Punahou School

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Punahou School
Seal of Punahou School
Established

1841
School Type

Private Preparatory Day (Primary and Secondary)
Students

3,700 approx. Coeducational
Grades

K–12
Name

Punahou School
Address

1601 Punahou Street
Town

Honolulu, Hawaiʻi 96822
Community

Urban
Religion

non-sectarian
Accreditation

Western Association of Schools and Colleges
District

None
Subdistrict

None
Nickname

"Puns" or "Buff 'n Blue"
Mascot

None
Colors

Buff and Blue
Motto

---
Military

United States Army JROTC
Literary Magazine

Ka Wai ʻOla
Newspaper

Ka Punahou
Yearbook
  • The Oahuan (9-12)
  • Na ʻOpio (K-8)
Variety News Magazine (TV)

Punavision
President

Dr. James Kapaeʻalii Scott '70
Distinctions

It is one of the largest independent schools in the United States. The oldest preparatory school west of the Mississippi River.
Website

Link
Email

Link
The school was originally called Oahu College, and the main gate at the corner of Wilder and Punahou Street reflects this.
The school was originally called Oahu College, and the main gate at the corner of Wilder and Punahou Street reflects this.

Punahou School, formerly known as Oahu College, is an exclusive[1] private, co-educational, non-sectarian college preparatory school located in Honolulu in the U.S. State of Hawaiʻi. With a student body that averages 3,700 students annually in kindergarten through the twelfth grade, Punahou School is the largest independent school in the United States. The student body is diverse, mixing the offspring of multimillionaires with children of middle-class parents, and scholarships are often awarded to financially-disadvantaged youth. Furthermore, its sports program was recently ranked by Sports Illustrated as the fourth best in the country.[1]

Founded in 1841, Punahou School was originally a school for the children of Congregational missionaries serving throughout the Pacific region. It was known as Oahu College from 1859 to 1934.

The land on which Punahou School sits (colloquially known as Ka Punahou) was given as a gift from Oahu's Governor Boki and his wife, Liliha (as suggested by Queen Kaʻahumanu) to the Rev. Hiram Bingham, the first Christian missionary in Hawaiʻi. The first class was held on July 11, 1842 and consisted of only fifteen students. The school is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Along with academics and athletics, Punahou also offers visual and performing arts programs. Students have access to a jewelry studio, photography darkroom, and glass-blowing facilities. The Punahou marching band marches in the Rose Bowl Parade once every four years, and the student yearbook, The Oahuan, has won national awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the American Press Association, including the first Columbia Gold to be awarded in the State for the 2002 Oahuan.

Many traditional events take place on the campus. On the first Friday and Saturday of each February, the campus hosts the annual Punahou School Carnival, whose proceeds benefit the Financial Aid program. The campus also hosts the Alumni Luau Weekend, where alumni from all over come together. The new graduates are invited as well.

However, with tuition set at about $14,725 a year per student, it is still not enough to cover the entire cost of the education of a student. This "deficit" is covered by the school's endowment.

The 115801 Punahou is an asteroid named in the school's honor.

Contents

[edit] Buildings and grounds

Punahou is situated on 76 acres at the mouth of Mānoa Valley. At the heart of the campus is the Lily Pond, or Ka Punahou and the Thurston Chapel. The buildings on campus range from the historic to the cutting edge. The campus is divided into the Junior School (grades K-8) and the Academy (grades 9-12). The buildings are listed below.

