Graduation ignites small towns for party of year
By Will Hoover, Kevin Dayton and Christie Wilson
Advertiser Staff Writers
Christie Wilson • The Honolulu Advertiser
As it has for more than a half-century, almost everything will come to a standstill in Waialua next weekend as folks in this former plantation town honor their newest crop of high school graduates.
Lana'i High School seniors, from left, Michelle Divina, 18, Lucelyn Bolo, 17, and Anne Sierawski, 18, talk about their future plans. Bolo is thinking of leaving Lana'i.
On the Big Island, Ka'u High graduates will celebrate by going house to house, old-Hawai'i style, to graduation parties planned for one but honoring all.
And at Lana'i High and Elementary School, a graduating class 50 strong will be feted by more than 1,500 of their closest friends and relatives — about 30 people per senior and nearly half the island's population.
"The entire community graduates every year," said Lana'i shopkeeper and parent Kim Dupree. "It takes a whole community to raise a child — that's really true."
This is high school graduation in small-town Hawai'i. More than 12,000 seniors will graduate from the state's public and private schools this year in a rite of passage that holds particular social significance here. The season is at fever pitch, with most of the ceremonies scheduled this weekend and next and families bursting with pride and preparations.
In places such as Waialua, Lana'i City and Ka'u, the event transcends the family. High school graduation here is the most anticipated event of the season, as well as a celebration of the small-town bonds and plantation heritage that will live on through this new generation, no matter where their fortunes take them.
Waialua resident Charles Nakamura said high school graduation has been a major event in the O'ahu community of fewer than 4,000 since the first commencement at the old Andrew E. Cox Auditorium on June 7, 1939. He should know: Not only was Nakamura in that first graduating class, he was the school's first student body president.
"We are a small town, so everybody knows everybody," said Nakamura, 84, who, with his wife, Sumako, has lived for 50 years in the same single-story plantation house a quarter-mile from Waialua Intermediate and High School.
The town, the school and the Waialua Sugar Mill were always intricately linked, Nakamura said. In the summers, students worked for the plantation. After graduation, many, like him continued the work full-time and became parents themselves. After the mill shut down in 1996, the school became the community's sole focal point, said Nakamura, who retired in the 1980s.
Bigger, but still small
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
This year marks the 65th anniversary of the first graduating class of Waialua High School, which had 55 seniors. On Saturday, twice that number will walk across the stage — making Waialua's graduating class still one of the smallest in the state. In keeping with tradition, however, community support at commencement will seem bigger than the sum of its parts.
Waialua High School seniors, from left, Chanel Lapitan, Farvin de la Cruz, Danialle Calaustro, Kelli Yokonuma and Kristen Teves meet to complete arrangements for their graduation ceremony Saturday, which is planned by the graduating class, with the other classes pitching in.
"Graduation is always special," said high school principal Aloha Coleman. "Everything stops. Everybody in town is at the football field. Because the graduating class is so small — just over 100 seniors — you can really personalize it. You call one name at a time. And there will be one student at a time on stage getting a diploma. And it's that student's time in the spotlight."
Since his own graduation, Nakamura has attended more commencement exercises at Waialua Intermediate and High School than he can count — five for his own children and numerous others for kids of friends and neighbors.
These days, Waialua High grads are in charge of the entire commencement exercise — setting the theme, coordinating the program, designing and making the decorations, said Ryan Ishimoto, senior class adviser. Every other class, seventh through 11th, gets a graduation assignment, from making signs to running the hospitality room to cleaning up after it's over.
Throughout the year, townsfolk have been involved in car washes, concerts and plate lunches aimed at raising money for Project Graduation, the all-night alcohol- and drug-free extravaganza that will take place at an as-yet-unannounced location. Residents not only contribute money, but also donate their service at the events held at schools statewide.
About 90 percent of the senior class will attend, said Neil Teves, one of the parents in charge of this year's Project Graduation. He said the community had raised around $18,000 for the party, which starts right after commencement.
Teves' daughter, Kristen, attended a Honolulu preparatory academy for girls during her freshman, sophomore and junior years. But she chose to go to Waialua High for her final year of high school, where she was a cheerleader, chaired several service projects, was on the homecoming court, was a member of the school's Graduation Committee and still maintained a job at Matsumoto Shave Ice.
"If I had it to do over again, I would have gone to Waialua as a freshman," said Teves, 18. "I benefited more at Waialua."
The difference, she said, was community involvement.
"It really is a big thing."
Party hopping
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Another sort of community involvement is the custom at Ka'u High School, where a string of parties in communities along the coast signals the beginning of the annual senior exodus, from Pahala to Na'alehu to Ocean View.
Charles Nakamura, 84, a member of the first graduating class from Waialua High School, has been to dozens of ceremonies since.
The school is surrounded by a close-knit country community, but young men and women with big dreams have to pursue them elsewhere. There are few jobs since the sugar plantation closed in 1996, and Ka'u High teachers estimate that more than two-thirds of graduates quickly leave.
