There was a full page photo of a woman in the Star Advertiser a few weeks ago. I passed right by it thinking it was some sort of advertisement for Viking Cruises.
Art took the paper and said, "Hey, look! Hilo High is famous now. It's got a Nobel Prize winner as one of its alumni!"
Since Art is from the Big Island, he would, of course know that Hilo High's mascot was the Vikings.
I put on my reading glasses and saw that the paper was congratulating Dr. Jennifer Doudna who'd won the 2020 nobel prize in Chemistry.
Got this from Wikipedia:
"Jennifer Anne Doudna is an American biochemist known for her pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing, for which she was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Emmanuelle Charpentier."So I got to wondering if we had any famous alumni from Waipahu High School. Hmmm... Couldn't think of anyone.
I'm sure Radford High in Honolulu is proud to say Bette Midler graduated from their school. There's also Jason Scott Lee, Marcus Mariota, Bruno Mars, Iz Kamakawiwo'ole, Auli’i Cravalho and lots and lots of others though I don’t know what high school they attended.
"And don't forget Poncie Ponce," Art said. Poncie Ponce (musician, comedian, actor) acted on Hawaiian Eye for several seasons.
He graduated from Honokaa High School on the Big Island and was the stepbrother of Art's good friend.
And let's not forget we also claim Barack Obama who graduated from Punahou which is one of Hawaii’s premier private schools.
So... do you have any alumni from your high school who became famous?
I don't know of any, but I don't keep in touch.
ReplyDeleteApparently, however, Kamala Harris went to and I think graduated from high school in Montreal (the westmount part of the city).
Wow, that sure is cool about that Nobel Prize winner! What a nice 'ad' in the paper. I have to say, the high school names in Hawaii are pretty cool on their own, even without all those famous graduates! My high school was pretty rural in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania, named Jefferson-Morgan. (My graduating class had less than 100 students.) No famous names though, darn it!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as though Hawaii has incubated a lot of talent.
ReplyDeleteI am sure some of my classmates have done well, but I don't know that anyone has become famous.
I am class locator for my 1953 class and stay in touch with those that are left. I put out a class newsletter every January. They send me their news and I put it in the letter. Out of 291 graduates, only 116 are left. We are all 84 or 85. I have lost 28 who did not stay in touch after they moved from one place to another.
ReplyDeleteNot that I know of. lost contact with my classmates after moving from California to UTah. Went back to one class reunion and didn't see many I knew-mostly study body officers, athletes and cheerleaders-I was done of those...lol!
ReplyDeleteI did.
ReplyDeleteI find it very funny that people in Hawaii are picking the Vikings as their mascot, a group of people who never even knew the islands or the ocean they are situated in existed.
ReplyDeleteI recognized Mrs. Doudna immediately but I'm sort of a science nerd and have been falling CRISPR for quite some time and have heard her speak on many occasions on the subject.
I came from a graduating class of 8 students and I am probably the most famous of them just because I went to college and had a career while the other seven didn't. Where I live now has two somewhat famous people, the man "Radar's" character from MASH was based upon and Tom Arnold, former husband to Rosanne Barr. In fact, the remains of the mansion they were building when they got divorced just was published on a local Facebook account a few weeks ago.
That is a very impressive alumni. None that I know of and I claim two schools as my graduating class.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! I don't have any famous alums from my high school although there were a couple of professional athletes who graduated from there. I'm not very impressed by that. I would rather have a Nobel winner!
ReplyDeleteFrom Chula Vista HS: Billy Casper (1950), golfer.
ReplyDeleteTim Danielson, runner.
Grey DeLisle (1991), voice actress.
Donnie Edwards (1991), football player.
Lee Kohse (1992), artist.
Mario Lopez (1991), actor and game show host.
Ray Schmautz, football player.
J. Michael Straczynski, writer/producer, 1972.
Ty Wigginton, professional baseball player, 1995
And
Boydens HS: (Where I finally graduated, I can find not one famous person.
I only attended the high school I graduated from for a short while, having moved several times during my high school years. I feel no connection with that school and have no idea if there are any famous people who graduated from it. I sure do love your special school, though! :-)
ReplyDeleteKaimuki High School had a lot of famous musicians - Iz (though not sure if he graduated), Jake Shimabukuro, Kapena, Ka'au Crater Boys, and others. Mazie Hirono (US Senator) went to Kaimuki and graduated the same year as my brother. It was a good school, still is, I believe.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Jalna of https://jalna.blogspot.com/ went there!
DeleteI tried to access Kay's remarks "Is our solar fan really helpful but google tells me it has not been posted. I am stymied!
DeleteI knew who I thought was a very average girl in high school who became a savvy financial advisor and was on a weekly tv show telling people how to avoid debt and save money. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Vaz-Oxlade
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting list of famous alumni, I don't know of any from my high school.
ReplyDeleteOne of the young men I graduated with has one or more New York Yankees championship rings. Not bad for a kid from Ohio. I don't remember his name and am too lazy to look him up.
ReplyDeleteME! I became a famous blogger!
ReplyDeleteThis is so true because even I know of you here in Hawaii. 😁
DeleteMike Shine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01DaMyrys20 Silver medalist in the 1976 Olympics.
ReplyDeleteI can't figure out how to post comments anymore.
DeleteWow! Debby! We watched the video. What a very proud moment!!! That is so exciting.
DeleteI grew up in downtown Toronto, and lots of famous people went to my high school. Fun post!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Barack Obama's high school was private.
ReplyDeleteSince I had 1,000 in my high school graduating class, (Putnam City '72, within Okla. City,) I didn't keep track of folks, except the band kids.
Linda in Kansas now.
Wow Kay, this is so cool. We had a couple of guys who became Pro Football players.
ReplyDelete