  • Alexander Hall — Alexander's bottom floor holds the offices of the High School Deans, with the second floor dedicated to classroom space and the college counseling department.
  • Bingham Hall — Currently houses most of the math department.
  • Bishop Hall — Library for grades K–8; Houses language and music. The third floor of Bishop also houses various art classes for Academy students grades 9 - 12. Choir and guitar classes also take place in Bishop for Academy students.
  • Case Middle School — Intermediate school for grades 6-8 completed in 2005. See below.
  • Castle Hall — Houses 5th grade classrooms and art rooms.
  • Cooke Hall — Built in 1908, Cooke Hall originally served as the school's library. Today, it houses faculty and administrative offices. Three classrooms and a workroom are located in the basement.
  • Cooke Library — Today, it houses a large collection of books as well as Punahou School's archive. The Lum Hawaiʻiana Room has an extensive collection of Hawaiʻian related materials. The basement also contains a computer lab, Communications, Information Technology and Instructional Television departments as well as two large specialized art instruction rooms.
  • Dilingham Hall — Completed in 1929. Renovated in 1994 with new, state of the art lighting. Houses the drama department. Attached is a workshop where many of the prompts are built for the various plays put on by the school. One of the more memorable acts was "Les Miserables." The basement houses locker rooms and several acting/performing classrooms. The annual carnival Variety Show put on by the graduating seniors is performed here.
  • Dr. Richard T. and Hazel M. Mamiya Science Center — Completed in January 1999. Houses sciences labs, math and science faculty offices, and the Gates Science Workshop for experiential learning by K–12 students. Cornuelle Lecture Hall is also located in this facility.
  • Griffiths Hall — Contains almost all the Social Studies and Language classrooms.
  • Hemmeter Fieldhouse — Contains locker rooms, several indoor basketball/volleyball courts, racketball courts, wrestling and gymnastics rooms, ROTC office and classroom, the outdoor Waterhouse Olympic-sized swimming pool, the school's health room, and athletics offices. The athletic offices are reached by a long corridor decorated by the myriad of sporting victories achieved over the years by school's teams. Just north of the building is the Atherton Track, an eight lane, rubberized Olympic-sized track surrounding a football field. The school's annual May Day Holoku Pageant and Junior School band, orchestra, and choir concerts are conducted inside the Fieldhouse.
  • Luke Center for Public Service — Located next to the Thurston Memorial Chapel and overlooking the Lily Pond, the Luke Center for Public Service coordinates and plans public service projects.
  • Montague Hall — Houses the orchestra department. Not only is it home to curricular music programs like the orchestra, but it also houses a fully-functioning music school for students in and out of the School. In addition to Montague, there are two band rooms in the upper part of the school—the Junior School bandroom, and the Academy bandroom. Both bandrooms are situated near to the track and field, where the marching band practices.
  • Old School Hall — The oldest building standing on campus, completed in 1851. It was built out of coral bricks at a cost of $6,000, and is still in use today for office space and English classes.
  • Pauahi Hall — Completed in 1894. Today, it houses English and Social Studies classes, as well as offices for student publications such as Ka Punahou (the school newspaper) and the award winning all volunteer Oahuan (the yearbook). Its basement also houses a darkroom for black and white photography as well as three classrooms. Pauahi is topped with an emblematic buff and blue dome that appears in many photographs of the school. In the past, the dome was the center of a rivalry between Punahou and nearby Roosevelt High School, whose students would repaint it in their school's colors. That ended and the "Paintbrush Trophy" was created.
  • Thurston Memorial Chapel — Designed by Vladimir Ossipoff with door panels created by Jean Charlot. Completed in 1967. Situated over the lily pond, the chapel is often used during school hours for various activities including once a cycle mandatory chapel. The chapel is also available for weddings and groups such as Troop 1 of the local Boy Scouts.
  • Wo International Center — Completed in May 1993. Houses a large lecture hall, and several small second floor classrooms in addition to offices.
  • Winne Units — Elementary school classrooms. According to Jim Scott, the president of Punahou, the Winne Units will partially be torn down and grades 1 and 2 will be moved to Wilcox. In the near future, the Winne Units will be completely restored by new classroom, although detailed plans may not have been planned yet. Complementing the classrooms is the Barwick playground.
  • Wilcox — Kindergarten classrooms, five total along with two playgrounds.
Pauahi Hall, completed in 1894 still stands today. Not shown in this picture is the iconic two-colored (blue and yellow) dome.
Pauahi Hall, completed in 1894 still stands today. Not shown in this picture is the iconic two-colored (blue and yellow) dome.

[edit] Case Middle School

Because of his love for this school, America Online founder and Punahou School graduate of 1976 Steve Case donated ten million dollars. This led to construction of a new middle school for grades six through eight[citation needed]. The Case Middle School was actually named in honor of Steve Case's parents[citation needed].

