates got fancy and walked into The King Kamehameha Golf Club ballroom decorated with every girl’s favorite colors: Tiffany blue and white. The theme of the night was “Come Away with Me,” inspired by the Norah Jones song. This set the mood for a romantic evening on Saturday, March 31, 2012.

Mehana Lee was the one who proposed the “Come Away with Me” theme at the prom committee meetings. “Everyone in the prom committee picked Norah Jones songs because her music is romantic and sweet,” she said.

With the theme, the committee decided to use the Tiffany blue and white color scheme in the decorations.

“We thought, ‘Let’s go with this and do Tiffany boxes.’ We wanted it to be unique,” said Hulali Brown, junior class president.

Tables were decorated with tiered Tiffany boxes, blue and white rose petals, fake diamonds, and blue candles–the party favor–and to top it all off, an ice sculpture of a diamond graced the entrance for the juniors and their guests.

The set-up of the venue took about two-and-a-half hours, but the committee has been planning the event since the beginning of the school year.

“It comes together really well, and it’s great that we had parents and even students who weren’t a part of the committee involved,” Brown said.

The junior class also added some unique touches to their event. They had a special What’s Up, Warriors? broadcast created by their Digital Video Production classmates. The broadcast included music video clips to the songs “ABC” by the Jackson 5, “Domino” by Jessie J, and “Party Rock” by LMFAO, commercial parodies, Pololū Nakanelua’s segment “Das Nuts,” a slideshow featuring the class’s favorite moments, and their Hall of Fame nominees and winners.

The winners for the Hall of Fame were:

• World Scholar: Kaili Mossman and Sai Furukawa
• Most Artistic: Kamalei Warrington and Manaloa Aikala
• Mr. and Ms. Swag: Luke Batoon and Tori-Jean Cambra
• Aquaholics: Anuhea Kaiaokamalie and Tyler MacArthur
• Mr. Jockstrap and Ms. Sports Bra: Andrew Kahalewai and Raven Poepoe
• American Idol: Sarah Aiwohi and Aaron Watson
• Funniest Laugh: Kolby Ah Sau and Alyssa McAlinden
• Most Sarcastic: Leeana Batungbacal and  Pololū Nakanelua
• Mr. and Ms. Aloha: Anuhea Arakawa and Kamaka Keawekane

and the most anticipated…

• Prom King and Queen: Kamaka Keawekane and Leimana Kane

Dinner was catered by the King Kamehameha Golf Club and included dishes like fish, chicken, rolls, tossed salad, and noodles. For desert, the class enjoyed various pies and a candy bar featuring goodies like lollipops and chocolate candies, which was set up by the committee .

From there, the class moved into what was one of the most widely anticipated events: dancing. Next Level Entertainment dj’d the night  for the class of 2014. Students were also able to have their pictures taken by MSI photography.

Junior class adviser Mr. Greg Lopez was pleased with the event. “I think it went very well…there were very few difficulties. The group who was running it had a lot of practice and that made for very few glitches. I wanted to see everyone having a good time and people smiling,” he said.

April 5, 2012 update: The guest in the featured photo was originally misidentified. We regret the error.

Sophomore banquet showcases nightclub moves

On March 24, the sophomore class and their guests walked into the high school dining hall-turned-nightclub to dance the night away and showcase their best moves on the floor. The theme was Dancing in the Dark, and students came dressed to the nines at their club-themed banquet.

The eclectic decorations were pulled together from materials that had been used at other events by other classes.

“We wanted it to be eclectic and have a colorful feel to to make it happy. We really wanted a happy, colorful room for the students,” said sophomore class adviser, Mrs. Kalena Laepa’a.

Glow sticks sprouted from glass vases filled with mini disco balls and underlined by mirrored squares. The tables were also dotted with glass stones and M&Ms in orange, the class color. Twinkle lights were strung throughout the room and colorful paper lanterns hung from the ceiling.

Some students didn’t quite “get” the mix-and-match decor.

“It kind of looks like a luau, I don’t get how the lanterns go with the nightclub theme,” sophomores Marley Duncan and Jocelyn Aipa said.

However, many students enjoyed the glow sticks once the lights were turned off for the dance. They made bracelets, glasses, necklaces, and balls to play with as they danced in the dark.

The sophomores added another element: the Writing Wall. Students could go up to a long sheet of white paper taped to a wall and write messages with glow-in-the-dark puffy paint. The messages will be revealed to the class during their senior luau.

“It’s kind of like a time capsule. It’ll keep the spirit of the class alive and help them remember the night,” Mrs. Laepa’a said.

Students quickly took to the idea and were painting pictures and writing messages to their friends and class.

