New GILA assistant principal ready to coach basketball

New GILA assistant principal David Huntington, at left, is shown here with a 68-pound ulua, a Hawaiian sports fish.

Photo courtesy David Huntington

New GILA assistant principal David Huntington, at left, is shown here with a 68-pound ulua, a Hawaiian sports fish.

By WASSILLIE GUST, staff writer

The new assistant principal for the GILA campus, David Huntington, is looking forward to the challenges involving the transition from warm Hawaii temperatures to bone-chilling Alaska winters.

David Huntington – not one of the Huntingtons from in and around Galena – grew up and lived in northern Michigan. He said in an email that he is familiar with the long, cold winters but he is sure that the winters here are longer and even colder. Even though he knows this, Mr. Huntington is looking forward to “gearing up and enjoying the changing seasons, outdoor activities that Galena has to offer and taking in the community events that occur in Galena.”

When he was the coach of the Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s Ka Makani varsity basketball team, they won the state championship in 2014. The word Ka Makani is the Hawaiian word for “the wind.”

He says that this adjustment will be of a challenge for his wife, Sala, who was born in Savaii, an island in the South Pacific nation of Western Samoa. She has lived in Hawaii for 25 years and has never lived in a cold environment. “She is excited but nervous,” wrote Mr. Huntington.

Mr. Huntington is planning to become a coach for basketball. He applied for the junior high coaching position in the fall and plans to do the same for the high school in winter. He has been coaching at the varsity level for 15 years. He played basketball in college. He loves basketball and looks forward to playing ball with the ballers.

Mr. Huntington takes great pride in his education, relationships he’s built, success he’s had in coaching and working with students, and all of the adventures that he had the opportunity to take part in. He is very much open to all kinds of foods. “I have found food is one of the best ways to experience new cultures,” he wrote.

He is eager to meet the students in Galena. Where he currently works at the Hawaii Preparatory Academy, there are students from all over the world who come from many different cultures. Where ever they are from, the students are respectful, appreciative of the work the staff do and are willing to work hard to exceed.

He expects the students here in Galena to have the share the same characteristics with those he has worked with throughout his career. He is anticipating to see the neat things students are doing in the classrooms and in vocational training courses.