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Maui Prep's Danielle Jefferies became the school's first ever state champion when she won the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 57.81 seconds. Photo courtesy of Matthew Thayer, Maui News.

On February 11, Maui Prep freshman Danielle Jefferies made history: she became the first Maui Prep state champion.  Jefferies entered the preliminary round of the OC16 HHSAA Swimming and Diving Championships seeded number one in the state for the 100-yard butterfly and did not relinquish that top spot through either the qualifying or final race.  In fact, Jefferies became faster as the meet wore on.  At the recent MIL Championships, Jefferies swam this event in a then season-low time of 58.74 seconds.  In Friday’s qualifier, she bested her time and the rest of the field with a 58.19 seconds.  With swimmers from Seabury Hall and Punahou rounding out the top three qualifiers, Jefferies took the lead a the 25-yard mark and left everyone else in a fight for second place.  Jefferies finished with a 57.81, a full 1.5 seconds faster than her closest competitor.  Maui Prep coach Mike “Tex” Ritter was beaming proudly after the race.  ”We couldn’t be more proud of Danielle.  She had a wonderful season.  It’s been a great season for everyone involved in our Maui Prep swim program.  We hope Danie’s success motivates other students to continue to work hard and excel in the pool,” said Ritter.

Danielle Jefferies and Coach Mike Ritter celebrate after the medal ceremony.

Jefferies is one of four 2011 Pueo Scholars attending Maui Prep this year.  Pueo Scholars are identified as exemplifying leadership in academics, community service, athletics, and the arts.  Maui Prep will also be offering multiple Pueo Scholarships in 2012 for new students who are entering grades 9-12.

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Three of our Preschool students are in Miss Goss' pre-ballet class on Mondays.

To further enrich and broaden our students’ experiences, a variety of programs are offered to lower and middle school students once or twice a week after school in approximately eight-week sessions. We are so lucky to have such talented teachers who have specialties in other areas beyond academics.  Often times, parents also share their talents through offering enrichment clubs.  When possible, community members also offer enrichment activities for our students.   Sports, clay work, drama, cooking, computer, origami, woodworking, keyboarding, painting, flag football, gardening and yoga are examples of the programs that have been offered. The following is a list of clubs, classes and activities that are happening on our campus this spring.  For more information, please contact the teachers directly.  Be on the lookout for more to come! 

• Ballet with Miss Goss – Preschool -4^th grades
• Karate with Mr. Parnell – 3^rd-5^th grades
• Group keyboard class with Mrs. Jerome – K-5^th grade
• Yoga with Mrs. Peterson – 3rd-5th grades
• Science Olympiad with Miss DeMott, Mr. Border and Mr. Narayan (parent) – 6^th-9^th grades
• Homework club with Mr. Reader – 4^th-12^th grades
• Golf club with Mr. O’Riordan- 6th-8th grades
• Maui Tumblers (community member), Preschool- 5^th grades

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It was a historic day for Maui Prep Athletics at the Kihei Aquatic Center.  In the final day of MIL swimming, Maui Prep freshman and Pueo Scholar Danielle Jefferies became our school’s first ever MIL Champion.  After making her way through the preliminary heats on Friday night, Jefferies swam in the finals for two events: the 100-yard butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle.  Despite having an injured shoulder, Jefferies won gold with a time of 58.74 seconds in her butterfly race (YouTube); her closest competitor finished a over 3 seconds back.  Jefferies’ time also was her personal best while attending Maui Prep.  The medals continued for Jefferies in the 50-yard freestyle when she placed second, only 0.47 seconds behind the first place finisher from Baldwin.  Equally impressive as her results in the pool, is Jefferies’ humble approach to her success.  She is the first to congratulate her competitors and teammates alike and the first to volunteer when something needs to be done on the pool deck.  Jefferies is truly a great representative of Maui Prep.

Jefferies will now participate in the HHSAA Championships with take place on February 10-11 also at the Kihei Aquatic Center.  She has qualified in several different events and will be deciding with her coach Mike Ritter the events in which she will participate.  The MIL and HHSAA limit the number of individual events a swimmer can participate in at two for championship meets.

Maui Prep swimmer Danielle Jefferies celebrates with Coach Mike and Coach Heather following her 1st place finish at the MIL Championships.

