Mar 28, 2012 | Education
Retired teacher Ed Ginoza left the classroom 12 years ago, but continues to learn as a volunteer mentor and coach for high school students competing in math and science competitions. Ginoza served for nearly 30 years as a teacher, mostly at Maui High School where he taught math and science. Following his retirement, he stepped up to coach high-achiever science students in competitions such as the Science Bowl and the Ocean Bowl. He’s developed relationships with students he never really had when he was working in the classroom. “If you want to influence kids’ lives, you don’t get to know them in the classroom. You get to know them outside of it,” Ginoza said.
Motivated by the drive in advanced students at Maui High School, Ginoza said he uses all kinds of tools to prepare for contests including the Internet, videos and high-tech web sites. He and his students have been successful, not only in placing high or winning titles, but also in ensuring that Maui’s brightest are enrolling at the best colleges in the country. For example, Ginoza regularly writes recommendations and assists students applying to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. He said at least one student has been accepted by MIT in all but one of the 29 years he’s helped out. He said students are earning good grades and getting into good colleges because they take advantage of the technology offered to them while also studying hard. “Three hours of studying per night to them is the norm,” Ginoza said.
Aside from helping students, Ginoza works part-time as a resource teacher, helping schools with administrative reports and math improvement programs. “In some ways, teaching has come a long way,” he said. “The good part of it is that technology has come along and teachers have a lot of resources to draw on. They can actually take kids places or observe things we couldn’t do in the past,” he said, referring to videos and Internet resources. “The students are as good, if not better in some respects…Learning is never boring.”
Mar 21, 2012 | Community
In a time when businesses are struggling, VIP Cash N’ Carry continues to increase sales according to Store Manager, Leila Maddela. The store in Kahului recently updated its digs, expanded its space, increased staff to 30 employees and added more retail to serve the needs of Maui families. The success comes from a commitment to provide “better value for your ohana” and a willingness to respond to a changing client base. “We adapted so we could serve household consumers, not just food service companies,” Maddela said.
Valley Isle Produce was established in 1951 by the late Roy Okumura and his wife, Lorraine, who still checks into the store along with her son, Nelson, who serves as the president of the company. As a division of VIP Foodservice, VIP Cash N’ Carry opened in 1986 with five employees, primarily offering products for foodservice customers and families hosting large parties. That changed in the last decade with a move to cater more to families, whether they were having parties or not. “Our customers are family to us. We know our regular customers and serve them with full hearts and a spirit of gratitude,” Maddela said. Since its client base is family, Maddela said the store also promotes family-friendly attitudes toward its staff, offering profit sharing bonuses, holding appreciation luncheons and supporting associates in their time of family loss. “We try to support each other,” she said.
Even in its success, Maddela said there is still much more to be told as she finds instances when people are surprised at the broad selection of retail products in the store. Its store name also appears to give the incorrect impression about forms of payments — VIP Cash N‘ Carry accepts cash, major credit cards, debit cards and checks. There are plans in place to open a second location in West Maui. “The future looks great as we continue to provide better value for the ohana of Maui,” Maddela said.
Mar 15, 2012 | Community
Youth Alliance members impressed an expert Maui County planner with ideas about how Wailuku could become a more thriving community. As the supervising planner for the County’s Long Range Planning Division, David Yamashita is charged with overseeing a project called reWailuku. The Wailuku Community Association, the County Planning Department and the Maui Redevelopment Agency coordinated “ReWailuku” as a means to collect community comments on plans to revitalize the historic town. Visiting the community design project gave the Youth Alliance members a chance to provide their perspective to the reWailuku team. “Adults and youth look at things in a whole different way. It was really helpful to hear from the youth,” Yamashita said.
King Duke, a junior at Maui High School, said: “The reWailuku event taught me a lot about how a community thrives. I really respect what they are doing with the fact that they are trying to remember what was good about Wailuku,” Taking its cues from the Youth Alliance, the reWailuku team plans to incorporate the idea of creating a place for young adults to gather and “hang out” in Wailuku, Yamashita said. “We call it the third place,” he said, adding that a person’s first place is home and the second might be school or the workplace. Yamashita said the purpose of reWailuku is to “create a Wailuku for the next generation.”
Having heard from both adults and youth in the community has helped the Planning Department come up with a solid plan for the Central Maui town. “Wailuku should be a walkable town,” Yamashita said. A public presentation on the reWailuku project findings will be made on March 28. More information is available at reWailuku.com. Duke said he and other Youth Alliance members enjoyed sharing ideas and envisioning the future of Wailuku. “Maui should keep its Hawaiian feel, a paradise of sorts where everything is beautiful and you don’t want to stop walking because there’s so many great places to go with such friendly people.”
Mar 8, 2012 | Community
Rick Rutiz with Hana School student, Christine Naihe.
Carpenter Rick Rutiz has developed an award-winning program that boosts self-esteem in Hana’s youth, while building much needed facilities in their community. The Hana School Building Program “Ma Ka Hana Ke ‘Ike” (“in working, one learns”) started 12 years ago with Rutiz guiding a small group of struggling high school students with a task to build a counselor’s office on their campus. From there, more students joined Rutiz’s program and they began tackling projects that required even more specialized skills such as artistic tiling, building with bamboo and renovating facilities to make them accessible to the handicapped. The program began with funding support from small contractors like Rutiz and has since won awards and grants from private citizens, government, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and private foundations.
Today, Ma Ka Hana Ke ‘Ike has graduated 100-plus students, many of whom have landed jobs in the construction field and others who went on to college, equipped with knowledge of how to use basic tools. “Many of our kids have not had an easy time in the classroom. But we found that through our program, they gained life skills, they built their self-esteem and they finally found something they can do and do well,” Rutiz said. “They have learned to find success in themselves.”
The newest component of the Hana Building Program features graduate apprentices who support Rutiz by mentoring younger students. “It’s just great to see them teach younger kids. Our apprentices are continuing to learn, but they’re also helping me with training so that we can perpetuate this program,” Rutiz said. “I’m very proud of my graduates. They’re incredible and most of them have surpassed what I thought they could do.” Rutiz said the program inspires him. “I get to work every day and see this lighting up of self-confidence and self-worth in my students. It’s awesome, absolutely awesome.”
Retired teacher Ed Ginoza left the classroom 12 years ago, but continues to learn as a volunteer mentor and coach for high school students competing in math and science competitions. Ginoza served for nearly 30 years as a teacher, mostly at Maui High School where he taught math and science. Following his retirement, he stepped up to coach high-achiever science students in competitions such as the Science Bowl and the Ocean Bowl. He’s developed relationships with students he never really had when he was working in the classroom. “If you want to influence kids’ lives, you don’t get to know them in the classroom. You get to know them outside of it,” Ginoza said.
