McKinley High School held an assembly on Aug. 11 at the gym to welcome back the students and kick off the school year. McKinley held games, practiced McKinley traditions, held a fashion show and more.
The assembly started with the JROTC Presentation of Colors with the band playing the national anthem and Hawaii Pono’i. Jayven Williams (c/o 2027) is a member of the band. His favorite part of the assembly was the band performance.
“Music is a big part of me; I love music. It’s my number one thing every day, so being able to do that, it was fun,” he said.
Principal Ron Okamura spoke to the students about the new school year and McKinley’s routines and traditions.
“Starting this week, in fact, starting today, every single one of you is beginning a journey to the next step forward,” Okamura said.
After the Presentation of Colors, counselors were introduced for the new year and then the cheerleading team held a routine.
“I have lots of cheerleader friends and I thought they did really well,” Soleil Tucker (c/o 2026) said.
Following the introduction of McKinley’s athletics program and new staff, a fashion show was held to display the Tiger Locker’s merchandise. Multiple student volunteers sported McKinley merch including shirts, lanyards and hoodies.
Jenny Cheng’s (c/o 2025) favorite event was the “Sharks and Minnows” game because it shows which class is the best. The teachers were the sharks and the students were the minnows. The minnows’ goal was to pass the finish line before the sharks could tag them out and repeat until there was one minnow left. People from every grade level were screaming when the minnows dodged the sharks and when the sharks narrowly tagged some of the minnows out.
The results of the Sharks & Minnows game were that the juniors won, with freshmen and seniors tied for second place.
“I’m happy to see everybody with pride in this school,” Cheng said.