The MIL Championships also proved to be a success for the entire girls’ team, which finished tied for third in the team standings with Lahainaluna and behind Seabury and Baldwin.  The girls’ team earned several points in various relays on Saturday allowing them to finish ahead of much larger schools including Maui High, King Kekaulike, Molokai and Kamehameha.  Akashi Saito (jr.), Cami Comet (jr.), Alexis Oku (jr.), Ali Torres (so.), Jaclyn Blumer (so.), and Ali Mosely (fr.) filled out many of Maui Prep’s relay teams.  Comet also qualified for the finals in the 100-yard freestyle finishing in 8th place in the county.

Of course, MIL Championship weekend means that teams also bid farewell to their senior athletes.  Maui Prep had two seniors complete the season: Tanner Trout and Nathan O’Hanlon.  Trout, a 3rd year swimmer, has committed to attend Flagler College in Florida while O’Hanlon, a 4-year varsity swimmer, has not made a final commitment to any college at this point.  Both boys provided incredible leadership and work ethic to the Maui Prep’s swim program over the past several years.

3-Time Regional Science Olympiad Champions!

This past weekend saw the second annual Regional Science Olympiad Tournament at the Maui College campus.   Seven teams from around the island met to compete in a wide variety of building challenges and written tests from bridges and bottle rockets to diseases, rocks and minerals.  Maui Preparatory Academy was represented by sixteen of our 6^th, 7^th , 8^th and 9^th graders in the seven different events – our largest team ever!  Our students worked extremely hard under the direction of coaches Krishna Narayan, Carrie DeMott and Chris Border over the past 10 weeks to prepare for their events.  Their efforts were recognized and rewarded as our students placed 1^st in four of the events (Bottle Rockets, Disease Detective, Experimental Design,  and Tower Building) and 2^nd in two other events (Dynamic Planet and Rocks & Minerals).  These results gave Maui Prep a 1^st place finish overall!  This is the third year which Maui Prep has won the Regional Competition and advanced to the Hawaii State Science Olympiad  Tournament.  Students are now busy preparing for the additional events and increased competition of the State Tournament which will be held at Leeward Community College on March 3^rd.

Maui Preparatory Academy cordially invites the West Maui community to attend our 6^thannual Paniolo Night on Saturday, February 11th!  Come enjoy the all-you-can eat BBQ dinner provided by Iron Imu BBQ for only $20 dollars per adult and $10 per child.  Bring all the keiki  as we’ll have horses rides, a bouncy house, petting zoo and even a hay ride!  Delicious shave ice, popcorn and cotton candy will also be available!  Fun game booths and prizes!  All proceeds benefit the 8^thgrade trip to Boston and New York.  The event is from 4-9pm. Come to the Maui Prep office for tickets or you can purchase tickets from any Maui Prep 8th grade student.

Maui Prep Alumni (Class of 2010 & 2011) share their experiences with Upper School Students

On Friday, January 6^th, Maui Prep welcomed back ten of our eighteen alumni.  Alumni spent the morning catching up with each other and faculty before attending the weekly Citizen Assembly where they were honored and welcomed with lei.   Following the assembly, the alumni spoke to upper classman about their college experience and the transition from Maui Prep to college.  Attending the event were: Zach Ferguson – Bentley Univ, Hunter Rosenquist – CU Boulder, Dino DeSalvio -USD, Forest Rezayani – UH-Manoa, Sarafina Huck – LeHigh Univ, Trent Rosenquist – UC Santa Barbara, Alex Lewiki – UH-Manoa, Perry Wilfur – Bond Univ, Chelsea Johnson – US Airforce, and, Allie Johnson – UH-Maui.  Welcome home and best of luck with the second semester!

Maui Prep Open House
Aloha!
Please join us on Thursday, January 19, 2012. We will be hosting our Open House from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. at the Maui Prep campus. This is the perfect opportunity for New Families to meet our faculty and staff and learn more about Maui Prep’s curriculum and programs. Applications available for the 2012-2013 school year. We invite you to attend!
 
