| MILILANI
BIRTHS
MILILANI, HAWAI`I - Chastin Blaze
Baquiran, born Dec 11 to Debbie & Lawrence
Baquiran...Dyson Jay Kalani Iman, born Sep 18
to Dee Dee & Rick Iman...Zoe Noel Kapela, born Dec 17 to Jena & Toddy Kapela...Meagan & Mitchell Funasaki, born Sep 8 to Sheri & Kevin Funasaki...Ava Jules Moniz, born Nov 11 to Denise S. & Mitchel J. Moniz...Chloe Theresa Pumehana Barbadillo, born Nov 14 to Kelly &
Gabriel Barbadillo.
Mililani Girl's Soccer
THE FRENCH INFLUENCE
from the Star-Bulletin
At Mililani, Mele French is
known as a finisher.
The junior forward has scored 11 goals in the Trojans' first three
regular-season soccer games, including a five-goal outburst against Campbell.
French is tied with Pearl City's Carmen Calpo -- the Oahu
Interscholastic Association's top scorer last year -- for the most goals in the OIA.
But Mililani's not a one-player team.
"It's not just Mele on this team, it's the team getting her open," coach James
Uson said. "Our game plan is ball possession -- keep working the ball until we find
the open man. That open man always seems to be Mele, and she's the one who finishes for
us."
Mililani (3-0) has outscored its opponents, 25-1, with additional
production from halfbacks Jennifer Iha, Jackie Matsuda, Ashlee Doi and Krystal Uchida.
Their most recent win was a 3-1 victory against rival Pearl City last
week. The Chargers (4-1-0) lead the OIA Western Division, but have played two more games.
A new defense installed by Uson and the emergence of French have made
Mililani -- which made it to the quarterfinals of the last year's state tournament -- even
tougher.
French started part of last season, but she's the first to admit that
she wasn't nearly as good.
"I learned that I needed to be better and work on my
footwork," French said.
So she joined a club team, the Bulls, coached by Phil Neddo.
"He's so hard on me and he pushes me. He taught me to be
determined, committed and the best player I could be," she said.
PLAYING against mainland competition also helped. The Bulls won the
state club championship and traveled to the mainland for the regionals.
"I learned so much. The competition there is excellent," she
said.
Playing with the Bulls also helped French mentally.
"She's more confident on the field, and that's what she lacked
last year," Uson said.
College is still two years away, but French is already drawing interest
from coaches at the next level because of her experience on the mainland.
But French wants to focus on this year -- and her biggest goal.
"I'm not looking to score the most goals," she said. "I want to be a really
good player and (make) all-state. But making it to the state championship is my top
goal."
While the Mililani offense is scoring goals, the defense must hold up
its end.
"We're going with three fullbacks this year (instead of four) and
five halfbacks in the midfield," Uson said.
The scheme, which some players admit was confusing at first, gives
Mililani more control in the middle of the field, and gives Uson the ball-control offense
he wants.
"Teams are having a difficult time because there are so many
offense players moving the ball around they don't know who to pick up," Uson said.
Uson's plan only works, though, with the right defensive players, with
the absence of a fourth fullback.
So far, Mallory Iha, Jenn Loo and Erica Salvador -- along with
goalkeeper Eryn Kishimoto -- have gotten the job done.
"We found three girls that are working hard and doing their jobs
back there, so we don't have to worry about the defense," Uson said.
And because of the team play that has allowed French to score often, he
hasn't had to worry about the offense, either.
French's biggest weapon is her speed.
"Speed in soccer kills," Uson said. "She has breakaway speed. If she can
break away from the defender, then she's free, one-on-one with the goalie."
And French almost always wins that battle.
"I try to play every game like it's my last," French said.
"I try to work hard to push (my teammates) and pick them up and motivate them to play
better."
Mililani's run for a state title ended last season in the quarterfinals
with a 2-1 overtime loss to eventual champion Baldwin.
In a preseason tournament on Maui earlier this month, Baldwin beat
Mililani again.
"In the beginning of it, we just weren't ready and we hadn't
really played together much," said French. "In the Pearl City game we played
together and we did so well together.
"Next time we play Baldwin -- which I'm sure we will. We'll be
ready for them."
FREE
TAX HELP FOR SENIORS
OLALOA - Once again, volunteers
from the AARP are providing free tax
preparation services to the elderly & low & middle income taxpayers.
Interested taxpayers should bring their tax booklets, last year’s
tax returns, & financial records to Olaloa at 95-1050 Makaikai Street each Wednesday
from 8:30am to 12:30 pm from Feb 7 through April 11.
MILILANI
SCHOOLS HOLD KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
Kipapa, Mililani Mauka, Mililani Uka, & Mililani Waena
Elementary Schools will gold kindergarten registration from
Feb 20 to Mar 2, 9am-3pm.
