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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!

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 Traditions May 20, 2026 at 10:00:00 PM A Sacred Tradition for Boarders Behind the Liming of the “L” Cheska Misay You may have heard of the lighting of the L, but have you heard of the liming of the L? Read about the traditions that Cheska Misay shares! Read More Student Life May 20, 2026 at 10:42:09 PM The Stinking Mango Dilemma Lili'a Niles Lili'a Niles discusses the various opinions of the student and staff on the sticky Mango situation Read More Profile May 21, 2026 at 6:43:39 PM Who was Alma Kaiama? A Hawaiian educator and activist Ashlee Hufalar Alma Kaiama, a woman who fought to preserve Hawaiian culture and identity, yet her very existence was unrecognized. Read More Education May 20, 2026 at 11:53:01 PM Time or Pride Will Overcome Zayne Pillow Some hear “assembly today during Po’okela” and imagine community engagement, others panic at the mandated socialization and loss of work time. Read More Talk Story News The State's New Phone Policy Details and reactions to the Hawaiʻi Department of Educationʻs new no-cellphone policy. Ashlee Hufalar and Grayson Guzman 2 days ago Students Recover or Lose Sleep Over Summer Break? Summer break is right around the corner, and many Lahainaluna students hope to catch up on sleep. Freshman Sofiya Cartagena says, “I’m excited to finally fix my sleep schedule over break.” However, some students end up doing the opposite and gain unhealthy sleeping habits. At Lahainaluna, it’s common to see students yawn during class and fall asleep at their desks. Students involved in extracurricular activities, sports, and jobs complain about losing sleep over studying and Drew Briones 3 days ago Kendamas Take Over LHS Sofiya Cartagena talks about the new and "distracting" toy, Kendamas! Sofiya Cartagena 3 days ago Lunas JV Volleyball Eyes Long-Term Potential After Season Opener Despite the loss, Coach Sarah Eubank believes the match pointed to new potential for the team in later years. Mya Heart Valdez Mar 11 Student Life & Academics 5/20/26 A Sacred Tradition for Boarders Behind the Liming of the “L” Cheska Misay You may have heard of the lighting of the L, but have you heard of the liming of the L? Read about the traditions that Cheska Misay shares! Read More 5/20/26 Time or Pride Will Overcome The Trouble with School Assemblies Zayne Pillow Some hear “assembly today during Po’okela” and imagine community engagement, others panic at the mandated socialization and loss of work time. Read More 5/20/26 Misunderstanding in the Classroom What Lahainaluna Students Really Want Stella Pogni Keely Benson Keely and Stella speak out about the lack of understanding for students Read More 5/20/26 The Stinking Mango Dilemma Mangoes = Campus Mess Lili'a Niles Lili'a Niles discusses the various opinions of the student and staff on the sticky Mango situation Read More 3/11/26 Devaki Murch Accidental Archivist Kristina Meguro Kristina Meguro spoke to Devaki Murch about identity, stability, and the "living records" of her survival during Operation Babylift. Read More 3/11/26 The Tardy Toll How "Starbucks runs" turn into Senior Ball bans. Christopher Apilado Christopher Apilado looks at the campus-wide discussion about tardiness policies and "unexpected" detention hours. Read More More Student Life and Academics Articles We LHS Staff Sports The Back Page Social Media Updates Join our community on Instagram

< Back Who was Alma Kaiama? Kristina Meguro Grayson Guzman A Hawaiian educator and activist Ashlee Hufalar In history, especially at Lahainaluna, there are names who rise to the top. Davida Malo is recognized as the most famous alumni, a pioneering scholar, and a royal advisor; Samuel Kamakau is a historian and an educator who preserved Hawaiian culture; and Timothy Ha’alilio is a politician that traveled to secure Hawaiian independence. These people are leaders in movements, models of virtue, and unforgettable characters documented as the one who changed the trajectory of social norms. While not everyone may know the story behind each individual, these celebrated figures are predominantly men. Women have also stepped up at Lahainaluna. Yet, their efforts are largely unrecognized. Their names are buried alongside dozens of others, and despite the impact they’ve made, most people would never know about them. Amongst these figures stands Alma Kaiama, a Hawaiian educator and activist who spent her life fighting for change. Born in 1930, Alma Mililani