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A student-run newspaper written by and for the students of Lahainaluna High School. Ka Lama Hawai'i regularly publishes student work on student life, education, and the community of Lahaina. I mua, Lunas! Ka Lama Hawai'i Burning the torch of excellence at both ends Student Life November 7, 2025 at 8:15:00 PM Growing Up on Campus Maturity and the Road to Graduation Ashlee Hufalar To reach their goals, students need more than talent. They need a change in mindset, how they approach their goals, and the responsibilities that come with all of this. Read More Traditions November 7, 2025 at 7:58:53 PM Replanting Our Legacy Kristina Meguro Queen Liliʻuokalani was here for Arbor Day and to witness one of Lahainaluna’s specialties: the throwing of poi. Read More History September 18, 2025 at 1:03:52 AM Ka Lama Hawaiʻi Then and Now Keyla Jimenez In 1834, only three years after the creation of Lahainaluna, its principal, Lorrin Andrews, started a student-run newspaper. Read More Traditions March 23, 2025 at 8:29:46 PM In the Nation's Spiritual Center Grayson Guzman Coleman Riddell Lā Kūʻokoʻa began on November 28th, 1843, commemorating political recognition of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s sovereignty. Read More Talk Story News Opinion: High Graduation, Low Excellence Lahainaluna believes in “excellence and equity in education,” but as our proficiency rates reach new lows, and the majority do not pass their AP exams, it’s time we turn this belief into something more. Students are being asked to strive for excellence, but can Lahainaluna provide it? As I previously reported in March of this year, “From the 2020-2021 to the 2023-2024 school years, Lahainaluna students' proficiency rates in math and reading dropped. Math declined from 14 pe Maui Prep Lawsuit Unfolds, Transferred Students Question School's Morality September 2nd 2025, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Hawai’i filed a lawsuit against Maui Prep claiming that the school has engaged in unfair business practices and misrepresented its commitment to “Live Aloha,” while it excluded transgender students. Recently transferred Luna's from Maui Prep are questioning the school’s sustainability and morality. The ACLU of Hawaii Legal Director, Wookie Kim, states: “The school’s stance has no place here. Hawaiʻi has a long h Homecoming Week Competitiveness Creates Tension, Division Homecoming week began with the promise of friendly competition and shows of school spirit. It ended after a series of Social media posts, vandalism, and accusations. "We’ve never held hands" It's important to acknowledge what your feelings are in a relationship. Student Life & Academics 11/7/25 Growing Up on Campus Maturity and the Road to Graduation Ashlee Hufalar To reach their goals, students need more than talent. They need a change in mindset, how they approach their goals, and the responsibilities that come with all of this. Read More 11/7/25 In the Nation's Spiritual Center Lahainaluna’s Annual Celebration of Lā Kūʻokoʻa Grayson Guzman Coleman Riddell Lā Kūʻokoʻa began on November 28th, 1843, commemorating political recognition of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s sovereignty. Read More 11/7/25 Replanting Our Legacy Boarders Replant Liliʻuokalani's Famous Palm Kristina Meguro Keiko Wegner Queen Liliʻuokalani was here for Arbor Day and to witness one of Lahainaluna’s specialties: the throwing of poi. Read More 9/30/25 Haunted Halls The Haunted History of Lahainaluna Kristina Meguro Stories of the supernatural are unsurprisingly common among students and staff at Lahainaluna. Read More 9/30/25 The Fair is Back Remembering the Past, Facing the Future Grayson Guzman The Maui County fair is back for the first time since 2019. Lunas past and present identify with the fair... Read More 9/30/25 In the end, we’re on the same island Spirit, Silence, and Conflict Ashlee Hufalar To many students, school spirit has come to represent more than simple rivalry. Read More More Student Life and Academics Articles We LHS Staff Sports The Back Page Social Media Updates Join our community on Instagram

A newspaper written by the students of Lahainaluna High School in the town of Lahaina, Maui. Ka Lama Hawai'i is named after the first newspaper in Hawai'i, which was also published by Lahainaluna students in the nineteenth century. Welcome to Ka Lama Hawai'i! News writing is kind of a tradition here in Lahaina. In fact, the oldest school newspaper west of the Rockies was published right here, by students, on the campus of Lahainaluna in 1834. Our paper, also run by students of Lahainaluna, is our way of sharing breath with that past and the students that came before us. All said, do you have a piece of writing to share with us? If so, please submit your writing in the form below. We will consider all submissions as long as they are student-authored and appropriate. First Name Last Name Email What's your idea OR what are you submitting? Upload File Upload supported file (Max 15MB) Send Thanks for submitting!

