A team of Maui High School students will represent Hawaii at two national youth science competitions next month.
The Sabers team — Steven Okada, Riley Camp, Bryson Galapon, Christopher Kim and Gabriel Salazar — won the Hawaii Ocean Science Bowl on Feb. 23 at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
They bested a dozen other Hawaii high school teams.
That followed Maui High’s Jan. 26 victory at the Hawaii Regional Science Bowl. Nearly 20 teams competed at the event at Honolulu Community College. It was Maui High’s fifth state title since 2002.
The team will compete at the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, April 18-21 in Milwaukee, and at the National Science Bowl, April 25-29 in Washington, D.C.
Preparing for the contest is a year-round effort, said team coach Ed Ginoza, a retired Maui High chemistry and physics teacher. "The payoff is really huge for these kids," he said.
Other awards:
» The League of Women Voters of Honolulu named Suzanne Frazer and Dean Otsuki recipients of the 2012 Astrid and Donald Monson Community Action Award for their contributions to protecting Hawaii’s environment and marine life.
In 2006 Frazer and Otsuki formed the nonprofit organization Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii (B.E.A.C.H.) to raise awareness of and seek solutions to the problem of marine debris.
They have removed thousands of pounds of marine debris from beaches on their own and by organizing community beach-cleaning efforts, the League of Women Voters said.
The organization recognized them in January at a reception at the Hale Koa Hotel. Frazer and Otsuki received $5,000, which they donated to B.E.A.C.H.
The Astrid and Donald Monson Community Action Award has been given annually by the League of Women Voters of Honolulu Education Fund Board since 2008 to an organization or person who has made outstanding contributions toward or involving public-interest planning, housing or environmental issues.
» Five University of Hawaii scientists received an honorable-mention award for their video showing living coral under a microscope.
The video was among 200 entries from 18 nations to the 2012 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge. Winners were announced last month.
Hawaii Institute for Marine Biology scholars Christine Farrar, Zac Forsman, Ruth Gates, Jo-Ann Leong and Robert Toonen produced the video.
Gates said that while many people think corals are inanimate rocks, the video shows they are beautiful and dynamic. The video shows corals extending and retracting glowing tentacles and tiny creatures crawling over the corals.
The International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge is a program of the National Science Foundation.
» Romulado Sosa, a utilitiesman first class, has been named the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific’s Sailor of the Year.
Sosa was born in Mexico City and grew up in Southern California, and joined the Navy in 1998. He was selected for being an effective leader and having a positive impact on his unit’s effectiveness, the Navy said.
» Chelsea Marie Robinson, 17, a senior at Hanalani School in Mililani, was named Hawaii’s Distinguished Young Woman for 2013 at a scholarship competition in January.
The program was formerly known as the Junior Miss Pageant.
Robinson, the daughter of Sherry and Charles Robinson, won a $3,000 cash scholarship, a four-year scholarship at Hawaii Pacific University and other prizes. She will represent Hawaii at the national competition in June in Mobile, Ala.
Gina Hyun of Kaiser High, Nicole Nakamatsu of ‘Iolani School and Candace Chloe of McKinley High were the first, second and third runners-up, respectively.
» The ‘Iolani Middle School Orchestra took first place in the middle school string orchestra division at a national orchestra competition Feb. 28.
Forty-four ‘Iolani seventh- through ninth-graders traveled to Providence, R.I., to participate in the American String Teachers Association’s National Orchestra Festival.
It was the second time the ‘Iolani orchestra won at this national competition. It previously won in 2010. Kathryn Hafner is the orchestra’s director.