Kaiama grew up in Hana, Maui, dedicating her life to empowering students, preserving Hawaiian identity, and strengthening our pride in Hawai’i’s heritage. Though unknown, she became a big contributor towards the Modern Hawaiian Renaissance and was a lasting voice for preserving Hawaiian culture. Her professional journey started at Lahainaluna. Kaiama’s Early Education Kaiama attended Colorado State College of Education and earned her Masters degree in Speech Therapy 1951. This was big news in Maui of the 50s where only 50,000 people lived–just under 6,000 people live in West Maui ( Data Book ). The Honolulu Advertiser & Star-Bulletin celebrated Kaiama’s dedication to pursuing a higher education, giving her a short write up and praising her as an outstanding educator and scholar (6). After her return from the mainland, at the age of 23, she began in 1952 as an English teacher at Lahainaluna. Her time there was brief, lasting only one year, yet she made great contributions. She started a speech and debate club and, most notably, she is recorded as having revived Ka Leo Luna, Lahainaluna's third newspaper, after its four year hiatus from 1947-1951. Her efforts to restore the student voice laid the groundwork to Ka Leo Luna becoming the longest running newspaper at the school (1947-2016). Though her time at Lahainaluna was short, Kaiama arguably revived journalism at Lahainaluna, encouraging advisors and students to continue publishing long after her departure. Her time at the school came to an abrupt end when she won a rotary scholarship for a year of graduate study in England, an achievement reported by the Honolulu Advertiser in November 1952. Newspaper records from both the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin describe her as an exceptional Maui educator chosen for prestigious international study opportunities, displaying how highly respected she was at a young age. Following these accolades she left the island in September, 1953, to study English literature at the University of Durham and returned to Maui a year later. After she returned to Maui in 1954 with more educational experience and exposure to international academics, she began an academic journey that would take her far beyond the high school classroom. Through her academic journey, she became an instructor at Hawaii Community College starting in 1971. There, she revised the Hawaiiana curriculum completely, building the self-esteem of the Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian students alike, giving them a stronger sense of cultural identity (Peterson and Baker 31). Among her accomplishments at the college was an innovative one-credit course covering Hawaiian chants, music, dance, legends, arts and crafts, food preparation, history, sports and games. The course's popularity among Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike showed its value. Scholars, Barbara Peterson and John Baker, examined the period in an issue of Educational Perspectives , “ Hawaii’s Community Colleges and the Disadvantaged Student ,” describing the impact of the course at the time. They noted that it “further enhance[d] the positive sense of the cultural worth of Hawaiiana. Studying topics they are familiar with and enjoy is academically reinforcing to the Hawaiian students.” (30). Kaiamaʻs Hawaiiana course was taught by respected Hawaiian cultural practitioners and soon became an early model for culturally responsive education in Hawai’i. Family Life & Preserving Culture “She has always been very outstanding,” said Frances Duyckinck Cooper Wood in an archived interview. Cooper Wood knew her through her nephew, Alexander Charles “Alika” Cooper, who married Kaiama around the late 1950s or early 1960s as their sons appeared to be teenagers or adults by an oral history interview done in the 1980s. In the years to follow, Kaiama and Alika engaged in various activist projects, including protests against Hawaiʻi National Park service, which had control over Hawaiian territory. According to Ashtani Shih, the reasoning behind this control originated in 1916, when scientists described volcanic regions as “a ‘perfect natural laboratory’ for volcanology.” This justification was used to transfer ownership of land to the federal government for research. Eventually, federal interest in Hawaiian lands led President Woodrow Wilson to establish the original Hawai’i national park, including the Kīlauea-Mauna Loa section on Hawaii Island and the Haleakalā section on Maui. The National Park Service had expanded significantly in the 1950-1960s, and author Ashanti