< All Candidates Lake Tavernese President ⭐ PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES: Do you have ideas regarding how to provide development opportunities to students (i.e. college fairs, scholarships, and campus policies to promote clubs and student involvement)? If so, explain: My main idea to promote student led activities would be to start a volunteer program where students can use their time during lunch and/or after school to assist in a campus cleanup to make our campus cleaner and safer. EVENTS PLANNING: If you were elected to student council what school events do you deem important and why? If I was elected into the student council the main school events I would deem most important would be graduation, senior ball, and senior luau. These are the most impactful events the senior stuco hosts almost every year and I find it very important to plan these events to make our final year of high school as memorable as possible. PARKING: If you were elected to the position you are running for, what changes would you want to make on the parking and car policy? I do believe that the parking situation is very out of hand, my plan would be to talk to admin about regularly enforcing the parking pass policy in which the punishment for parking in the main student lot would be a detention hour. Students pay for the parking pass and they should be secure in the fact that if they arrive at school on time, there will be a spot for them to park. ENVIRONMENT: If you were elected to the position you are running for, what changes would you want to make to the appearance, cleanliness, or safety on campus? If I was elected as class president I would start organizing student led clean-up crews during lunch periods or after school. If possible, I could also communicate with admin and see if these campus clean-ups can also be used to get rid of detention hours as a way to incentivise students. PHONE POLICY: If you were elected to the position you are running for, how would you change our phone policy? I wouldn't change the policy much, I believe that if the student is being productive or has all work done they should be allowed to have downtime on their phone; as many teachers allow. SCHOOL LUNCH: If you were elected to the position you are running for, what would you do to improve the quality of student lunches? For school lunches I would improve them by seeing if we could lead a school wide fundraiser to allow for more funding towards school lunches specifically. If our school had a large budget set aside with the sole intention being to improve the food quality the produce and meat used could go up in quality and encourage more students to eat lunch daily. Previous Next

Lahainaluna believes in “excellence and equity in education,” but as our proficiency rates reach new lows, and the majority do not pass their AP exams, it’s time we turn this belief into something more. Students are being asked to strive for excellence, but can Lahainaluna provide it? As I previously reported  in March of this year, “From the 2020-2021 to the 2023-2024 school years, Lahainaluna students' proficiency rates in math and reading dropped. Math declined from 14 percent to 5 percent, and reading from 57 percent to 28 percent.” Curiously, these drops have shown no significant effect on our students' ability to graduate. Between the 2020-21 and 2023-24 school years, our high school completion rates have barely changed. In the 2020-21 school year 95.5 percent of students completed high school, and in the 2023-24 school year 92.9 percent completed high school. Our proficiency rates have now reached the single digits while year by year there has been little difference in how many students are completing high school. Graduation rates have shown no difference despite all the evidence that they should. This fact implies that graduates who are not proficient in core subjects have moved on, unprepared, to higher education. Over time, it seems like we have begun to accommodate the low scores each year brings. Excellence through education cannot be asked for because an environment for growth has not been created. As Lucia Mejia reported earlier this year, the issue extends to our most advanced students: in all but one subject, the majority failed their AP exam. In 2024 only 33.9 percent of Lahainaluna AP test takers passed. It’s clear that even though students sign up for more challenging work, most have not been prepared to apply the rigor AP asks for, or the work asked from them does not meet AP standards. Lack of standards in students' education results in them lacking an understanding of the content, making it generally harder for students who want to achieve more. All this can only result in students being unprepared for their education, not only in high school, but beyond. Authors Andrea Venezia and Laura Jaeger found this experience to be shared, stating how “far too many students enter college without the basic content knowledge, skills, or habits of mind needed to perform college-level work successfully” (2). Eric P. Bettinger and Bridget Terry Long further expand this, explaining how while two-thirds of recent graduates enter college every year, many aren’t prepared for the rigor higher education requires, at times resulting in students being expelled. This is the future for Lahainaluna students if we do not find a solution. Solutions start here, with standards. Students need to be proficient in core subjects when they enter college. Based on the numbers, Lahainaluna clearly falls under this description. We can only escape this description by having more rigorous standards for the education we give our students. Expecting work from students that shows proficiency