Kealakehe High School

Kealakehe High School is a public high school located in Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i. It is the largest geographic school district in the state and covers a geographic district 40 miles wide, encompassing the communities of Kailua-Kona, Holualoa, Waikoloa, and Puako. This is a newest public high school serving the Kona district residents, along with Konawaena High School. Their school motto is "Harmony and unity through dynamic education and community for everyone, every time."

History

The high school established its 9th grade class first in 1997. Each year the subsequent grades were added to accommodate their first graduating class in 2001.

The school was built on 50 acres of land on the Kealakehe “ahupua’a”. There is also Kealakehe Intermediate School and Kealakehe Elementry School built on this "ahupua'a".

Kealakehe High School's history has been lead entirely by Principal. Mr. Wilfred Murakami.

The school mascot is the Waverider.The school colors are blue and silver.The school website is waveriders.k12.hi.us

Alumni

*Jesse Mahelona, defensive tackel for the Atlanta Falcons

Notable Achievements

*The Milken Family Foundation awarded math teacher Ms. Yanabah Lewis a 2007 $25,000 Milken Award.

Extracurricular Activities

ports

A wide variety of sports is offered at Kealakehe, including baseball, basketball. bowling, canoe paddling, cross country, cheerleading, football, golf, judo, riflery, sailing, soccer, softball, swimming tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, wrestling, and many other various sports, all of which, compete under the Big Island Interscholastic Federation (BIIF). In order to play sports, there is a requirement of a minimum 2.0 GPA, a passing grade in all core classes, and must be passing citizenship class.

Academic Programs

*Ocean Bowl - 1st place in 2007 and 2nd in 2008; [ [http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/SOEST_News/News/NOSB/ - Aloha Bowl, Hawaii Ocean Science Bowl] ]
*Science Bowl - 2nd place in 2008 (states) [ [http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2008/01/29/local/local01.txt - West Hawaii Today - Science Bowl Team Places Second] ]
*Science Fair - Kealakehe took winning places 1-5 (2008 district); 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (2007 district); and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th (2006 district).
*Academic Decathlon - 3rd in the state two years in a row
*Math League
*National Honor Society

AP Courses

In the 2007-08 school year, the AP classes Kealakehe High School offers were AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC (independent study), AP Environmental Science, AP Physics B, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Composition, AP U.S. History and AP Literature.

Interact Club

Working with close affiliations to the Rotary Club, the Kealakehe Interact Club has been the top Interact Club in the State of Hawaii for the past 6 years (2003-2008). Every year, at least 100 people from the school signs up, and the top 30 active members are rewarded with Interact Camp, where they go to Kolopa State Park. In 2008-2009 the president of Interact was Conrad Sanborn.

Relay For Life

In February 2008, Kealakehe High School raised over $15,000. [ [http://waveriders.k12.hi.us/Galleries/relayforlifeslideshow2008/index.htm - Relay For Life Gallery at Kealakehe] ]

Graphic Design

Kealakehe High School received 8 awards at the recent 2008 HTEA Fair held in Honolulu's Blaisdell Center for their graphic arts and designs. [ [http://waveriders.k12.hi.us/WaveRider%20Designs/Photos.html - HTEA Fair Photo Gallery for Kealakehe] ]

Citizenship Program

Kealakehe High School offers one of the highest level of citizenship programs in the nation. Every morning for 23 or 30 minutes (depending on the day), all students attend their mandatory Citizenship class, which similar to a Homeroom class, where they watch their Morning Broadcast program. The Morning Broadcast program is a morning class where students relay news to everyone else in the school. After the broadcast, teachers may come on and give assignments for the entire school to do (regardless of grade level). Citizenship class is worth .25 credits every year for Social Studies, which is the equivalent of 1 credit (1 year) of social studies at the end of a four-year high school period.

Graduation Requirements

The graduation requirements for the Class of 2009 is 22 credits: 4 Social Studies credits; including Modern Hawaiian History, World History, and United States History; 4 English credits; 3 Math credits, 3 Science credits, .5 Health credits; .5 Career and Life Planning credits; and 1 Physical Education credit. Passing all 4 years of citizenship (equivalent to 1 year of social studies or elective credit) is required in order to walk the link at graduation. A passing grade in citizenship is currently 85%. A student not passing citizenship can make up their year grade if they are in the 80-84% range. [ [http://waveriders.k12.hi.us/Policies/CitizenshipMakeupPolicy.htm - Kealakehe Citizenship] ]

=Alma Mater [ [http://www.tropicalstormhawaii.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?pid=song&song=lj/kealakehe_high_school_alma_mater.txt - Kealakehe - Alma Mater] ] =

In the shadow of the rising sun on Mount Hualalai,

Majestically she stands above Honokohau our strength and might.

Our memories we'll cherish,

Our future we'll prepare,

Kealakehe, your name we proudly bear.

She is our beacon to light our winding path,

We ride the wave of the future as we look upon our past.

We are strong! Kealakehe!

We are proud! Kealakehe!

Let us raise our anthem loud,

Kealakehe Hail! All Hail!

References

External links

* [http://waveriders.k12.hi.us/ Kealakehe High School Website]
* [http://www.sportshigh.com/schools/kealakehe_high_school Kealakehe High School Sport Roster]