Features – Page 6 – The Pinion

Dedication at its finest

March 7, 2017

Jean Kurihara graduated from McKinley High School in 1967 and has worked in the main office for nearly half a century. Kurihara died in Aiea on Wednesday, Jan. 4. Many students and staff were sad to hear of her passing but they were able to say goodbye and honor her during a memorial held in the MHS au...

Stress takes control of teen lives

Lacey Hayashi, reporter

February 25, 2017

Life as a teen can be stressful. According to Sharon Jayson, writer for USA Today, stress causes 40% of teens to feel irritable or angry and 36% to feel nervous or anxious. A third of teens say stress makes them feel overwhelmed, depressed or sad. The Mayo Clinic website said stress can affect behavior...

Takao makes math easier

Sonya Park Smith, reporter

February 21, 2017

Sherry Takao is a math teacher and what she enjoys most about her job is that she likes teaching math to her students. Takao graduated from the University of Hawaii with an accounting major. If she were not a math teacher then she would be an accountant. Before being a math teacher she used to work ...

Librarian book talk

Eileen Wang, reporter

February 21, 2017

Linda Mediati is a librarian that works at the Liliha Public Library in Honolulu. Her main job is to help young adult readers understand and choose which books to read. Mediati also does book talks about selected books for teenage readers when she visits middle and high schools. “I have to read al...

Honoring Pearl Harbor’s 75th anniversary

Anela Chavez, editor-in-chief

February 14, 2017

Hawaii schools in the war years had to teach students skills not needed before. One skill was how to properly store and handle gas masks. They feared the poison gas the Japanese could release. Even babies had to wear a mask, but their masks were like bags that had bunny-like ears on top and a window...

Triplet deals with multiple surgeries

Lacey Hayashi, reporter

January 30, 2017

Mari Faufata-Pedrina is a 16-year-old sophomore at McKinley High School. She lives with her mother and is a triplet. She is Catholic and goes to King’s Cathedral. Faufata-Pedrina has gone through a total of eight surgeries since 2002. Her first two surgeries in 2002 were to close her cleft palate....

From Philippines to MHS

Aidan Sakaio, reporter

January 30, 2017

Mark Dugay is 35 years old and was raised in the Philippines, which is why he is still adjusting to U.S. education policies. Some of his hobbies include reading, watching television, and playing sports like badminton and table tennis. Dugay received four years of college education in biology. He ha...

Students reflect on opportunity

Lacey Hayashi, reporter

December 20, 2016

Opportunities are left behind and taken every day. Junior Sydney Bruce did not study for an Algebra 2 test and regrets it. She said it’s sad to get a B when she could have done better by being prepared. Bruce said, "You know that’s average.” She said she knows she is a procrastinator who made a ...

Addicted to a smartphone

Jaycee Paat, reporter

December 14, 2016

Brain studies show people have a chemical inside their brain giving that urge to look on the phone every time a notification keeps going off. Those chemicals are Dopamine, Serotonin and Oxytocin. “Smartphones are taking over people’s lives,” freshman Shinwin Chen said. Freshman Syhmon Lazo said he ...

Is procrastination beneficial?

Aidan Sakaio, reporter

December 14, 2016

According to a few students at McKinley High School and as well as articles on the internet, people tend to procrastinate simply because they cannot help it. Whether or not someone is a procrastinator is not a matter of choice, but rather a habit. Freshman Brycen Lagunero said, “Most students procrast...