and understanding is the result of being given work that is thoughtful and based on deep expertise in a subject. Our current grade inflation, that allows students who lack proficiency in subjects to move onto more advanced thinking, does not promote proficiency. Venezia and Jager further support this , stating that adequate preparation “should take a systemic, comprehensive approach to provide students with both academic and nonacademic resources and opportunities” (16) such as “integrating academics with comprehensive support, so that students are prepared to be successful in college” (16). Implementing standards will prove to be difficult. If we create greater standards, it’s not realistic to fail everybody who does not meet proficiency. This only forces us to solve the core issue: Most of our students are failing proficiency in core subjects. We need to reevaluate how we teach in order to find a solution to a system that has proven flaws. Lahainaluna believes “that the commitment to continuous improvement is imperative, to enable students to become confident, self-directed lifelong learners.” Despite this, grades are inflated. Leaving most graduates lacking proficiency in core subjects, and a majority of our “advanced” students failing their AP exams. Is our school committed to improvement, or a failing system? It’s clear that a “commitment to continuous improvement” should not only relate to our students, but to the education we provide them.

September 2nd 2025, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Hawai’i filed a lawsuit against Maui Prep claiming that the school has engaged in unfair business practices and misrepresented its commitment to “Live Aloha,” while it excluded transgender students. Recently transferred Luna's from Maui Prep are questioning the school’s sustainability and morality. The ACLU of Hawaii Legal Director, Wookie Kim, states: “The school’s stance has no place here. Hawaiʻi has a long history of embracing gender-diverse people. He adds that by excluding transgender students while claiming to ‘live aloha,’ Maui Prep is misusing Hawaiian values to create the false appearance of inclusivity.” Hula and Hawaiian language teacher, Kumu Eva Palakiko thinks similarly that “it’s not our job to judge anybody and we welcome everyone with open arms and we are here to love, to nurture, and support all of our students and our Ohana.” The controversy began in December of 2024 when Maui Prep, a private school in West Maui which hosts students from Preschool to 12th Grade, enacted a new school policy targeting transgender students. The policy prohibited transgender students from playing on sports teams, using facilities, rooming with, or using restrooms with students of the same gender. Before filing this suit, the ACLU of Hawaii sent two demand letters for Maui Prep to explain the misconduct. They said that the new policy violates state law, HRS § 368D-1, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity, sex, and sexual orientation in state educational programs or educational programs that receive state funding. In mid-December, the policy was softened due to public backlash. They removed a requirement to control studentsʻ dress and lessened the prohibition on the use of pronouns according to their biological sex. ACLUʻs September lawsuits names nine-year-old Jane Poe, a former Maui Prep student, and her parents as plaintiffs. As of the ACLU’s April press release, the policy appeared to be aimed only at Poe, the only openly transgender student at the school. Then in third grade, she had attended Maui prep since preschool and had openly lived as a girl since the age of five. She has now been forced to withdraw from the school by her family to prevent “daily humiliation and stigma.” “I think many [transgender] students just feel singled out since they are the ones that are being affected by these rules," claimed a current freshman who spent 2 years at Maui Prep, and requested anonymity due to fear of reprisal. It's like "they are saying that they can’t go to the school or act like that there,” they continued. The policy “affected them [Maui Prep] majorly because a lot of people see that rule and they're like I don't want my kids going there.” Asked at the beginning of the 25-26 school year, Ka Lama staff found out that 7-10 students from the Maui Prep system joined the freshman class this year, but students' reasons are unknown. It was not possible to find numbers for any other grade level. A Sophomore who recently transferred from Maui Prep, and wished to remain anonymous, thinks that the lawsuit is “causing a lot of people to like not go there anymore, a lot of people left.” According to a spring 2025 feature article by Brianne Lagazo, Maui Prep is understaffed as 17 teachers and faculty, 4 preschool teachers, and their College Counselor left this school year. One student who transferred to Lahainaluna this year for reasons outside of the controversy felt that the policy “was a sort of unnecessary added drama that makes the school look pretty bad… I didn't really know anyone personally that was even part of that community.” “It's very disheartening to see something like that happen at my former school” comments Senior Aiko (Ari), who attended Maui Prep from 3rd-7th grade. “I believe the parents have the absolute right to sue Maui Prep...Especially when it's against a very marginalized group of people.” Abut identifies as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and thinks that if sheʻd known at the time “and I had that support, then I’d obviously feel a lot more comfortable at that age. Now, just having support in general, regardless of what community you are part of, is very liberating.”

