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Author Archives: Colleen Uechi

Volleyball Wins the One That Counts

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Volleyball Wins the One That Counts

The Molokai Farmers boys’ volleyball team split last weekend with games against Kamehameha Maui at The Barn.  On Friday night, after dropping the first set, the Farmers took the next three to win the match.

“We started out slow and lost the first set but I told them in the huddle that it’s time to step up and it’s ours for the taking and they came out and played better and we got the win in four sets,” said Head Coach Hale Domingo.

Saturday’s game was a non-league match and the farmers lost in five sets.

“When we play the Division I schools, only the Friday night game counts in the standings,” explained Domingo of Molokai’s Division II team.…

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Scouts Build Stand-up Racks

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Last week, a Molokai grown Boy Scout returned to his roots to help the island’s youth. While on spring break from Kamehameha-Kapalama (KSK), high school senior Rusty “Naholowaa” Nakayama and a group of fellow Boy Scouts came home to build stand-up paddleboard racks as part of Nakayama’s quest to become an Eagle Scout.

Boys can join the Cub Scouts at the age of eight and become Boy Scouts at the age of 12. In order to reach the rank of Eagle Scout, they must earn 21 merit badges and put together a community service project by their 18th birthday.

“I’m not only doing this to get my Eagle, but it is satisfactory to give back to the community,” said Nakayama.…

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Slammed with Passion

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Slammed with Passion

Emotions were raw and honesty took a front seat at a poetry slam at Molokai High School last week. Youth used their tongues to bear their souls in a form of spoken word performances known as slam poetry, having been guided in the art for several days by visiting national champion slam poets.

A group of poet facilitators from Pacific Tongues, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering spoken word arts for Pacific Islanders, spent last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Molokai Middle and High school. They visited classrooms, held workshops, did writing exercises and inspired students with their own verbal prowess.

Their visit was made possible through a grant written by several Molokai High teachers following the group’s first visit to the island last year.…

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Rebuilding a Tradition

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Rebuilding a Tradition

When Sheldon Wright builds walls, his main focus is to listen. He hefts a rock in his hands, flips it, spins it, lets it fall and hears the clack as it hits the stack of rocks in front of him. To construct walls the way Wright does—the same way ancient Hawaiians did hundreds of years ago—he has to tune into the tools of his trade.

“The rocks speak to me,” said Wright. “They tell me where they want to go.”

Wright is carrying on the Hawaiian tradition of dry stack masonry in which the rocks are placed in an interlocking fashion that requires no mortar, he said.…

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Farmers Afar: Rizpah Umi

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Farmers Afar: Rizpah Umi

In a new series, the Dispatch celebrates former Molokai athletes who have taken their homegrown skills to new stages off island. If you know of a Molokai athlete competing at college, the professional level or elsewhere, let us know by emailing editor@themolokaidispatch.com or calling 552-2781.

The first Native Hawaiian wrestler in Wayland Baptist University (WBU) history is already making a name for herself and the small island she hails from. Just a freshman at WBU, 2014 Molokai High School graduate Rizpah Umi was named an All-American wrestler last month.

Umi earned the distinction after finishing eighth out of 29 wrestlers from across the country.…

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A Field to Call Home

Wednesday, March 25th, 2015

A Field to Call Home

The Molokai softball team finally has a place to call their own. For years, the girls and coaches bussed to practices and games at the county’s ball field in Kaunakakai. Meanwhile, they put in hours of labor on weekends the last couple of years to pick rocks and prepare their future field at Molokai High. It all became worth it last Saturday, when the brand new field officially opened with a blessing and the first pitch was thrown on their home diamond.

In the 1990s, Head Coach Coco Augustiro said a field at the high school was built for softball but it wasn’t constructed to code and instead of holding games there, it was used for PE.…

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Prom Dresses Without the Price

Wednesday, March 25th, 2015

Prom Dresses Without the Price

Last year when the prom dress she’d rented online failed to arrive, Molokai High student Giesha Nunez had to travel to Maui to buy a gown—on the day of prom.

This year Nunez and dozens of other banquet and prom-bound teens got to browse formal dresses on Molokai. All were available for free in the island’s first Bella Project Prom Dress Giveaway, hosted by Child and Family Services (CFS) last Wednesday.

“Molokai has a lot of extra assistance to help the kids,” said Molokai High parent Cheri Rivera, who feels that’s a unique trait of the island. “It’s a blessing to have … for the girls, to feel extra special on this special night.”…

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Warming Laps and Hearts

Wednesday, March 25th, 2015

Warming Laps and Hearts

A group of kupuna received a cozy gift last week when members of the Molokai Museum Handcrafters Guild presented them with colorful, handmade quilts.

Wilma Pratt, who founded the guild in 2008, said the eight members gather to quilt and create crafts together once a month. It took them about a year to sew about a dozen lap quilts, and Pratt said they decided to donate the finished products to the kupuna at Na Pu`uwai’s Senior Day Care Center, a program that offers care and activities for the elderly.

Their warm and colorful gifts brought smiles and words of gratitude last week.…

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Farmers First Look, Part 2

Wednesday, March 25th, 2015

With many athletes and coaches going straight from winter sport championships to spring sport practices, there is little rest for Molokai High Farmers. The athletic department takes on its largest season of the school year with seven different sports this spring: volleyball, golf, tennis, baseball, track and field, softball and this year’s newest addition of judo. In the second of a two-part series, the Dispatch takes an early look at three sports on the cusp of their Maui Interscholastic League (MIL) seasons.

Judo

While Molokai High School is offering judo for the first time ever, its coaches are anything but novices.…

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Youth Group Lifts Kupuna’s Spirits

Wednesday, March 25th, 2015

Youth Group Lifts Kupuna’s Spirits

Although youth-directed and youth-inspired, Molokai’s suicide prevention group is focused on the emotional health of all ages. Last week, student members of Suicide Prevention Around Molokai (SPAM) stopped by Home Pumehana to lend a hand and “put a smile” on the faces of kupuna residents.

Seven students made the rounds through the Kaunakakai nursing home complex, offering to help with any household tasks residents needed.

“Kupuna, especially in nursing homes, they get depressed at times,” said SPAM Youth Coordinator Kealoha Hooper, whose family operates the Consuelo Foundation, which funds SPAM. “[We decided] it would be nice to go put a smile on their faces.…

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