Education briefs

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Mililani boy, 11, wins chess title

Robert Lau, an 11-year-old Mililani student, placed first in a national chess championship in Atlanta, Ga., marking his third national victory in one year.

In the kindergarten through sixth grade category at the National Scholastic K-12 Championships, Robert topped the field of 238 players with the only 6-0 perfect score.

In the faster-paced blitz event, Robert finished eighth with a score of 8-2 in a field of 172 players.

Robert's older sister Emily Lau, the former Hawai'i Intermediate School State Champion, tied for 13th place in a field of 79 players in the K-10 section.

Libraries sponsor essay contest

The Hawai'i State Public Library System and the Friends of the Library of Hawai'i are sponsoring an essay contest, "Talk story about the value of your library."

Winners will receive $25, plus a $50 donation to their local library to help pay for future programs.

The deadline to enter the contest at your local library is Jan 10.

Four winners will be chosen, with one each from O'ahu, Hawai'i and Kaua'i, and one from either Maui, Lana'i or Moloka'i.

Entry forms are available at libraries across the state.

Aloha Airlines donating textbooks

In a gesture of good will marking its new service linking Vancouver, British Columbia; Honolulu; and Rarotonga, Cook Islands, Aloha Airlines will provide free transportation for about half a ton of textbooks being donated to the Cook Islands National Library and to teacher and nurse training colleges in Rarotonga.

The texts were collected by faculty at Okanagan University College in Kelowna, British Columbia.

The goal of the Books to the Cooks project is to make hard-to-get textbooks available to students throughout the Cook Islands, said Stu Glauberman, staff vice president of corporate communications at Aloha Airlines.