Education briefs
Advertiser Staff
Iolani team wins math competition
A team from Iolani School won top honors at the Hawai'i MathCounts state competition on March 15.
The team from Iolani, which included Daniel Lum, Leon Hou, Aaron Fong and Kellie Young, scored highest in the competition and won the perpetual trophy.
Mililani Middle School students Ryan Craven, Lucia Mocz, Philip Mocz and Michael Young placed second, while Waiakea Intermediate School students Kenji Clemmer, Kathryn Kouchi, Timothy Lichty and Collin Takasaki placed third.
Four students — Lum and Hou of Iolani, homeschooled student Eugene So and Matthew Mariconda of Punahou — were the state's top individual scorers. They will make up the state's MathCounts team and will represent Hawai'i in the national competition in Chicago this summer.
MathCounts started in 1983 and involves more than 35,000 students across the country each year. The program is designed to develop teamwork skills, give students a chance to vie for scholarships and promote interest in math.
Four teachers receive national honors
Four Hawai'i math and science teachers have won the prestigious Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, which come with a $7,500 award from the National Science Foundation.
Clifford Lee, an elementary school math teacher at Iolani School; Jill Namba-Mauricio, an elementary science teacher from Kipapa Elementary School; Dewey Gottlieb, II, a math teacher at Pearl City High School; and Joel Truesdale, a secondary science teacher at Kamehameha Schools; were selected as the state's top math and science teachers and given a special citation from President Bush.
Hilo to administer graduate program
HILO, Hawai'i — The University of Hawai'i Board of Regents has decided to let the Hilo campus administer its graduate degree programs.
The regents this month amended a policy that had placed responsibility for UH-Hilo's graduate programs under the Graduate Division at UH-Manoa.
"We've grown up," UH-Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng said in a statement. "It shows we are not only an undergraduate education institution, but have the potential for more master's degrees and maybe even a doctorate degree in the future."
UH-Hilo offers master's degree programs in education, Hawaiian language, counseling psychology and China-U.S. relations. It is considering adding master's degrees in conservation biology and environmental studies.
Last year the university graduated 15 master's students: two in Hawaiian language and 13 in education.