Parents should bring verification of
birth date & residence in the area, a current utility
bill, & records of a negative T.B. test & physical
exam within one year of July 25, 2001.
SOCCER
CLUB OFFERS SCHOLARSHIPS
The Mililani Soccer Club is offering three $300 scholarships
to graduating seniors who are or have been club members
& have a gpa of 2.8 or better.
Application guidelines & forms are on
the Mililani Soccer Club's website at www.mililanisoccer.com.
Applications must be postmarked by March
10.
MILILANI
GIRL BECOMING HONG KONG'S FASTEST RISING MODEL AND
ACTRESS
Maggie Quigley, '97 MHS, is becoming Hong Kong's fastest
rising model & actress.
Since moving to Hong Kong, she's been in 3 movies, including one produced by Jackie Chan and
another starring Richard Grieco.
Better know as Maggie Q, Qyigley was an
all-around athlete at Mililani
High School. She was on the track,
cross country and swimming teams. For cross country, she finished in the top ten at the OIA Championships,
helping the girls team win in 1995 and 1996. In track, she ran the 400m and on two of the relay teams, including the state
champion girls 4x400m relay in 1995. In swimming she was part of 4 OIA Championships, swimming in relays with
Keiko Price.
You won't have to wait too much longer to see her on screen, because slated for this summer her latest film
"Manhattan
Midnight" will be released specifically for American audiences.
More.
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PEOPLE MAKING NEWS MILILANI -
Dana Agader, MH 1996, was
accepted to the William S. Richardson School of Law; she
will be a first-year law student in the fall...Brian Cleven, Cheri Honda, Kavan Saiki and Leyna
Oshiro were named to the dean's list at Pacific
Lutheran University..Alison Tanaka, a teacher at
Kanoelani Elementary School, was the recipient of a
$25,000 Milken Family Foundation National Educator
Award...Fances Uenten was named a real estate agent at Castle
& Cooke Realty...Keith V. Philaphandeth was nominated
to the U.S. Air Force Academy by U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie...Castle & Cooke Homes promoted
Keith Ching to broker-in-charge, & named
Wesley Mau Realtor of the Year for
2000...Ruel Reyes was the winner at
Kipapa Elementary School's Geography Bee...Mailekaluhea Ahuna
made the dean's list at Graceland University in Lamoni,
Iowa...Cheri Honda,
Leyna Oshiro, & Kavan Saiki were named to the dean's
list at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington...Kelli Ishihara, a Mililani Middle
School 6th-grader, & Ian Helms, a Mililani High School
9th grader, represented the Mililani Complex gifted
& talented students at the Junior
Eco-Club-Asia-Pacific Conference in Hiroshima City,
Japan...Paul R. Stankiewicz
was awarded Poland's highest national decoration, the
Order of Merit...Gary Moore
is competing on Dick Clark's "Your Big Break"
show...Cammine Ann M. Kim received a
$5000 HGEA Charles Kendall Scholarship...Alissa
N. Schneider was named to the Juniata College fall
Dean's List...The Ekahi Strikers won the
under-9 girls championship by beating the Honolulu Soccer Club's Bulls 3-1....John Galera is the new postmaster for the kailua Post Office... Kristan Caneda Spraker, MHS '92, was named Civilian Employee of the year for her
work as a social worker for the Countyu of Weld Sheriff's Dept in Greeley, Colorado... Darrell Tamaru was named Realtor of the Month by Caselt &
Cooke Homes Hawaiii... Michael Kawamoto scored
a hole-in-one on Dec 23 on the 84-yd 7th hole at Pali using a s-wedge...Castle & Cooke announced several promotions: Michael Freedman, quality service representative; Aimee Alimaza, sales-rep for the design center; Calvin Mann, project coordinator in project management/design; Edna Gomez, real estate agent; & Paul
Tateishi, construction superintendent...Beth Waller was
namaed director of advertising, California/Hawaii for AT&T Wireless Services...Andrew Brown and Kerry Miike of Mililani High School and Chris Sullivan of University High School who were
awarded the 2000 MSC Scholarship...Paul Hirano was appointed
senior loan officer at American Savings Bank's residential loan sales department.
WOMEN 2000: GENDER EQUALITY FOR
THE 21st CENTURY
by Rep. Marilyn B. Lee
Modern Japan is a country of
stark contrasts between the old and new. The Giant Buddha and Shinto Shrines of Kamakura
are unlikely neighbors of the steel and glass skyscrapers of Yokohama. Young people,
smartly dressed and coifed, are oblivious to others while talking on their cellular
phones. Sidewalk fruit vendors and hawkers, and the Oba-San in traditional dress go about
their mundane business as if change was not a spectre. But clearly, Japan is a nation
undergoing dramatic change which will affect all of her people.
I traveled through Japan from November 26, 2000 to December 7, 2000 as
a member of the U.S.-Japan Exchange on Women in Public Policy which is a joint project of
the Japan Society and the Center for Policy Alternatives.
