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MN: All right. Today we're having an interview with Mr. Katsugo Miho. The date is February 16, 2006. This is our third session, and interviewers are Michiko Kodama Nishimoto and Warren Nishimoto. And what we're going to do is just like the last session, where we'll kind of follow up on some things. And we'll start following up by having you go back to the time when you were at Maui High School. And while you were at Maui High School, we're curious about what sorts of subjects you took.

KM: Well, the most important class at that time was core studies, I think it was known as. Instead of one-hour session, I remember core studies were two hours, I think. One of my worst subjects was algebra. One of my best subjects was biology. And other than that, I think I don't recall too much about the different types of classes that I had.

MN: When you look back, what subject or subjects maybe had the greatest impact on your life?

KM: I think it was core studies, because core studies you got involved with all kinds of aspects of school life. Although I did enjoy English literature, my recollection, I did enjoy English literature. To this day, I remember one of the poems, I forgot whose poems it was, but I did used to enjoy reading a lot of different poems back in 1940, 1939.

MN: And when we were coming over, you were telling us that you looked at your old high school annual and you've been thinking about some of the teachers that had an influence on you.

KM: Yes. One, particularly, Miss Stella Jones, who was the advisor to the student government. She was the main advisor to the extracurricular activity of those of us who were involved in the student body. The student body... student body board was separate from the class officers. So each class had a group of class officers, and then you had another set of officers who were members of the student body association where all four classes were represented, and I was the president of the student body government.

MN: And as president of the student body government, what do you remember doing?

KM: Well, it so happened that in my year, my term, those days, we used to have state, territory-wide student leaders conference. And the year that I was the president, we had a state conference in Maui High School. So I had to be, coordinate and be in charge of the... that was in the Christmas season of 1939. I met a lot of people whose friendship I cultivated as a result of meeting them at this student conference. A lot of friends, after high school and after World War II, that the relationship continued. Some names like Warren Higa and Amioka and a whole bunch of them. Mostly from Farrington High School, because the Farrington High School representatives were very active in that student government, my year in the student government, when they came to Maui.

WN: This is Shiro Amioka?

KM: Shiro Amioka, who later became the professor and head of the BOE. I remember from that time on, we were friends.

MN: You know, in these core studies and in your involvement in student government, what was your sense of government as it operated in America or specifically...

KM: You know, now that I think about it, after all these years, it was very interesting. Because even at that level back in 1939, there was this adversary coalition between the neighbor island high schools and Oahu. I don't know what the issue was, but there was an issue which divided the neighbor islands from the city, big-time, mainly from McKinley High School and Farrington High School representatives. But it was a friendly sort of rivalry. It's fun because later on when I became a state legislator, the same thing happened on a political level, on a government level, the neighbor islands versus Honolulu. But it's amazing, the similarity is very amazing.

MN: Having come from Maui, one of the neighbor islands, did you feel any, did you feel any different from the kids who came from Oahu?

KM: I don't know. I didn't feel it that much, but this was the basic, the feeling I think the neighbor island students had was that they were kind of looked down upon by the city slickers, the big town students from McKinley and from Farrington High School. Because they were the dominating high schools, from McKinley and Farrington High School. But my association with them on a personal level was very cordial and I cherished the relationship that was developed during that year.

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