Hongwanji Mission School dolphin nEWS Leaving our mark on the world October 2014 Fall Fun! Give Aloha Fundraiser A loha HMS Ohana, Wow, here we are in October already! October marks the kickoff of the enrollment season for the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools (HAIS). The HAIS has three admissions fairs scheduled, and HMS also hosts prospective parents at our Fall Open House on Wednesday, October 15 at 5:00p.m. We have an enjoyable and informative evening planned for anyone who is looking for a great educational experience for their children. If you are aware of a family that is looking for a great school to enroll their children in, then please encourage them to visit HMS. Our objective is to provide a strong educational foundation that allows families to choose the high school that is the best fit for each HMS student. The program is designed as a learning environment for our students to prepare for successful high school experiences. Last year, 79% of the students in grades 5 through 8, who applied to major private schools were accepted. 100% of our 8th grade students who applied to private high schools were accepted. We are very proud of our students’ educational successes and accomplishments. If you have any questions about admissions or our open house, then please call our office at 532-0522. We’re always happy to help. Mahalo, In Gassho, David Randall, Head of School Mahalo a nui loa to everyone who helped to make our Annual PTO Fundraiser so successful. It looks like we will have a record breaking year!!! Important Dates • Please CLICK HERE for the HMS Calendar Dates Hongwanji Mission School’s Open House for Prospective Families Wednesday, October 15th 5:00 – 6:15 pm Come & visit our Preschool through 8th grade classrooms & teachers. Join us for a night of fun, food (heavy pupus provided) & fellowship! For more information or to RSVP call (808) 532-0522 or visit www.HongwanjiMissionSchool.org HMS Board Newsletter Wayne Yoshioka, HMS School Board Chair Welcome new and returning students and your families! Head of School, David Randall, and all our faculty and staff are back as well, and we are excited about Hongwanji Mission School’s 65th year providing quality academic and character education. You’ll be hearing more about efforts to recognize this landmark year as the school year progresses. Last year, the green space was completed, and based on its popularity, it is a Accepting Applications for the 2015-2016 School Year For information go to www.HongwanjiMissionSchool.org or contact the HMS office at 532-0522. Mahalo 1 Dolphin News: October 2014 successful addition to our campus. This year, we will focus on re-painting and maintenance of our classroom buildings. We hope to have this effort completed by the end of the school year. Many of you participated in the surveys initiated by Mr. Randall. I was glad to hear that you were happy with the academic and character based programs here at HMS. You also liked our enrichment programs and our facilities. But the most gratifying survey response for me was the sentiment that HMS was a happy place. The skills of our faculty and staff assure high quality programs. I believe it is their hearts that create the safe and nurturing environment that is the trademark of HMS. Best wishes to students, parents, faculty, and staff for a productive and happy school year.. In Gassho, Wayne Yoshioka HMS School Board Chair HMS PTO Newsletter Mike Inouye, PTO President Dear HMS Ohana: Another month has flown by. Let me first thank all of you for your participation in our Annual PTO Fundraiser. I am so grateful for the response we have been getting and hope once the final numbers come in, we’ll have a record breaking total through the Foodland’s Give Aloha Program. Thanks again for your support of the PTO. One highlight this month is the Community Open House on October 15 starting at 5:00pm. Please invite your friends and family that are looking for a great private school option. The teachers, staff, and some current parents will be there to meet and greet prospective parents and share about the school. This event is a great way to promote HMS and was very successful last year. I attended last year and thought it a true testament to its success when I saw many faces from that event on the first day of school. So, please consider passing on the information for this event to any prospective parents. The afterschool programs, small class sizes, family atmosphere, and wonderful faculty and staff are just some of the talking points that make our school special. Don’t be afraid; you are the best advertising we have! The PTO is continuing to plan and organize the coming year’s events. Please keep your ears and eyes open for the Family Fair, Campus Beautification & BBQ, and 65th Anniversary Gala. We will surely need a lot of help to make these events a success so stay tuned as we ask for your continued support. Preschool’s and Pre-K’s Colorful World Preschool & Pre-K Teachers Each week, we, the Preschool crew, uncover a color in our world! With excited faces and grinning smiles, we go on expeditions in search of the color of the week within our Preschool community and environment. We envelop ourselves in radical red, mellow yellow, bodacious blue! Then, the Pre-K’s create colorful painted masterpieces and colorful arts and crafts from red cherries and apple prints to “purplicious” grapes and eggplants. To end our week with a bang, we come