“I wrote my name and ‘Love All’ as a reminder to my class to stay true to yourself and to love everyone,” sophomore Lexis Viena said.

“I wrote my signature, jersey number, and class year. I started crying when I was writing it,” sophomore Ashley Tanoue-Singson said.

Four Sisters Kitchen catered the event with featured dishes like orange chicken, shrimp pasta, and Chinese chicken salad. Students also had an ice cream bar where they had the option to make root beer or Coke floats or sundaes topped with gummy bears, M&Ms, cookie bits, and brownies.

As students ate, they reminisced about their moments in high school by watching a slideshow prepared by their peers played on the big screen. From friends, high school couples, and sporting events, the class of 2014 looked back on all they had achieved in two years.

Also enjoying the trip down Memory Lane were some upperclassmen. Many KSM seniors made an appearance at the event.

“It’s my last year, and I wanted to go to everything,” senior class president Tu’imana Mateaki said.

“I came to enjoy a great night by spending time with friends and having a good time on the dance floor,” senior Alika Sanchez said.

Next Level Entertainment’s Mr. Joe Cortez dj’d the night for the class. “We have all the latest hits and free CDs for giveaways. We’re ready to party rock with the class of 2014!” Mr. Cortez said.

The class of 2014 tore up the dance floor and had a good time. Nearly everyone in attendance came excited to dance and didn’t hesitate to once the lights went low, bringing to life the night’s theme, dancing in the dark.

Freshman stars, starlets walk the red carpet

On February 11, the freshman class of 2015 got spiffy to make their debut on the red carpet at Keʻeaumokupapāiʻaheʻahe Dining Hall, the scene of their freshman banquet. The theme was “Walking the Red Carpet” and with an added layer of Hollywood glam, the freshmen were looking like stars.

The evening started off with the freshmen getting to walk down their own personal red carpet to enter the transformed dining hall. Each student received an ID lanyard containing a personalized VIP pass to the event.

Their black, white and red color scheme was evident in the decorations inside: swaths of fabric swooping down from the ceiling, black tableware with red flowers and ribbon accents, balloons on the dance floor, and a large display of the word “Hollywood” accented with a giant paper filmstrip and twinkling white lights, as well as other decorations throughout the dining hall. The decor became a quick favorite of all in attendance.

“The decorations are beautiful. I like the Hollywood theme. It was easy to dress up for,” freshman Jessica Mendiola said.

Shai Ibara, 2015 class president, headed up the decorations committee with other government officers.

“We stayed after school yesterday until 6:00 p.m. setting up everything as much as we could. We came back this morning [Saturday] and have been here [setting up] since 9:00 a.m. I love freshman banquet because our class can spend quality time together and have fun,” she said.

Students had photo-booth style pictures taken by Bayez Photo. Freshman class adviser, Mr. Kaholo Rickard, said students had expressed worries about taking intimate boy-girl photos, which prompted him to use Bayez Photo, whose casual, fun style he was familiar with. Bayez Photo gave students props - like hats, glasses, and boas – and took four posed shots, which were printed out for them as soon as they finished.

Once everyone was seated, the dinner was open and the students helped themselves to a Hawaiian plate-themed dinner and delicious treats from a chocolate fountain dessert table. The food was catered by Maui Style Seafood Catering.  Each table came with two bottles of sparkling apple cider.

The announcement of the Hall of Fame winners was one of the evening’s highlights. Tiana Sakumoto was among the students awarded for her outstanding qualities. She won the Future Olympian award.

“I play softball and volleyball. I’m glad that I got be recognized for that tonight,” she said.

Also recognized were three students who were celebrating a birthday at the banquet: Sakumoto and twins Cody and Kyle Fushikoshi Wago, who turned 15 that night.

Sakumoto was happy that her birthday coincided with the event. “I get to hang out with all my friends!” she said.

As soon as the award winners had taken their seats, the freshmen took a walk down memory lane and watched a lengthy slideshow of photographic memories.

Feeling closer than ever after that, they took to the dance floor. Next Level Entertainment Dj’ed and played music videos on the big screen while students danced.

Though the night had begun with some of the girls receiving detention for attending in dresses that were more than four inches above the knee, the rest of the night went by smoothly.

“I am proud of the production of the freshmen banquet. We didn’t have as much help as initially promised, but those who did stay did an amazing job. They pulled together and worked hard to the end. There weren’t really any major problems; everything fell together nicely,” Mr. Rickard said.

Other KSM high school staff and students helped make the event possible. Teachers chaperoned, and Mr. Rickard attributed a lot of the success of the event to senior class adviser, Ms. Ronnelle Suda. Senior class leaders were also there to set up and monitor the buffet line all night.