Waha Nui
Mililani kids can grapple with the best in the world. Angela and Christian Lee of Mililani traveled to Sparta, Greece, in November and came back with titles from the 2012 World Pankration Championships. Representing the USA, Angela, 16, won two titles and Christian won one. Their coach is their dad, Ken Lee, a Wahiawa businessman. Pankration, according to Wikipedia, is “a martial art introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 B.C. and founded as a blend of boxing and wrestling but with scarcely any rules” …
Micah Velasco (Leilehua 2011) has graduated from Air National Guard basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas … Good news for dry-eye sufferers. Wahiawa ophthalmologist Christopher Tortora has a new in-office treatment for it called LipiFlow – an eyepiece that warms the inner eyelid and massages the outer one, helping to unblock oil glands (621-8488) … North Shore surfer-turned-musician Makua Rothman released a six-song EP of his own music on iTunes last month called Makanale Road …
Oregon State’s fall term honor roll is full of area scholars. From Mililani: Danielle Aio, Erin Ichimura, Shane Kosaka, Lauren Luke, Hiilani Morita and Amber Yonamine; plus Merri Lewis from Wahiawa and Jandie Sabo from Waialua … Mililani’s Katharine Kam has been appointed to vice president, Pearlridge branch manager, moving from a similar job in Mililani with First Hawaiian Bank …
Staff Sgt. Ken Uyeno (Mililani 1998) was part of a recent U.S. Army Pacific task force training near Sendai, Japan, (target of the 2011 tsunami and earthquake) with the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force. Ken is an NCO officer-in-charge assigned to the 311th Theater Signal Command at Fort Shafter, specializing in information awareness …
This Saturday’s hula fest from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. at Polynesian Cultural Center honors the park’s late kumu hula Aunty Sally Wood Naluai. Her niece, Ellen Gay Dela Rosa, works there and recalls that Sally’s “love and passion for sharing the Hawaiian culture, especially hula, touched the hearts of many, not only in Hawaii, but throughout Polynesia, the Pacific and the world” (293-3333) ■ ■ ■ cchang@midweek.com
