Barton's Blog

You may have missed it, but a couple of weeks ago eBay founder and chairman Pierre Omidyar was elected to Punahou School's board of directors.  I didnt know Pierre at school but it sounds like the 8th and 9th grade years he spent there made a big impression on him.   On the board he joins another high tech superstar Steve Case, also a former Punahou student (and who lived down the street from me on Hunakai when I was little; we also went to the same college -- I have obviously done more with my life than he has).

Punahou is actually a pretty special place.  It is a private, co-educational school that was founded in 1841 by Yale missionaries and goes from Kindergarten to 12th grade.  Its on a beautiful 76 acres right at the beginning of the lush Manoa valley and when you are in high school, you get to hang out between classes on the lawn under the palm trees.

Here is a list of some Punahou students you may have heard of:

• Dr. Sun Yat Sen - Father of modern china
• Kelly Preston - Actress
  
• Barack (Barry) Obama - Senator from Illinois and candidate for president 
• Steve Case - Former Chairman of AOL-Time-Warner
• Pierre Omidyar - Founder and Chairman of eBay 
• Michelle Wie - Professional golfer
• Mosi Tatupu - NFL running back
• Barton George - Author of this blog :)
  

And what blog about Punahou would be complete without another gratuitous yearbook  picture of Barack (Barry) Obama from 1973.  I have no idea why he appeared in two different pictures within the same classroom, you usually only got to be in one.  His future potential must have shown through even then.

Barack Obama in '73...Nothing quite says the 70's like placards with Zodiac signs.
 

Pau for now...