The project is supported by the Henry Luce
Foundation and the Center For Global Partnership
of the Japan Foundation. The themes of the project were:
- Aging: long term care; women as primary
caregivers; interaction between the public and private sectors on Long Term Care
Insurance; and, volunteerism.
- Domestic Violence: prevention; shelters and other
resources for women; legal and policy issues; and, public education.
Eight women were selected to
participate, including legislators from five states: Hawaii, Washington, Georgia, North
Carolina, and Maryland. In addition, members included the U.S. Ambassador and
Representative to the UN Commission on the
Status of Women, as well as the Public Policy Director for the National Coalition
Against Domestic Violence. The Exchange is a three-year effort which will culminate with
Japanese women coming to the U.S. in 2002 to observe our structure and institutions.
The group traveled to four major destinations within Japan –
Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagasaki, and Kitakyushu. In all of these cities, our hosts were women
leaders involved in the growing women’s "movement" in Japan, who work in
the areas of government, health care, and domestic violence.
In Japan, "The Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society" was
enacted in June 1999. This law was a result of years of hard work and activities by women,
and in part resulted from Japanese participation at the Fourth World Conference on Women
in Beijing in 1995.
Women in each of the host cities were so anxious and happy to share
ideas with their American friends. It was possible for us to communicate well because the
Japan Society provided professional translators for the entire trip. In Kitakyushu and
Yokohama, public forums open to the women’s community were held using simultaneous
translation.
The forums were held in "Womens Centers" which have been
established with the help of government funding. These Centers sponsor activities such as
information exchange, self-development, community-based activities, counseling services,
research, public education, and international cooperation and exchange. The aim of
"Forum Yokohama", the Yokohama Women’s Center, is "to build a society
where both men and women can participate in all spheres of life, shoulder the burden of
social responsibility equally, and live in an environment based on mutual respect."
Further, the Yokohama Center recognizes that "Discrimination against women is a
problem for the whole of society. It is rooted deeply in our consciousness, lifestyles,
and social structure. The eradication of long-held fixed ideas about gender roles and the
division of labor is an important challenge we face." Our conversations at both
forums and less formal gatherings concentrated on two areas: aging and the need for long
term care, and domestic violence.
Japan has the longest life span in the world, and the society is aging
at a rapid pace. There is also an increase in the age of marriage and a low fertility
rate. In April of this year, Japan began a new program of insurance for the care and
assistance of the elderly. The need for "kaigo" or nursing care is especially
great in the group of people over 85, the frail elderly. In fact, it has become more
difficult for families to provide adequate nursing care on their own because the period
required for care is longer and they are old themselves.
"Kaigo-Hoken" means "insurance for the care and
assistance for the elderly" and is operated not only by the City of Yokohama, but by
other local governments. Half of the cost is born by the national government, prefectural
governments, and city governments through public funds. The remaining cost is covered by
insurance premiums paid by insured members who are 40 years of age and older. When
services are actually used, the insured pays 10% of the cost.
We compared Japan’s new system to our system where the few who can
afford long term care pay entirely out of pocket and the rest of the population is
eventually maintained by Medicaid with the States and Federal Government each paying half.
Long term care insurance coverage in the U.S. is the exception rather than the norm.
While Japan seems to be ahead of us in Long Term Care, they are behind
in awareness and intervention strategies regarding domestic violence. Since the Beijing
Conference, awareness of domestic violence has increased somewhat and it is becoming more
acceptable to talk about the issue, but the society in general is reluctant to recognize
the problem of violence against women.
Shelters are the last resort for women suffering domestic abuse at the
hands of abusive partners, but there are only seven shelters for women in all Japan. These
suffer from a lack of financial support and human resources.
Our group visited a shelter in Yokohama run by the Catholic Church.
Though the accommodations were simple, the shelter provides housing for a woman and her
family for up to 3 months, and then helps the woman to gradually become more independent
in addition to providing emergency relief. As public awareness increases, women are
becoming more willing to seek help, however, many in Japan see domestic violence as a
private and family matter. Once women have children, they are generally not financially
independent, hence it is more difficult to leave an abusive home.
As we talked about these issues, it became apparent that we had many
similarities and fewer differences than we had thought. We grew closer because we had a
common bond and in one-to-one conversations, many new friendships were made and valuable
international bonds forged.
Besides our serious discussions, the group took time to stay overnight
at a Hot Springs Resort near Kitakyushu. This was a new experience for all of us but a
pleasant and welcome relief from our serious discussions. There was also the wonderful
feeling of freedom we noted bathing together and sharing the experiences of the trip.
The Japan Society has provided a valuable opportunity for sharing with
our Japanese friends.
Through these and future discussions, it is certain that both of our
countries will continue to work for the improvement of both long term care options and the
quality of life for women and families. |
