White began swimming competitively at the age of 11 when his mom decided he needed to do something productive with his time, so she signed him up for the Kailua Swim Team.  “ I really didn’t want to swim at first; my mom had to force me to go to every practice.  I stuck with it for a few months, and my coaches all agreed I had a lot of potential,” said senior White.  He sure did; Ian has been breaking records throughout his high school swimming career. White’s freshmen year he broke two Hawaii swimming records and made it all the way to sectionals in Washington, which was his first taste of national competition. White measured up fairly well against the national competition on the mainland and, in fact, even won some events.  “Hard work, perseverance, and a commitment to any sport will pay off in the end, I promise,” said senior White.

White is currently being heavily recruited, in large part, due to the many accolades he has received throughout his swimming career.  Schools such as Linfield, Bakersfield, La Verne, and the University of Hawaii are all showing special interest in him. “Personally I want Ian to swim at Linfield, I think it would be a good fit for him,” said Brandi Halemano, who is a freshman on Linfield’s Women’s Swim Team.

“I had heard Ian was a gifted swimmer, but I never knew he was nearly as accomplished as he is,” said senior Matt Kuriyama.  Many of White’s Le Jardin classmates don’t know much about his swimming career because he is humble and soft spoken.  White is in the midst of demonstrating exactly where hard work, determination, dedication and athletic ability can take a talented high school athlete.

So far the Bulldogs have played six league games and are having an up and down season. They have won three and lost three.  The Bulldogs have been on a small break and are working hard to get some more wins. “Sorry to disappoint the fans.  We are prepared to win the rest of our games,” said senior Frankie Montalvo.

On Friday, Jan 6 the Bulldogs had a nail biting game against Punahou that had the crowd on their feet. The game went back and forth all 32 minutes before the Bulldogs went on a streak in the last minutes of the fourth quarter. Freshman Alec Macleod hit the biggest layup of his entire life sending the game into overtime. The Bulldogs then outmatched Punahou winning the game 55-52. McWhinnie had 21 points coming up huge for the bulldogs. “I thought that we shouldn’t have gone into overtime but I am glad that we won,” said McWhinnie.

The bulldogs have six games remaining in their season, five of which are at home. Our home support has been lacking with a small crowd of LJA students watching games. Luke Shimmon has been a dedicated fan and attends every home game.  He wants to encourage more support for the team.  “Everyone come out to the games and support the team,” said Shimmon.  Let’s show some school spirit and support our bulldogs!

John Penington, LJA’s technology teacher, has claimed the P1 classroom. Students walking by may notice large furry creatures and odd objects around his classroom. Mr. Pennington is originally from New Jersey, and has spent a lot of time in South and Central America. This past summer he visited Argentina and is promoting an international exchange program. Penington also participates in Brazilian Jujitsu which is why he had a black eye the first week of school. Mr. Penington may be seen to assist to help with all technological needs.
Mrs. Andrea Tam is the lower school’s new art teacher, and she also teaches some of the freshmen class in art. Mrs. Tam is now in Mrs. Manso’s old classroom. She came from an IB school, and has taught D.P art for many years. This past summer Mrs. Tam got married.
Mrs. Grace Bell is the new dance and performing art teacher at Le Jardin Academy. Mrs. McNeil said “She can sing, dance, act, she can do it all.” Mrs. Bell was previously teaching at Iolani, and worked at the Hawaii theater. She mainly focuses on teaching dance and some drama classes. Mrs. Bell said “There are two necessities in this world, chocolate and shoes.” Mrs. Bell currently participates in choreographing plays and at the moment she is working on “Jive Bomber’s Christmas” at the Kumu Kahua Theater.
The Le Jardin Community gained an abundance of new teachers in the high school this year. They all have interesting hobbies and histories so feel free to pay them a visit and welcome them into the LJA ohana.

They kept a substantial lead throughout the entire first set of the match, ending with a 25 – 7 score.  Their energy level was so high that the entire crowd was out of their seats by the start of the second set.  The second set proved the strength of the lady bulldogs.  They kept their intensity up throughout the entire set and ended the game with an impressive 25 – 7 score to take set 2.  They dominated Saint Andrews Priory in two sets to take the match.  “They were good, we were just that much better,” said senior Samantha Gabrelcik.  The varsity volleyball team has put a lot of preparation into their off season and it showed through their play on Friday.  “They’re okay, the games are fun, but they interfere with my homework hours,” said senior Logan Fornes.  The games are all primarily during 6 or 7 so it’s understandable how it couldn’t interfere with homework schedule. “We played really well as a team and we were lucky enough to come out with the W,” said senior Kea-Marie Olaso.

On Oct. 4, our Lady Bulldogs played in their senior night game and it was extremely successful.  They took the first set and battled to take the second, there was fantastic school support there as well.  The Lady Bulldogs are currently 5 and 3 in the regular season.  Come out and support them in the playoffs coming up!