to school dressed head-to-toe in our weekly color; and even eat the colors as we enjoy juicy red apples and very blue blueberries to snack on. When the Preschool crew travels around campus, we love to search and recognize our colors, often finding even our big buddies and spirited HMS staff decked out in the colors we are learning all about! As we dive deeper into our color unit, our Pre-K friends find colors not only in school, but at home, making home-to-school real life connections. They bring in colorful items to show and tell, which help them to practice 2 In Gassho, Mike Inouye PTO President Dolphin News: October 2014 their oral communication skills. Exercising their fine-motor skills, they cut, color, paint, and glue colorful works of art, creating pages for their very own color books based on the beloved children’s story, Pete the Cat, I Love my White Shoes. If that’s not exciting enough, our Pre-K friends also practice finding the names of each of their colors. They enjoy music and movement activities, singing loud and proud, “R-E-D…I can spell red!” Not only are we learning so very much, but we are having a colorfully fun time along the way! So, Hip-HIP-HOORAY for our colorful day! Teddy Roosevelt: The Man of Honor Kennedy Choo, Leadership Historian Last month, I watched the Ken Burns’ documentary “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History”, which told the story of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor, who were members of the most influential family in American history. Theodore, known as TR, was the oldest. He battled through childhood asthma and was afraid of almost everything while growing up. But, instead of giving up, TR made himself stronger and attended Harvard University, where he graduated near the top of his class. Theodore Roosevelt eventually became the youngest President of the United States, at the age of 42. While he was president, TR established 51 national parks; fought big businesses to increase wages, and shortened the work week to six days. Roosevelt was also the first American president to earn the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating peace to end the Russo-Japanese war. TR came from a very rich Dutch family, one of the richest in New York. He could have been like the rest of his family --- i.e., self-centered and living off their wealth, but instead, he chose to help the poor because he believed that everyone should have a “square deal.” Even though TR said those words more than 100 years ago, they remain important today, because there are still people who need help. Everyone deserves “a square deal,” which is a chance to succeed in life! Right Livelihood Rev. Toyokazu Hagio, HMS Buddhist Ed. Liaison Last month we observed the Peace Day Service; for this month I’d like to talk about “Right Livelihood”, a basic outlook of Buddhists in daily life. “Right Livelihood” is one of the values taught to students through the Eightfold Path. We are trying our best to live each day doing right things and living in the right way. In reality we aren’t doing the right thing or living the right way at all. At first we have to consider what is right. We must go back to the original point of our “Life”. We cannot live alone whenever or wherever we are. We are being sustained by many other “lives”, and we are allowed to live. This is the meaning of the original point of “life”. This body of mine was born in this world through the condition of my parents, and is being sustained by the food I eat, and my mind and heart is nurtured by my experiences and knowledge to live. Therefore, instead of hurting others’ lives, we should respect others’ lives, and cultivate the mind of compassion. The value of “Right Livelihood” is taught to students as a concept that means, doing no harm to others, animals, or the environment through our daily activities. Menus The HMS Menu will be located on the HMS webpage. Please CLICK HERE to download the breakfast and lunch menus. Mahalo. 3 Dolphin News: October 2014 Boy’s Volleyball Champs!!! Troy Kimura, Coach Just wanted to let you all know, if you didn’t already hear, that our Boys’ team won the Lutheran League Championship for the 3rd straight year. The team members are Tevan K., Nicholas O.-C., Kai S., Tyler U., Akira K., Cameron G., and Captains, Cole M. and Jakob K. Thank you for supporting our volleyball teams. Fire Prevention Week Mural Michelle Tamayose, Art The mural that our students Jocelyn M. and Kacie M. painted is on display at the Nu’uanu Fire Station #25 during their Fire Prevention Week this month. Great job Jocelyn and Kacie! Mahalo Nui Loa Thank you to all our parent volunteers on picture day: Ashley Yamada, Aiko DeGerald and Pomaialoha Apana. Thank you to the people and families for your donation to the school: Usami Family - Portfolios; Takeuchi Kaneshiro Family - 3 Cases of Recycled Paper; Aoyama Family - Pallet of Assorted Paper, Rylynn Silva - Office Supplies; Hamamoto Family - Misc Donations. Please support our Temple’s Annual Blood Drive on Saturday, November 22, 2014 from 7:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. in the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin Social Hall. 1727 Pali Highway To schedule an appointment contact: Charlyne Tom at 532-0522 or [email protected] The class with the most donor appointments will get a pizza party! 4 Saturday, November November 22, Saturday, 22,2014 2014 7:00 a.m. a.m. -- 3:15 3:15 p.m. p.m. 7:00