Some time into the project, the school heard and learned about LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The school then hired a design consultant for sustainability and found out that they could earn the LEED Gold certification. At the time, few projects anywhere had earned this rating.[citation needed]

Different methods were used in addressing issues of sustainability within the building. Installed sensors shut off air conditioners if windows are opened to let in the breeze; the buildings are situated to take full use of the tradewinds, with the help of the Venturi effect. There are also sensors in place that turn the lights on or off depending on whether motion is detected, and dim the lights on sunny days or brighten them on overcast or cloudy ones. More efficient fluorescent lamps are used, saving 75% of the energy and lasting 13 times as long as incandescent ones.

Air conditioning for the buildings is provided by three ice-making plants, one for each grade level's section. The units freeze and accumulate ice at night when electricity is cheaper, and allow the ice to melt during the day to cool the air.

The whole school cost more than $60 million USD and was made possible solely through donations[citation needed]. The new middle school opened on January 4, 2005, although the sixth graders had been using their buildings since the beginning of the 2004–2005 school year.

Case Middle School consists of nine color-coded buildings—green for sixth grade, blue for seventh, and red for eighth—on the lower east side of Punahou campus.

One of the nine new Case Middle School buildings on the Punahou Campus.
One of the nine new Case Middle School buildings on the Punahou Campus.

[edit] Athletics

The Punahou athletics program is the most successful in the state and one of the most successful in the nation, having won more state championships (322) than any other high school in the nation.[2] In 2005, it was named the #4 U.S. high school athletics program by Sports Illustrated.[3] Athletic facilities include the heated Waterhouse, holding an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and the Atherton Olympic size 8-lane Mondo track surface. The school also has a fieldhouse for competitive athletics, a gymnasium for physical education and intramural sports, and a tennis center with 9 hard surface courts.[2].

Punahou students have the opportunity to compete in 22 sports, including air riflery, baseball, basketball. bowling, canoe paddling, cross country, cheerleading, football, golf, gymnastics, judo, kayaking, riflery, sailing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, and wrestling. Overall, Punahou has approximately 120 sports teams in all. The school is a member of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.

Punahou also has a tradition of sending athletes to the Olympic Games. Punahou has had Olympians in the following sports:

Athletics (Track and Field)

  • Duncan Macdonald (1976) — girls' track coach
  • Henry Marsh (1976, 1980 — U.S. boycott, 1984, 1988

Beach Volleyball

  • Stein Metzger (2004)
  • Kevin Wong (2000)

Diving

  • Keala (Rachel) O'Sullivan (1968)

Equestrian

Kayaking

  • Andrew Bussey (2004)
  • Kathy Colin (2000, 2004)

Sailing

  • David Rockwell McFaull (1976)
  • Michael John Rothwell (1976)

Swimming

  • Brent Thales Berk (1968)
  • Buster Crabbe (1928, 1932)
  • Mariechen Wehselau Jackson (1924)
  • Warren Paoa Kealoha (1920, 1924)
  • Pokey Watson Richardson (1964, 1968) — wife of Trustee Allen Richardson
  • Allen McIntyre Stack (1948)
  • Christopher W.T. Woo (1976)

Volleyball

  • Lindsay Berg (2004)
  • Mike Lambert (1996, 2000)
  • Miki Briggs McFadden (1968)
  • Dodge Parker (1968)
  • Barbara Perry (1968) — physical education teacher
  • Sharon Peterson (1964, 1968) — girls' volleyball coach

Water polo

  • Aaron Chaney (2004) — official
  • Brandon Brooks (2004)
  • Chris Duplanty (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 — women's assistant coach)
  • Sean Kern (2000)

[edit] Other notable alumni and students

[edit] Notable faculty and staff

  • Nick Bozanic — English teacher, published poet and winner of the 1989 Anhinga Prize for Poetry.
  • David McCullough, Jr. — former English teacher, son of noted historian David McCullough
  • Susan Tolman Mills — former principal, founder of Mills College
  • Siegfried Ramler — interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials
  • Joe Tsujimoto — English teacher, published poet and author of several English education guides

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ From Obama's past: An Old Classmate, A Surprising Call, Wall Street Journal, Vol. CCXLIX, No. 68, March 23, 2007, p.1
  2. ^ http://www.punahou.edu/page.cfm?p=181 Punahou Athletic Facilities
  3. ^ Sun Yat-sen's Christian Schooling in Hawai`i Irma Tam Soong. The Hawaiian Journal of History 31 (1997): 151-178.
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