Homecoming week began with the promise of friendly competition and shows of school spirit. It ended after a series of Social media posts, vandalism, and accusations that caused tensions and division among the students across grade levels, leading some students to ask: when does competition and rivalry become unfriendly?   “A Small Dis” Conflict began when posts on social media from multiple people questioned who the “real” competitors were between the grade levels. One notable post declared “the only competition is just the sophomores and juniors.” The poster responsible stated that their purpose was not to cause harm but to “recruit other people for dance fever.” Nevertheless,  according to junior class president, Brianne Lagazo, the controversy began to “take away the purpose of homecoming which was to be fun and make it enjoyable for our class and officers.” It created a “toxic atmosphere” all homecoming week, she added. After going viral among the students, one of the posts appeared in the real world when seniors printed it out and gave copies to the judges and the audience, and dramatically ripped up a copy during the event. Since the controversy, students have debated whether or not this was the correct way the seniors could have handled the situation.  Senior Ofa Sulunga didn’t think it was out of line as “it was just a small dis, nothing too harsh” and that “they weren’t spouting hateful comments towards whoever made the post or anything.” Junior Jenna Basto thinks that what the seniors have done “should have been more optimistic.” Yet, she understands where the seniors are coming from, considering “they were probably offended.”  Sophomore vice president Grayson Guzman agrees. “I understand where they are coming from, but for sure could have been handled better.” Freshmen president Seilala Samisoni states that the freshmen dance fever team  wasn’t affected by the negative posts. Instead, “we just thought about having fun.” To the freshman dancers, she claims, “it was not a competition.” The Mystery of the Vandalized Poster Social media posts were not the only cause of tension during homecoming. At some point during the week, an anonymous person or persons vandalized a banner hung up by the junior class. This resulted in more confusion and finger pointing. Some have suspected that the vandal belongs to the senior class as they wrote “class of 2026” on the poster in addition to “really inappropriate and hostile messages,” as Ashlee Hufalar, sophomore secretary, describes.  Lagazo states that although her class was calling the seniors out, she “cannot definitively say that it was someone from the senior class who did it.” The only thing she is sure about is that the incident “shows how much people refuse to take accountability for their actions.” “I put a lot of effort into the decorations and for someone to vandalize it so easily,” Lagazo said in frustration.  Candy? Anyone? Several students also reported candy being thrown aggressively at students. Sophomore Ayden Elaydo states that one of the candies “hit one of our people holding posters.” Hufalar was informed from a junior that seniors were “throwing jolly ranchers at the juniors.” ”It wasn’t necessarily good intentioned,” she said. Although many people are always throwing candy during the performances, Elaydo believes that the seniors did mean it and that they weren’t joking around. “By the look of their faces” he states, “I know they meant it.” Same Song, Different Grade Raising tensions even higher, juniors at some point began blaming the sophomores (and vice versa) for copying the songs they were going to dance to during dance fever. “People said we copied them,” Elaydo said, but “we had no idea what their song mashup was.” Because of this, juniors suggested that the sophomores change their songs but Elaydo stated that it was too late.  “We had a due date for the songs,” he said.  Past Dance Fevers Micah Kawaguchi-Ailetcher, a  drawing and painting teacher, graduated in the class of 2002. She states that in her year, there were always feelings of competition during Dance Fever. They would call it “Coed Cheerleading.” She explains that this was important as classes built a sense of “class comradery through dissing the other classes,” she added. However, she thinks new technology and access to printers has probably worsened the sense of competition. Lagazo states that “it only takes one person to see that post and screenshot it. Next thing you know, one-hundred people are talking about it on campus.” “... a friendly competition" People really did try to make homecoming "a friendly competition,” claims senior Kelani Lisseth Gonzalez Gonzalez. Other students did bad things, "so it made us students look really bad,” she added.  Lagazo sums it up, stating that even though it happened, the only thing we can take from this is “learn from it, move forward.”