Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 6, 1 June 1988 — Player of Year Keeps Very Tight Schedule [ARTICLE]

Player of Year Keeps Very Tight Schedule

"I'm still waiting for the mail," replied Hawai'i basketball Player of the Year Jarinn Akana when asked if he had received any athletic scholarship offer from the one school he wants to attend — Brigham Young University of Provo, Utah. "If nothing comes, then I'll go to BYU Hawaii in Laie," said Akana who emphasized he waUts to stay in a church school. Akana on May 10 did sign a letter of intent to attend the BYU Hawaii Campus. At Laie, it will only be for one year because he wants to complete his two-year mission with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) before resuming his college education. Akana, who recently turned 18, indicated he may be interested in a law career. He was one of six Moloka'i students who participated in a Close Up social studies program in Washington, D.C., Apr. 9-16. The students saw how government really works in the nation's capitol and Hawaii's congressional delegation readily recognized young Akana. T o prepare for his mission, Akana has been getting up at 5 a.m. every day for the last four years to attend seminary classes at 6:30 a.m. "He never misses seminary no matter where he is," said Niek Akana, his father. Seminary, school work, scouting and practice sessions make for a tired young man. Akana, however, has endured and he tries to be in bed by 10 p.m. When he has free time he ean be found in the gym shooting baskets. Young Akana said the basketball season was a little rough on his studies but he wasn't too worried about it because he was confident he would be over the 3.0 point grade average eome graduation. Akana is the fourth child of eight boys and two girls. In 1987 the eeonomie cost of cardiovascular disease will total $85.2 hillion, the American Heart Association estimates. This figure includes physician and nursing charges, hospital and nursing home costs, medications and lost oeeupahonal output as a result of disability.