Big Island pupil wins State Spelling Bee
Christianne Abella said she entered the 2014 aio Hawaii State Spelling Bee to improve her vocabulary.
After a thrilling victory on Saturday, it’s unlikely the Konawaena Middle School eighth-grader will ever forget the word for the quality or state of sound being expressive and plaintive.
Christianne sealed her victory over a field of 13 other students, grades 4 through 8, by correctly spelling "plangency."
With the win at PBS Hawaii in Honolulu, Christianne secured a free trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. The event will be held May 25-31.
Runner-up Hope Kudo, another eighth-grader from Hawaii island, represented Kealakehe Intermediate School. She and Christianne are this year’s Hawaii island co-champions.
Counseling group to hold convention here
About 2,600 counselors and students will gather in Honolulu this week for a conference focusing on mental health.
The American Counseling Association’s conference will cover individual trauma and disaster mental health, technology and social media in counseling and other topics.
"Super Size Me" documentary director Morgan Spurlock will deliver the opening keynote address at the Hawai‘i Convention Center on Friday.
The meeting is expected to generate more than $12 million in visitor spending and more than $1 million in state tax revenue. The association last met in Hawaii in 2008.
The American Counseling Association is the world’s largest association representing professional counselors.
Rising water strands hikers
A rescue crew airlifted eight overdue hikers to safety Sunday morning after they were forced to spent the night in Hawaii island’s Waipio Valley, county fire officials said.
The hikers called for help Saturday when they couldn’t get out of the valley because of rapidly rising rivers and streams, officials said.
After an overnight stay along the Hiilawe Falls Trail, the hikers were located and extricated by fire rescue personnel Sunday morning. The first unit arrived at about 6:30 a.m., and the rescue operation concluded at about 2 p.m., according to officials.
None of the hikers was injured, officials said.
UH-Hilo programgets $5M grant
The National Science Foundation has awarded a second $5 million grant to the Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Program at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
The grant from NSF’s Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology Program represents Phase II funding and covers a five-year period. The original $5 million grant was awarded in 2009.
"To fully understand the impact of climate change, you need to start with the leading indicators, which are those life forms whose well-being is tied to the state of their environment," said UH-Hilo program director Donald Price.
The team will use emerging genetic, physiological, bioacoustic and other tools to examine various effects of man-made climate change on animals, plants and microbes, he said.
The project is organized around three subcomponents with separate teams.
