Red Friday brings fun and (Makahiki) games
Photo by Alyssa Urayanza
Seniors Blake Fukumoto and Kainalu Taniguchi put their strength to the test in the Uma event at the practice field during Pōʻalima ʻUlaʻula on October 23. The high school juniors and seniors participated in traditional Makahiki festival games, while the freshmen made lei and decorations, and the sophomores learned about net fishing on a beach field trip.
Upperclassmen at Kamehameha Maui High School went back to the basics of Pōʻalima ʻUlaʻula as they participated in traditional Makahiki festival games Oct. 23.
Last year, the spring Red Friday was a full-day event, but it was changed to a half-day this fall because of low attendance at the last one.
During school, students attended all four instructional blocks before lunch, which were condensed into 60 minutes instead of 90.
“Judging from the last Red Friday that we had, [we wanted] to be sure students attended school,” Kumu Kalei said.
After squeezing an entire dayʻs worth of classes into four and a half hours, students got a treat of Hawaiian-style food prepared by the cafeteria staff and then proceeded down to the practice field for the commencement of the Red Friday Makahiki games.
Each school division recognized the day in different ways. The junior and senior academy students participated in the Makahiki games. The freshmen focused on cultural lessons in hana noʻeau, such as making leis and decorations, and the sophomores took a field trip to the beach. While there, they learned how to properly “throw net” and were taught different skills associated with net fishing.
Kumu Kalei Aarona-Lorenzo, head of the Arts and Communication academy, was in charge of the preparations and management of the academies Pōʻalima ʻUlaʻula.
She said that there were pluses and minuses to the class-then-games format, and said that if the event had been a whole day, things wouldn’t have been “so rushed” and sign-ups for the events would have been better.
Originally, each student was only supposed to participate in one event, but due to the lack of students signing up, some students were allowed to be in multiple events.
“It would have been fun to see more students, especially the students who don’t normally get to participate. I think that would have been better,” Kumu Kalei said. “We could have put on more events had we had more time, especially in the pool.”
“I thought it was pretty cool,”
— Bryson Funai on Pōʻalima ʻUlaʻula
The students were divided by academies. The Business and Leadership and Information Technology academies were put together because of their small size, and they competed with Science and Natural Resources and Arts and Communication.
Individual events were split into boys and girls sections, while the team events were co-ed.
The Makahiki games began with the individual field events. These included ʻŌʻō Ihe: spear throwing, ʻUlu Maika: stone rolling, Moa Paheʻe: oblong wood sliding, Kōnane: Hawaiian checkers, Pā Uma: standing arm wrestling, Haka Moa: chicken fight, Pōhaku Hoʻoikaika: eight kilogram stone toss, and Uma: arm wrestling from the prone position.
After that, students proceeded to the pool where the Lele Pahu: highest splash and ʻAuʻau kāwili: 25-meter, any-stroke relay took place.
Following the pool events were the individual running and team events. They consisted of individual running in Heihei wāwae: 100 meter sprint and Kūkini: 400 meter dash. The team events consisted of Pāʻumeʻume: tug of war and Hoʻoili Pōhaku: 400 meter co-ed relay with a 7-pound stone.
“This Red Friday, I thought it was pretty cool,” Senior Bryson Funai said. “Everyone got to compete, and there were a lot of sections a lot of people signed up for. We never really split by academies before so it was cool to be able to represent your classes. I really like competing, and I had a lot of fun in my event, [Lele Pahu].”
Overall, the Business and Leadership and Information Technology academies won by winning 11 of the events, Science and Natural Resources was second with nine events, and the Arts and Communication academy won five events.
The winners for all 25 events were:
- ʻUlu Maika- Russell Nagamine (BL/IT*) and Haley Kalama (BL/IT)
- Moa Paheʻe- Sage Kamaka (BL/IT) and Lauren Kanemitsu (SNR*)
- ʻŌʻō ihe- Justin Delos Santos (SNR) and Sarah Ikioka (AC*)
- Pā Uma- Mahonri Aiwohi (AC) and Shayna Tamanaha (BL/IT)
- Haka Moa- Kawai Kahoʻohanohano (SNR) and Hiʻilei Aniban (AC)
- Uma- Blake Fukumoto (BL/IT) and Megan Miguel (SNR)
- Pōhaku Hoʻoikaika- Michael Kahula (SNR) and Mauiliola Gonsalves (BL/IT)
- Kōnane- Cole Tancayo (BL/IT) and Kylee Kato (SNR)
- Heihei Wāwae- Nainoa Silva (BL/IT) and Megan Miguel (SNR)
- Kūkini- Quinn Hottendorf (BL/IT) and Kamaile Aipa (AC)
- Lele Pahū- Keoni Warrington (AC) and Kiana Correa (BL/IT)
- ʻAuʻau Kāwili- Brendan Otani, Nikki McGuire, Kūlia Fernandez, Quinn Shiraishi, and Lei Medeiros (SNR)
- Pāʻumeʻume- Phillip Ngalu, Rebeka Revelle, Mauliola Gonsalves, Donald Kuamoʻo, Hanalei Alapai, and Shayna Tamanaha (BL/IT)
- Hoʻoili Pōhaku- Richard Renaud, Justin Delos Santos, Rayne Poepoe, Rebekah Hurdle, and Kylee Kato (SNR)
*Business and Leadership and Information Technology (BL/IT), Science and Natural Resources (SNR), Arts and Communications (AC)
