The Boardersʻ Clock

Lahainaluna freshman boarder, Haro Akiyama, woke up to a loud commotion and someone asking “Eh, who get watch – what time now – I think we late.” He and other boarders ran down to the gym floor to look for a clock which read 6:10 before all of them rushed down the hill to clock in for work. They noticed no one else standing around the large time clock and assumed that everyone was at work already. Work usually started at 6AM. At 6 every day,  the boarders would stand in line to put their narrow punch cards into the clock. As they were about to punch in, they read the time clock’s time: 2:30. They were not late and were relieved to relax an extra couple of hours. Akiyama was a freshman in 1944. He graduated in 1948 having been a boarder for four years.

The time clock had only existed for three years when Akiyama had his scare. It's housing was constructed in 1941 by Mr. Herbert Wright, the school's carpentry teacher, and his students. The time clock is located near Hale Pa’i (house of printing) and is below the bus stop at Lahainaluna. In order to get there,  take the side road that branches out from the main road and near the staircase, there will be a shed that contains the time clock along with a plaque. It became a way to keep track of the amount of hours worked by boarders on campus. In the early 20th century, boarders had to work for their room and board daily. The purpose was to teach them responsibility, self-discipline, and good work habits. Boarders would punch in at the clock every morning and every night until the clock broke in 1976. 

Life as Boarder

Former boarder, Richard “Noosh” Nishihara, noted that boarders’ lives revolved around the time clock. According to previous Lahainaluna Boarders’ Handbooks, boarders had to punch in their assigned number slot at the time clock by 6AM and punch out at 7AM before school started on weekdays. After school, boarders had to punch in again after the 2PM bell indicated school was done. They had to work another two more hours until they could go back to their dormitories or attend athletic activities.

Weekends were slightly less rigorous. Boarders were allowed to “sleep in” until 7:30 AM before punching in. Weekend morning shifts were three hours instead of two. Morning work earned them free time afterward. If an individual boarder was late to punch in, they had to work overtime. All hours of work done were recorded on the narrow timesheets or punch cards.

“Chief” Earl Kukahiko who was the farm foreman at the time described the effect that time clock had on some boarders. The clock, he suggested, had the biggest effect on those who were late and had to work overtime. “The fear of the punishments (added work hours) for being late,” he said, “struck the fear of God into all of us.”

In 1976,  the time clock was deemed unserviceable. The only repairman who was familiar with the clock passed away sometime before 1976. At some point between 1976 and 2009, the Lahainaluna Classes of 1949 and 1950 began looking for ways  to fund the clock's restoration. They would eventually find help from the Maui Carpenters Union and Maui International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 1186. The clock was restored and a large wooden shed housed it.  The effort was headed by George Kawamoto (Class of 1952) and other Lahainaluna boarders.

New Era, New System

Nowadays, boarders just go to the time clock for headcount and don’t need to punch in. Senior Alana Hernandez, a current boarder at Lahainaluna, briefly explains the boarders’ daily schedules and how “We don’t use the time clock, we just go there.” 

As soon as the work is done, the boarders just return their tools to the shed and go back to the dorms. “We don't have to like ‘clock out’ or anything,” Hernandez said. 

Being an upperclassman gives boarders an advantage. Upperclassmen do “less labor intensive jobs or ‘opala truck,” said Nanea N. Sproat-Armitage who was interviewed by Doctor Ty Kawika Tengan and others for the Lahainaluna Native Hawaiian Boarding Students Oral History Project. In addition, Hernandez adds, “sometimes us uppers [juniors & seniors] give our tools to the unders [sophomores & freshmen] to take back.”

Alumni boarders mentioned that a similar job an upperclassman boarder could have was working at the time clock or helping kids check in to work. Working at time clock was a simple job so most boarders wanted to have it. “I worked at time clock,” said former boarder Monica Kalikimaka Akamu who was also interviewed for the oral history project. “Working at time clock was super easy and all it meant was that I got to cruise in the truck with Coach Watson.”

Former boarder Sherman Kealoha Maka was envied by his fellow boarders because he was given the job. “I had bad allergies. . . they had me in the orchard. So he [Kukahiko] took me out of orchard, and he put me in a time clock with him.”

Symbol of Responsibility

Using the time clock was an efficient way to keep track of over a hundred boarders’ work hours. During Eddie Espritiu’s time as a boarder, the clock was crowded each morning with over one hundred boarders. “—I mean. . . you can imagine 122 guys rushing back to their dorm, everybody going shower and get ready for school. . .,” said Espiritu. 

This sight is currently unimaginable. In 2025, about 30 students are boarding at Lahainaluna. “There used to be a lot more boarders back then, so using the time clock was an efficient system to keep track of who showed up to work,” said Hernandez. The size of the program has made it much easier to count and keep track of boarders who did not check in to work.

The clock is now preserved as a historical structure and is no longer used by current boarding students. It holds a lot of meaning to boarders from classes of 1941-1976. The Lahainaluna time clock is a small structure, but was a big part of boarders’ daily routines. Their lives revolved around the clock. To many, the clock is now only a symbol of good time management, responsibility, and discipline. To others, like Eddie Espiritu, it was a symbol of “punctuality, responsibility, and respect for ourselves. . . it helped mold us and prepare us for our future.”