Student lobbying effort pays off with playground

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

KANE'OHE — Students at Kapunahala Elementary School are required to pick a problem to solve as part of their learning experience. Two years ago, three students chose a tough one — getting playground equipment.

Kapunahala Elementary School students, from left, Daisylee Carinio, 12, Melissa Sterlacci, 10, and Lindsey Tolentino, 11, spent two years working to get new playground equipment installed. Richard Ambo • The honolulu Advertiser

Two years ago, when they were fourth-graders, DaisyLee Carinio and Lindsey Tolentino and then third-grader Melissa Sterlacci joined the playground committee that convinced Mayor Jeremy Harris to install the equipment at the city park next to the school's campus on Anoi Road.

It took two years of waiting and a follow-up letter at the beginning of this school year reminding the mayor of his promise, but the equipment was installed recently and the girls received their due in a brief ceremony yesterday with their parents, city and school officials and the entire sixth grade looking on.

"We may have only been 10 but we still made a small difference," Carinio said in a prepared speech. "We hope that what we did can influence other kids that even though they are small they can help the community."

Carinio said at one point she thought the city wouldn't live up to its promise because the students were told the project would be completed in August 2000. When school started in September 2001 and the project wasn't built, she complained to her mother, Bobbie Horne.

"She was upset," Horne said at the blessing. "She said, 'now everybody thinks I'm a liar.'"

Horne encouraged her daughter to talk to the mayor, so the child wrote a letter mentioning her embarrassment that the project wasn't complete.

"The mayor responded," Horne said.

At the ceremony Harris apologized to the girls for the delay and praised them for their persistence.

"I want to thank you for not giving up, for recognizing that citizenship and the responsibility for citizenship never ends," Harris said.

Tolentino said the girls never thought about giving up. Not after collecting all the names on their petition and visiting the mayor, which she said was a nerve-wracking experience.

Valerie Okihara, who was vice principal at the school when a committee was formed to solicit playground equipment, said the kids proved to be a great help. The committee knew the city had initiated a program to install new play equipment at dozens of parks throughout O'ahu.

But it was not clear what the priorities were and where Kapunahala Neighborhood Park was on the list, so the committee decided to petition the city to place the playground at the top of the list.

"Getting the kids involved was a big plus," said Okihara, now principal at Kainalu Elementary School. "When kids get involved they seem to have a lot more clout."

The $82,000 project ultimately completed at the park includes a play gym, accessible walkways, a resilient surface and landscaping.

The lesson offered by the three girls will last a lifetime, said Kapunahala principal Karen Segawa.

"We're all part of a big community but a small person can make a difference," she said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com. or 234-5266.