Job opportunities have diminished in Waialua as well. But in contrast to Ka'u, a higher percentage of Waialua grads are able to remain in town and commute to work or college in neighboring locations, said principal Coleman.
Family and supporters of the 68 graduating Ka'u High seniors will jam the old plantation-era school gymnasium for the formal graduation ceremony, and overflow onto the grass outside. Principal Clayton Chun deliberately keeps the event "short and sweet."
"It's their time to celebrate, so they don't want to listen to long speeches by anybody," he said.
In fact, the seniors have an outline in their minds of the party schedule for the coming weeks, and plan to visit each one. Some families can't afford parties for their own graduates, but the seniors are confident they will be welcomed at each as if it were their own. And in a sense, it is.
"They might be broke — no more money — but they party," grinned Bob Makuakane, whose daughter Jennifer is graduating. "They know how to party over here. They'll get the resources somehow."
Everyone helps out
Kevin Dayton • The Honolulu Advertiser
Planning began in August for next month's graduation party for senior Lena Ortega, 18, who will graduate with honors and go to the University of Hawai'i at Hilo with a fistful of scholarships. She is the third of four children, a talented volleyball player and a serious student.
Ka'u High School seniors, from left, Lena Ortega, Elijah Navarro and Julie Zumwalt are among this year's 68 graduates, most of whom, teachers say, will leave the area for jobs and college elsewhere.
The menu at the Pahala Community Center will feature a wild pig hunted by Lena's grandfather and cooked in an imu at a friend's house, gallons of 'opihi picked by family and friends, and heaps of homemade smoked meat and sausage. Of course, the spread will include rice, salad, chicken long-rice, spare ribs, fried fish, Korean chicken, oriental noodles and on and on.
"Out in the country, it's different from the city," said Leona Ortega, Lena's mother. "Everybody chips in. You invite people and they just walk in with desserts and offer help. They're all willing to just help out."
Leona Ortega guessed that some 50 to 75 family members and friends would contribute food, help with the cooking or volunteer to help set up or clean up. Some 500 guests are expected at the bash, including the Pahala neighbors who live around the Ortega family and watched Lena grow up.
"She deserves it," Leona Ortega said of her daughter. "I'm just proud of her, and I hope she can achieve what she wants in life."
Some Ka'u parents hope to keep their children close to home to help with family farms or small businesses, but Leona Ortega isn't one of them. She said she has no fear Lena might leave for good. If it happens, it doesn't worry her.
"I want her to go out and see the world," Ortega said. "There's so much more out there than there is here."
Bittersweet goodbye
Because youthful attachments can be especially strong in small towns, the transition to the outside world can be a bittersweet experience. "You're graduating with people you've known 12 years, since kindergarten," said Lana'i High graduate Lucelyn Bolo, 17.
• Waialua: 4 p.m. Saturday, school athletic field. • Ka'u: 5 p.m. Friday, school gymnasium. • Lana'i: 2 p.m. Saturday, school gymnasium.
Bolo said children who grow up on Lana'i live a somewhat sheltered life, and she's a little nervous about what comes next.
Graduation times
Michelle Divina, 18, and Anne Sierawski, 18, were definite about their plans to return to the island after college, but Bolo wasn't so sure. "Yes — when I'm old and retired. These are our young days; I want to see what's out there," she said.
Sierawski attended Lana'i High for her sophomore year, then moved to Chicago. She said she insisted on returning for her senior year to share the experience with the close friends found at the small school.
"Everyone worked so hard the last four years, and you're finally getting the one big reward you've been waiting for," she said.
School officials said about 80 percent of seniors leave the island for college or jobs.
Although Lana'i has undergone fundamental change in recent years, transitioning from a pineapple plantation to a luxury resort, picturesque Lana'i City has clung to its small-town attributes.
The stores, cafes, churches, government offices and county gym circle Dole Park in the heart of town. Just about everything is within easy walking distance, and many students ride their bikes to the island's single public school, whose mascots — the Pine Lads and Lasses — denote the community's agricultural heritage.
Taped to one of the windows of the Gifts of Aloha shop on Seventh Street are 16 graduation announcements.
Shopkeeper Dupree has two children at the Lana'i school, neither of whom is graduating this year, but she's going to commencement anyway.
"I know all these kids," she said. "I'm everyone's auntie. Some of these kids have struggled so hard to get where they are at, you celebrate their achievements."
She pointed to a graduation announcement featuring a photo of a young child.
"This boy here practically raised himself," she said, explaining that the student couldn't afford to pay for a formal senior portrait, so he used an old family photo.
"A lot of them had to overcome hardship. We're just proud of them. It's a small town."
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com. Reach Christie Wilson at (808) 244-4880 or cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com. Reach Kevin Dayton at (808) 935-3916 or kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.