Ke Ming Shih claims that the Park Service was working under the idea that Hawaiian lands were terra nullius , a legal term meaning empty land. Yet, at the time, there was plenty of evidence of Native Hawaiians still living or occupying the area. Kaiama and Alika advocated against federal control, saying “We are tired of policies that govern our ancestral sites and the management of such areas for they are made and are directed from Washington, D.C. and by a people who are ‘foreign’ to our way of life” (Shih 20). Ultimately, Kaiama and her husband led public critiques and protests against federal control over ancestral lands, and demanded that sacred sites such as heiau (places of worship) and authority in land management be returned back to Hawaiian communities. These protests were just the beginning. Kaiama, who felt the government unjustly overthrew Hawaii and stripped it of self governance, took the fight to the U.S. senate floor in Honolulu in February 1976. There, she testified for reparations for Native Hawaiians, and used the title State President of the Congress of the Hawaiian People. Kaiama also testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, chaired by Senator J. Bennett Johnson, and Senator Daniel K. Inouye. She was one of several people who gave hearings on the big losses of land, sovereignty, and political power of native Hawaiians being acknowledged federally and in the public. She presented five main ideas in her testimony: The Great Māhele of 1848 divided the land that originally belonged to everyone equally. 984,000 acres were understood as Crown lands held for the use of common people. After the Hawaiian legislature fell into the hands of the U.S. government during annexation, those lands were taken unlawfully. The overthrow of Queen Lili’uokalani in 1893 was only successful due to intervention of military forces ordered by Minister John L. Stevens. President Grover Clevelland himself stated that without their military support, the overthrow would’ve failed. Native Hawaiians were politically disenfranchised. Though making up the majority of the population, 9,550 Hawaiians were denied voting rights. This allowed a small group of American businessmen and political interests to make decisions regarding the future of Hawaii without consent of the Hawaiian people. “The United States government accepted the government and lands of Hawaii without the consent and will of Hawaiian natives numbering more than 40,500” (Kaiama 3). “Immoral afflictions and injustices upon Hawaiian natives by the extinguishment of their rights and their Hawaiian Nation may be assigned to the United States government” (Kaiama 3). Because of her testimony, Kaiama’s work contributed to the second or Modern Hawaiian Renaissance, encouraging a cultural awakening that urged people to look at Hawaiian rights and land claims. Eventually, the combined efforts of Kaiama and others led to the creation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) in 1978, which was created to improve the conditions of native Hawaiians, manage trust resources for Hawaiians, and give them a stronger political voice within the government. One year before the OHAʻs creation, in 1977, Kaiama wrote “Kaho’olawe: A Nation on Trial.” While this source isn’t publicly accessible, it showcases her thinking and her involvement in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. It also points to the possibility that she was also somehow connected at the time to the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana (PKO) movement. A year later, Kaiama earned her Doctor of Education in Educational Foundations from the University of Hawai’i, and became an instructor at Hawaii Community College. In 1983 Kaiama rose into leadership at Maui Community College, today known as University of Hawaii Maui College (UHMC). Eventually, she became the provost and continued her advocacy for Hawaii-centric education and representation in academia. Conclusion Alma Kaiama passed away on July 2, 2017, in Kailua-Kona at age 87. In the later years of her life, Kaiama was recorded in her later years as Alma Mililani Kaiama “Henderson” instead of “Cooper,” suggesting that she remarried later in life. Kaimaʻs legacy continues through Hawaiian studies, cultural preservation, student empowerment, and the continuation of Lahainaluna journalism today. Through education, journalism, and political activism, Alma Kaiama helped strengthen Native Hawaiian identity during the Hawaiian Renaissance and advocated for Hawaiian self-determination at a time of growing cultural and