ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY held its third annual Athletic Banquet on April 28, 2019 at the Kroc Center Hawaiʻi in Kapolei. The yearly banquet recognizes all student athletes in grades 7-12 for their participation and athletic achievements during the 2018-2019 school year. Nearly 350 student athletes and their immediate families turned out for the event, which included a buffet dinner, certificate presentations, and prize give-aways.
IPA Director of Athletics, Greg Terhune, hosted the evening’s program and kept things lively and fun with entertaining anecdotes and raffle prizes interspersed with the certificate presentations. All 145 athletes from the Fall, Winter, and Spring sports were called up individually to the stage to receive their recognition from their respective coaches.
As with previous years, the raffle prizes were a big hit with the students. Each student athlete was given entry to the raffle prize drawing, with a chance to win one of the many great prizes including Bluetooth speakers, wireless headphones, an Amazon Fire Stick, a surfboard from Surfboard Factory Hawaiʻi, a classic Atari game console, and gift certificates from Coral Crater, Dolphin Quest, and Ka Makana Ali’i. A couple of lucky parents even got a chance to take something home this year through the parents’ raffle.
The highlight of the night was a special appearance by UFC mixed martial artist, Yancy Medeiros, who is also an IPA parent to Kaya Gabriele-Medeiros ’24. Medeiros shared some inspiring words with the student athletes about growing up on the West side, the importance of commitment and work ethic, and the necessity of stepping outside your comfort zone in order to grow and move forward – in sports, and in life. He was also gracious enough to pose with the long line of students (and parents) excited to get a photo with the UFC welterweight fighter.
“It was such a fun evening for everyone. Recognizing the student athletes for their hard work, accomplishments, and commitment to IPA is always special,” said Terhune. “Having Yancy here to talk to the athletes and families just made the entire evening better.”
Special thanks to the Kroc Center Hawaiʻi and their banquet staff for hosting a beautiful event, Hawaiʻi Surfboard Factory, Dolphin Quest Oʻahu, Target, Coral Crater, BSN Sports, and an anonymous parent for their donations of prizes. Thank you to Yancy Medeiros for bringing your aloha spirit to our families, and a special thank you to Lisa Dalida for her amazing craft work on the centerpieces.
Each student athlete received a special certificate of participation, letter, and pin for their sport at the end of the banquet. Some of the athletes and coaches who earned special recognition this year were:
- Girls’ Varsity Volleyball team – ILH Division III Champions
- Boys’ Intermediate Basketball team – ILH Division III Champions
- Kira Merl (’19) – Spectrum OC 16 Impact Player of the Match, September 20
- Stan Vincent (Coach) – Girls’ Volleyball, ILH Division III Coach of the Year
- Kristin Chun (’22, Bowling) – HHSAA Bowling Representative
- Denton Chun (Coach) – KSSK Coach of the Week, September 17-23
- Luke Garcia (’21, Football) – HHSAA Football Representative (PAC-5)
- Chad Schmidt (’22, Football) – HHSAA Football Representative (PAC-5)
- Corbin Lofton (’20, Swimming) – HHSAA Swimming Representative; Hawai’i State Runner-Up (100 fly); ILH Swimming Second Team
- Caysee Aki (’21, Basketball) – ILH Division III Girls’ First Team
- Sydni Manuel (’19, Soccer) – HHSAA Soccer Representative (PAC-5)
- Steven Cleveland, Jr. (’19, Volleyball) –ILH Division III Boys’ Volleyball MVP
- Breana Higa-Alexander (’21, Track & Field) – HHSAA Track & Field Representative
