THIS YEAR’S Miss Hawaii will be named Saturday night at the Hawai‘i Convention Center, and her first official appearance will take place Sunday when she heads to Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women and Children to continue a tradition started by 2008 Miss Hawaii Nicole Fox.
Fox wanted the hundreds of lei she and her fellow contestants received to continue bringing joy to people. So she awakened early the morning after the pageant to visit patients and families at the hospital and give each one a lei. Since then, the outgoing and incoming Miss Hawaiis have been visiting the hospital together. Besides Fox, the past Miss Hawaiis who have participated are Raeceen Woolford (2009), Jaylee Fuselier (2010), Lauren Cheape (2011) and Skyler Kamaka (2012).
The Miss Hawaiis are now accompanied by the Kapi‘olani Children’s Miracle Network Champion, a patient or patients selected each year to represent the hospital at appearances. This year’s Champion is Ikaika Ka‘ahanui, 9, an Aikahi Elementary student. This fall, Ikaika and fellow Champions from each state will travel to Washington, D.C., and Orlando, Fla. He and his family will make appearances throughout Hawaii to assist with awareness and fundraising efforts.
Six hours after Ikaika was born, he was rushed to Kapi‘olani where doctors identified several conditions, the most urgent being a hole between his trachea and esophagus that required the first of a dozen major surgeries. Ikaika continues to get stronger, making encouraging progress with the recent removal of his tracheostomy tube. He continues to visit Kapi‘olani for speech and feeding therapy and loves reading about space and sharks …
LET’S HEAR IT for Charles Higa, 82, co-founder of Zippy’s, who donated $125,000 to the McKinley High School Foundation. The foundation grants college scholarships to graduates of the public school. The generous Higa is a gentleman with whom I exchange greetings regularly. He has an apartment he uses as an office in the condo building where I live. We are both 1949 public school grads (I went to Roosevelt). Huy Vo, 30, a 2001 McKinley graduate, earned a scholarship from the foundation and is the youngest member of its board of 47. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 2005 and is now in Hawaiian Airlines’ public relations department. Vo was named Hawaii’s Young PR Professional of the Year in 2011.
Higa and Vo both deserve cheers and a rousing chorus of "Black and Gold is Waving," the famous McKinley song named after the school’s colors. In the old days when high school football games were played at Honolulu Stadium, the sound of "Black and Gold" played by the band and sung by students filled the stadium, which became known as the "Termite Palace" before its demolition in 1976 …
MAUI NATIVE Destin Daniel Cretton‘s film "Short Term 12," which won both the grand jury prize and audience award at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, will be part of the Maui Film Festival, running Wednesday through June 16. The film’s star, Brie Larson, will receive the festival’s Rising Star award … Honolulu wildlife educator Stephanie Arne is one of three finalists to become the new "Wild Guide" for online episodes of Mutual of Omaha’s "Wild Kingdom." The winner will be announced July 15 …
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Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.
