Elva Uyeno ’48 Yoshihara

The Class of 1948 is an exceptionally close one, and Elva Uyeno ’48 Yoshihara is doing her best to help keep it that way.

Yoshihara remembers the late Marilyn Blaisdell ’48 Ane as “the glue” who kept classmates connected to Punahou School and to each other. “Mars was such a catalyst,” said Yoshihara. “We miss her so much and try to keep up what she did.”...

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Patrick Quilter ’64

Growing up in a military family, Patrick Quilter ’64 switched schools every few years and learned to muffle his natural intellectual zeal, lest he be misunderstood by less enthusiastic classmates.

Enrolling at Punahou School as a sophomore in 1961 was a revelation. “It was the first school where I really felt comfortable being a smart kid. The faculty and students actually enjoyed stretching out in all sorts of...

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Lisa Whitson Burns ’01

No corner of the world is too far-flung for Lisa Whitson Burns ’01, an educator, composer and founder of a nonprofit that gets children in underserved communities involved in musical theater.

Burns discovered how fully the art form transcends geographic, linguistic and cultural barriers while teaching in rural Monteverde, Costa Rica in 2005, the summer after graduating from Harvard University...

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Ken Richardson '48

In “Outliers: The Story of Success,” author Malcolm Gladwell explores what separates high-achievers from Average Joes. He writes that on the job, the most innovative people are highly motivated by autonomy, complexity and awareness that hard work pays off.

D. Kenneth Richardson ’48 is living proof of Gladwell’s theory. Having joined Hughes Aircraft Company as a radar design engineer right out of college in 1952...

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Sarah Hicks '89

Elegant in a sequined sleeveless top, black pants and 5-inch stilettos, Sarah Hicks ’89 is no typical maestro. Her movements are dancelike and her long hair flows as she leads the Minnesota Orchestra, inspiring musicians and audiences alike with her talent, passion and warmth.

Hailed as an innovator who crosses easily between classical and contemporary music, Hicks achieved her greatest success...

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Courtney Sato '05

Courtney Sato ’05 seamlessly intertwines poetry and dance in her academic pursuits, whether as a Watson Fellow traveling the world, a Fulbright Research Scholar in Bangladesh, and now, a graduate student at Cambridge.

“Dance and poetry have a lot of parallels. When you’re dancing, it’s a lot about your muscle memory. When you get on stage, it just flows,” she said...

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Bruce Broughton '62

Composer Bruce Broughton ’62 is a master communicator, with music as the medium.

“In film or TV, the music tells a story that the script alone can’t,” said Broughton, whose career spans feature films, TV series and movies, music for Disney theme park attractions, and original concert music. He’s been nominated for more than 20 Emmy Awards and won a record 10 (most recently for HBO’s “Warm Springs”)...

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Helen Cox '70

As chancellor of Kaua‘i Community College, Helen Cox ’70 tries to connect to the broadest possible community, striving not only to educate individuals, but to improve life for everyone on the Garden Isle.

That’s meant spearheading initiatives such as Ho‘ouluwehi: The Sustainable Living Institute of Kaua‘i, which helps fuel the growth of green jobs on the island, and the Wai‘ale‘ale project, which has...

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Christiane Connors '98

Whether as a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon, an AIDS researcher in Kenya or an education reformer in Washington, D.C., Christiane Connors ’98 has approached her work with an open heart and an open mind.

Recognizing and casting aside preconceived notions and assumptions is crucial, of course, for any scholar such as...

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Patricia Jennings '44 Morriss Campbell

Georgia O’Keeffe’s reputation preceded her to Maui in March 1939. “Difficult” was the word then 12-year-old Patricia Jennings had most often heard to describe the iconic American artist, who would be a family houseguest.

O’Keeffe was in Hawai‘i to paint, commissioned for a Dole Pineapple advertising campaign. On Maui, she would stay in one of two...

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Jennifer Metz '90

As 2011 wound down, Jennifer Metz ’90 could fit all the nonrecyclable, noncompostable garbage she had generated throughout the year into a single Ziploc bag weighing three-fourths of a pound.

Sure, achieving that feat had meant saving used dental floss, persuading grocers to fill her own reusable containers with deli meat and cheese, and maintaining...

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Aviv Grill '02

Miso Media wants to revolutionize music education.

Co-founded by Chief Executive Officer Aviv Grill ’02, Creative Director Joselle Ho ’00 (who is married to Grill) and Chief Technical Officer Ryan Tsukamoto (‘Iolani ’05), the 4-year-old Venice Calif.-based company was hot from the start with an iPad app that uses note detection to teach ‘ukulele, guitar and banjo...

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William G. Ouchi '61

William G. Ouchi ’61 is living on the cutting edge. The internationally renowned business professor, researcher and author has taken on a new role at the University of California-Los Angeles, spearheading the creation of a nonprofit subsidiary that will manage all the school’s intellectual propert

The goal is to boost UCLA’s entrepreneurial zeal by refining the technology-transfer processes...

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Lenny Yajima '79 Andrew

Lenny Yajima ’79 Andrew had been running the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i for nearly five years when she decided it was time to focus on a historical project even closer to home.

Lauded for bringing more visibility to the Mo‘ili‘ili center by expanding educational and community outreach programs and advancing efforts to preserve World War II internment sites...

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