Thank You,
Cathi Minami
Director of Admissions & Development
808-665-9966
cminami@mauiprep.org

Interim Week 2012

 Just prior to going on Winter Holiday Break, Maui Prep faculty announced the options available for Interim Week 2012, Embrace the Adventure!  Interim Week is an exciting week of exploratory and experiential learning for middle and upper school students during the first week of March.  Students will spend the entire week outside of their regular classes exploring various topics in detail.  Upon completing their Interim, students present an Interim project to peers, faculty, parents, and community members at the Maui Prep Learning Fair on March 26^th.  This year’s program includes, Customized Internships, Native Hawaiian Exploration, California College Tour, Astronomy, Anime Workshop, Trekking in Haleakala, Hip-Hop, Amateur Radio, and the Senior Class Trip.    Please see the link below for a more detailed description of each Interim and the Interim Selection form (Interim Brochure 2012, 2012 Interim Selection Sheet).  The Interim Selection form is due on Friday, January 6^th for all middle and upper school students.

The Maui Prep Pueo swim team were back in the pool this weekend for their first meet of the 2011/12 campaign.

Maui Prep Pueo jumped back into the pool this past weekend with their first MIL meet of the season.  The hard work at practice over the past month has already paid off as many members of the swim team swam personal bests.  The meet was highlighted by the outstanding performance of freshman Danielle Jeffries, a Pueo Scholar, who dominated in the 100-yard butterfly finishing in first place and also earning a state championship qualifying time.  She also earned a consideration time for the state championship in the 50-yard freestyle.  Danielle comes to Maui Prep an already accomplished age-group swimmer who, most recently, medalled in various events at the USA Swimming Western Zone Championships in Clovis, CA.  Already, at such a young age, Danielle truly exemplifies Maui Prep’s core value of the pursuit of excellence.  Congratulations to Danielle and the rest of the Pueo swim team.

The Pueo will be back in the pool for their second meet on December 17, 2011 at the Kihei Aquatic Center.

By Parent Volunteer Krishna Narayan

Aloha Middle School Parents,

Last year I had the opportunity to be a parent volunteer to help Ms. DeMott and Mr. Border with our Maui Prep Science Olympiad team.  I had the unique perspective of seeing and experiencing first hand what Science Olympiad is all about.  More importantly, I saw the academic, social, and maturity growth of the team.  As you know, last year for a second year in a row, our team ranked 1st in Hawaii and made it to the National competition.  While Science Olympiad requires dedication and extra work, it is a tremendous learning experience for our children in terms of leadership, knowledge, teamwork, travel, and personal growth.

Science Olympiad was confusing to me at the beginning of last year, so I thought I would provide some context:

• • Science Olympiad has regional, state, and national competitions.

• • Our students are paired in teams of two, they are given their choice of events based upon their interests, and practice on a weekly basis.  They receive coaching from Ms. DeMott, Mr. Border, and parent volunteers.

• • At the regional competition on Maui, all participating schools compete in about 6-8 events, with each event lasting 50 minutes.

• • Some events are knowledge based and some are project based.

• • Knowledge events challenge students to learn materials before the competition, then at the competition students are given a problem to solve using their knowledge.  Examples include identifying the source of food poisoning by being a Disease Detective, learning about aquifers and then showing how to detect pollution with Awesome Aquifers, or being a Crime Buster to solve a crime using your knowledge of chemistry like the show CSI.

• • Project events challenge students to construct something to defined specifications and approved materials ahead of time, and then bring it to the competition to test its performance.  Examples include towers that have to hold a bucket of sand, catapults that have to fire projectiles at a castle (Storm the Castle), and bottle rockets made from 2-liter soda containers that have to fly and stay in the air the longest.

• • The top three teams in Maui move on to the state competition.  At the state competition the number of events increases to about 12.  Students travel from Maui to Oahu and stay in a hotel for one night.  They compete the next day and then one Middle School and one High School team are selected to represent Hawaii at the National Competition.  Last year our primary competitor was Punahou.

• • Last year the national competition was in Madison, Wisconsin.  This year the competition is in Orlando at the University of Central Florida.  At the national level the number of events increases to 24, but because of the limited size of our school team we opt to compete in only about 12 events.  For the national competition, students travel with teachers and parent chaperones.  The national competition lasts one day, but several other days are set aside for students to have fun, interact with scientists, tour the college, swap memorabilia with schools from all over the country, and see what’s is like to live in a dorm room.

I would encourage your children to seriously consider Science Olympiad and also ask that you consider volunteering to help the team.  I promise that it will be a rewarding experience.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Krishna Narayan

“Alexa’s Dad”

krishna@nscpartners.com