Webb said “The students are lucky, there is not much of a dress code at all. It remains the decision that students can make their dress themselves, with some minor setbacks.” For the most part, students at Le Jardin may choose what to wear. Both genders get to wear collared shirts, polo’s, any type of jacket, and shorts below the knees.

Whether the dress code is a simple t-shirt, or a fully fledged uniform, dress code in private schools is required. Unfortunately for the administration, now they get to hear students complaining about the t-shirts. Vice Principle, Ms. Doe said “In the world we live in, we do have professional dress code, for most professions. In reality there are certain standards, whether its dress code or not.”

Dress code at Le Jardin has always spurred a controversy. Some will always complain no matter what the dress code is. To some, having a dress code means nothing in the least.  Wherever we may end up in life, chances are your job will have required attire. In the real world, dress code is just something you have to get used to.

There are many opinions as to the origin of Valentine’s Day. Some experts state that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up his religion of Christianity. He died on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries, which are now known as Valentines. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for a jailer’s daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it “From Your Valentine”. Other aspects of the story say that Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Claudius then had Valentine jailed for defying him.

There are many different opinions of where Valentine’s Day comes from but we all celebrate it for the same reason.  Couples and even the best of friends come together as an action of love and caring for one another to celebrate this day.  It’s a day to celebrate the love around you no matter if you have a significant other or not.  So today’s the day to enjoy those chocolate candies, and even  guess who your Valentine may be!

Rumors Club even turned out to be a lot bigger than Oceans 808, the venue where Le Jardin held their Homecoming dance in last fall. There were friendlier waiters, more drinks, more places to sit and an even bigger dance floor with even better music!  Says Katie Farden, “I definitely liked Rumors better than Oceans, especially because of the size. Everyone was more into dancing and just having a good time. I mean, everyone was having a good time at Oceans, too, but there was something different about Rumors. People were just having an all around good time and having a senior/junior section up stairs made it even better!” The dance was an overall success.

In reality, the art room is not far; it is just down the hill and to the left. It’s pretty obvious which one is the art room, since it has a patio full of wild projects. The classroom is a kaliadascope of colors and drawings; like a skittles rainbow exploded into a masterpiece of talent.

Art is an important aspect in many LJA students’ lives. Students are always in there madly creating and getting one step closer to their dream. They are inspired by different things, but they are all working towards something similar – to become the world’s next biggest artist.

Everyone strives to do art for different reasons. Tori Wilcox, a senior, wants to become a fashion artist. You may have noticed some of her dress designs outside the art room. What motivates her to this?  Tori explains, “My great grandma is an artist and she inspired me to do art.” Tori also agrees that the students and faculty of LJA are not as informed as they should be on the arts. “No one knows how much people work and how much effort is put into art, and people should know.”

I mean, come on, don’t you want to know who made a body cast with a tree coming out of it? Well that’s Jacob Blau, another senior artist who is inspired by experimenting. “During the summer I was experimenting with different ideas, and I wanted to explore different types of art other than those I’m used to. So I wanted to explore the field of accessory design. But I still wanted to have my edgy and couture style embedded into it. So when I decided on making a ring I knew I wouldn’t make a ring you would wear every day, and that’s how I stumbled upon the idea to make a bird cage ring.”

Ms. Devitt says, “The student population at Le Jardin Academy is very creative and it’s not just the visual arts, but it is also the singing and drama.” Pay attention, listen close, and open your eyes because these people, your fellow classmates, may be famous one day and you’ll regret not knowing and seeing the progression of their art when you had the chance.

It is under the opinion of those interviewed that they like this new schedule and prefer it to the eight-classes-a-day schedule which was in effect last year.  When asked if a student got bored during class the answer was surprisingly a “no”. They explained that this phenomena is probably due to the fact that they don’t have every class a day, thus they only have to see the work and/or teacher every once every other day.  Overall, these new schedules are looking promising.

While people like these schedules, there are some gray areas that people would like fixed. Everyone interviewed stated that the J.A.R.D.I.N way of naming the day is unnecessarily confusing, they would prefer to have it A-F or 1-6 so that it is easier to remember. Also, because of the constantly changing days of the week, students like Eric Kroll and Angeleen Pedersen say that it is hard to plan afterschool activities such as work. However, Junior Natasha Gourlay counters that, “This will increase student and teacher time management skills.”

When asked about the course load at LJA, Eric Kroll responded by explaining his wish for “weightlifting, tech (that’s not for freshmen), graphic design and all together more electives”.  In comparison, teachers like Mrs. Trout wishes that there were a required Speech and Debate class to be taken at the school.

Surprisingly this new thing has received mostly complements from the students and faculty. Despite minor snafus with the new schedule it seems to be a success among the student and faculty body.