WAIMEA — The Waimea High School Class of 2023 numbers 169 students, with 11 of them, or 6.5 percent of the class, being valedictorians on Friday when commencement exercises take place on the school’s front lawn.
“These 11 students symbolize hope and resilience for our school and community,” said Principal Mahina Anguay. “Despite the challenges of COVID and distance learning, masking, vaccinations — you name it, they overcame it. And, these valedictorians did it with a smile on their faces and fire in their bellies.”
Making the list of
valedictorians, who are working with teacher Joyce Evens to coordinate their presentation during the graduation ceremonies, are Brielle Lo, Kimberly-Ann Vidinha, Keisha Suga, Mar Heinrich Ruiz, Hope Newton, Makala El Saieh-Rowe, Haley Zina, Matthew Gabriel, Kale Kakuda, Areck Yamamoto and Matthew Fontaine.
Labeled “COVID students” because of the isolation they faced while progressing through their high school paths, isolation during the two-year pandemic was one of the biggest challenges that Menehune senior Ruiz had to deal with.
He used the time to connect virtually with others, states a release from Waimea High School.
“I got to make a lot of business connections and connections that I want to pursue in my future,” said Ruiz, who has a vision of entering politics to make an impact for his community.
Isolation made Lo realize she needed to make a change.
“Before COVID, I wasn’t very involved in the school,” she said. “I would just go home and not be involved in clubs. The stagnation of COVID helped me want to get involved and do stuff again because I didn’t want to be just still for my high school career.”
Newton started branching out during COVID.
“Even though COVID had negative effects and limited us to things, it also opened up many online programs that I wouldn’t have been able to do without COVID,” Newton said. “As an example, during the summer, I interned at the Institute for Astronomy through an online internship.”
That experience affirmed her career pathway toward aerospace engineering.
Gabriel said he was lacking motivation.
“My sophomore year, I lost my fire,” he said. “Having to regain that fire was something I had to conquer.”
As the COVID restrictions loosened, the valedictorians jumped into their final senior projects to ensure they could end their high school careers by making a difference for themselves, their peers and the Waimea and westside community.
“We all worked really hard,” said El Saieh-Rowe. “To be a valedictorian, you had to do challenging things, and I’m super proud of us.”
Zina led a community 5K color run that raised funds for autism awareness while encouraging community members to get involved in a fun way at different color stations.
When the color dust settled, Zina and company had raised $4,200, with $2,890 being distributed to Waimea High School’s new Team Unity Club that appeared on the competitive athletic field during the Special Olympics Kaua‘i track and field games prefaced by the Troy Barboza Law Enforcement Torch Run and all held in Lihu‘e.
“Just because we attend Waimea High School, a lot of people look down on our school because we’re on the westside,” Zina said. “A lot of the challenges that we went through allowed us to grow. We became better students and members of our community.”
Anguay and the faculty at Waimea High School are committed to continuing to push boundaries for the Menehune students, she said. That includes ensuring pathways with Kaua‘i Community College, where more than half of the early college graduates on May 12 were Menehune students who received their college certificates ahead of their graduation on May 19.
‘We will continue to find ways to extend learning beyond the brick-and-mortar confines of Waimea High School, and build relationships with our community and business partners to give kids relevant and authentic work-based learning experiences,” Anguay said.
“We will always have to work harder than the other two schools because our families and demographics are so different and diverse, but that’s also our greatest strength because Waimea kids are scrappy.”
Fontaine looked at the group of 11 students gathered around the school’s namesake wall.
“When I look around — all of us, we have drive,” Fontaine said. “I look up to them.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
