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Cathy
Jennifer
Jamie
Liane
Brynn
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Brooke
Angela
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Bachelor's students predict what type of girl he'll pick
By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer
From the mouths of babes comes truth.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
There may have been a slight bribe-for-votes thing going on when it came to choosing Hawai'i's Bachelor.
Hawai'i's Bachelor Kelly Komoda, right, helps student Olivier Grandvoinet with a project. The 26-year-old whom Advertiser readers chose to put in the dating spotlight is a teacher at Jefferson Elementary School in Honolulu.
Kelly Komoda, a 26-year-old teacher, was the readers' choice for the man to put in the dating spotlight. His fourth-graders may have had ulterior motives for raising his tally.
"I wanted him to win because he said if he wins he would give us a pizza party," said Kodee Melendy, 10, one of Komoda's students at Jefferson Elementary in Waikiki.
Ahh, a pizza party? Komoda sounds so strict. No wonder we're getting e-mail (at hawaiisbachelor@honoluluadvertiser.com) from jealous kids with tougher teachers.
All right, we jest. Fellow teachers say Komoda's best quality is that he can laugh at himself when it comes to this sort of thing. A little teasing goes along with the Hawai'i's Bachelor status. Truth is, it's kind of cool to be one of Mr. Komoda's fourth-graders right now.
Just ask Sebastian Sobolewski, a 9-year-old who has some ideas about what kind of date would be a good match for his teacher.
"He always smiles, so a girl that always smiles," he said. "A funny one. And that's about it."
• Bachelor Kelly Komoda went on his first date Friday, a group dinner at Indigo's with 10 bachelorettes. Read their dating diaries. • Browse the bachelorette profiles, view their videos and vote for your favorite online. • Check back with us online and in Island Life on Wednesday, when Hawai'i's Bachelor will give a clue about which women will stay in the game. And on Friday, read all about how the date went and find out which seven women will go on to date No. 2.
Branden Alapai, 10, predicts Komoda will choose someone "kind of blonde."
How to get in on the game
Ten-year-old Olivier Grandvoinet says the best date would have to be somebody who "couldn't take things really seriously."
And 9-year-old Nick Guzman says he knows what sort of girl might get on his teacher's nerves.
"She would have to not be lazy," Nick said. "And don't waste things. Umm, like Kleenex. That's what he takes seriously."
The boys may be trying to take tips from the master, but the girls in the class are a little more shy about this bachelor business.
Do the girls think he's cute?
"I don't know," said Channey Tang-Ho, a blushing 10-year-old.
What kind of woman would be a good match?
"What he said," said 10-year-old Phon Lan Huynh, "a girl that always smiles."
In the teachers' lounge, there's just as much speculating going on about the kind of woman Komoda will keep in his dating pool.
He has gone out on one date, and we'll reveal Friday who will go on to the next date.
Komoda's colleagues have a "just for fun" pool circulating with their picks for the women who will stay in the game until the end.
"We know him pretty well," said Patti Oshio, a teacher for gifted and talented students, who doesn't want to give away her favorite contestant, but predicts Komoda will end up with "someone sweet."
Fellow fourth-grade teacher Gail Hirano, someone Komoda considers "like a second mother," is looking out for him. Both teachers expect Komoda to behave like a gentleman on his dates.
"Tell the girls 'What you see is what you get,' " Oshio said. "There are no surprises with Kelly."
Want to tell Komodo your top pick or give him advice?
E-mail him at hawaiisbachelor@honoluluadvertiser.com.
