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Punahou team goes to academic contest

A team from Punahou School will represent Hawaii in the National Academic WorldQuest Competition in Washington, D.C., in April. Team members Riley Fujisaki, Richard Galluzzi, Mari Miyoshi, and Ananya Ray placed first among 73 high school teams at the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council's (PAAC) Hawaii State Chevron Academic WorldQuest Competition. They and a chaperone will receive an all-expense paid trip, courtesy of Chevron Hawaii.

Irene Ueda, a seventh- and eighth-grade English and Japanese language teacher at Stevenson Middle School, was given the C.W. Stevens Middle Level Educator of the Year Award by the Hawaii Association of Middle Schools for her positive impact on adolescents, commitment and support of the school. She also mentors student teachers at her alma mater, the College of Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa; advises the school's English club; and helped form the reading program.

Kristi Desuacido, a science and math teacher at Koala School in Wahiawa, has been selected for the Toyota International Teacher's Program in Costa Rica. She is one of 36 teachers nationally to participate in the program, which inspires the cross-curricular teaching of environmental and cultural stewardship.

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