KAUAI NEWS January 16, 2004 - 12:31 P.M. - Front Page Story

By TGI STAFF - Posted: Wednesday, Jan 14, 2004 - 04:10:28 am HST

Kula Elementary School student wins free trip to Japan in the island-wide Heart Expo Peace Essay contest.

In today's chaotic and hectic world, it pays to encourage young people to think about peace, and think about ways to entice others to work for peace, says Daisy Lee-Garripoli, President of the non-profit Kahuna Valley organization.

Ian Clarke, center front holding his winning essay and certificate, won a trip to Japan in an essay contest that is part of the Kahuna Valley's Kauai Peace Project initiative. Standing behind him are, from left, Daisy-Lee Garripoli and Ronda Wilson of contest sponsor Kahuna Valley; brother Colin; parents Miriam and Jon Clarke; Kula Elementary School Principal Adah Askew; and teacher Christine Bandsma.

For Ian Clarke, a student at Kula Elementary School and the son of Miriam and Jon Clarke of the North Shore, thinking about peace led him to create an essay that won him an all-expenses-paid trip to Japan.

He and his mother will go to Shikoku Island next month for Heart Expo, an international peace conference.

Lee-Garripoli, whose nonprofit Kahuna Valley organization sponsored the essay contest and are well into planning for the Kaua'i Peace Project gala event to be held at the Marriott Beach Resort, November 19-21, will go with the Clarkes.

"Peace from the Inside Out" was the theme of the contest, encouraging young people to think about and write about how to find peace inside themselves, and ways to spread it to other people, she said.

"This young boy has come up with ideas to spread peace. He had it in him to enter the contest and involve his family, friends and teachers," she said.

At yesterday's student assembly at the Kilauea school which recently lost its first-grade building to an electrical fire, Ian Clarke read his winning essay in front of the school's students, faculty, staff, parents, and brother Colin Clarke.

Just from the looks on the faces of the rest of his family, Lee-Garripoli and others gathered could tell that the parents and brother are "so totally supportive," and have "love and compassion" for Ian Clarke, she said.

When Ian Clarke goes to Japan early next month, he will be an ambassador of peace from Kaua'i, and will perform a Hawaiian chant and play 'ukulele for the thousands of people expected to gather for the peace event.

In addition to event creator, Buddhist Monk Gayuna Cealo, Japanese dignitaries and a Cambodian princess, also in attendance will be children from many other countries, including war-torn Cambodia, Lee-Garripoli said.

Ian Clarke will get the chance to experience another culture, and share encounters with other children from around the world, she said.

Lee-Garripoli said many strong essays were submitted for the contest.

Many other Kaua'i events are or will be scheduled leading up to the November Kaua'i Peace Project gala event, she noted.

Ian Clarke, a student at Kula Elementary School, right, reads his winning Heart Expo essay, as Daisy Lee-Garripoli (left) and Ronda Wilson, representing Kahuna Valley, the sponsors of the essay contest, listen.