political change. She will be remembered as an educator, activist, an advocate for Native Hawaiian rights, and a contributor to the Hawaiian Renaissance. At Lahainaluna, we should also remember her as an important female who contributed to our legacy. P 1697 Kaiama Returns Honolulu Advertizer 12-6-58 in Start-Bulletin Index - Kaiama Scholar.jpg P 1697 Kaiama Returns Honolulu Advertizer 12-6-58 in Start-Bulletin Index - Kaiama Scholar.jpg 1/1 FRANCES DUYCKINCK COOPER WOOD the WATUMULL FOUNDATION ORAL HISTORY PROJECT. mauitime.com/bitstream/10524/48658/1/ocr_watumullohp_Wood.pdf “Obituaries for July 26.” Hawaii Tribune-Herald, 26 July 2017, www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2017/07/26/obituaries/obituaries-for-july-26-5/ . Peterson, Barbara Bennett, and John H. Baker. “Vol13#2_Hawaii’s Community Colleges and the Disadvantaged Student.” Hawaii.edu , College of Education, University of Hawaii, 1974, scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/items/2c3960f1-4516-4964-9241-6f5ee2ff747e . Shih, Ashanti Ke Ming. Science and Settler Colonialism in Twentieth-Century Hawaiʻi. Yale University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2019, www.proquest.com/openview/bd612ff460936a2025f6fe8f5b09b020/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y . University of Hawai’i. “07/02/2017 Obituary Records” Hawai’i Obituary, 2017, https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=14201&context=obituaries Previous Next

Our History and Traditions About History Profile In 1834, only three years after the founding of Lahainaluna, its principal, Lorrin Andrews, started a student-run newspaper called Ka Lama Hawaii , or “The Hawaiian Luminary.” The paper’s first issue explained the importance of knowledge. “In enlightened lands,” wrote its editorial staff, “it is believed that the spreading of knowledge is a good thing. When wise people ponder and come upon good new thoughts not known before […] they then desire to disseminate it abroad, and not hide it, so that all men may know” (61). Andrews narrowed Ka Lama ’s purpose to three goals. The first was to “give the scholars of the High School the idea of a newspaper [and] to show them how information of various kinds was circulated through the medium of a periodical.” The second goal was, generally, “to communicate to them [students] ideas on many objects.” Thirdly, it was designed as a “channel through which the scholars might communicate their own opinions freely on any subject they chose" (Qtd in Silva 109). Almost two centuries later, Lahainaluna’s current principal, Richard Carosso, sees Ka Lama as a space where students are “discussing among yourselves,” or where student voice is amplified. “It’s one of our only resources for students to voice their opinions and to get the input from, you know, their classmates about what's going on at school,” said Carosso, adding that the paper also brings student voices to the school’s administration so the school’s leadership “can tell what matters to you guys.” Historians remark that the original Ka Lama was mostly a way to send messages from missionary leaders to students; in 2025, it does the opposite. Both then and now, however, Ka Lama Hawai’i has encouraged discussion and literacy on campus while letting students engage with unfamiliar topics... Read More Ka Lama Hawaiʻi In 1834, only three years after the creation of Lahainaluna, its principal, Lorrin Andrews, started a student-run newspaper. Read More LHS History and Traditions: Coming Soon! Greetings from the Ka Lama History team! Read More The Boardersʻ Clock Boarders would punch in at the clock every morning and every night until the clock broke in 1976. Read More Who was Alma Kaiama? Alma Kaiama, a woman who fought to preserve Hawaiian culture and identity, yet her very existence was unrecognized. Read More

< Back LHS History and Traditions: Coming Soon! The Lahainaluna History and Tradition section was imagind by students to be an ongoing repository of oral histories and research work about the history of Lahainaluna High School. As such, this section will host short papers about campus curiosities, ancient rumors, and distiguished graduates from the "oldest high school west of the Rockies." 1/0 Previous Next

< Back The Boardersʻ Clock Marking a Change in Time Chantei Dela Cruz 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.” (NOT?) Boarder's Clock.jpg Library of Congress. Pioneer Mill, Time Clock, Lahainaluna Road, Lahaina, Maui County, HI. HABS HI-38. Historic American Buildings Survey. Library of Congress, n.d. (NOT?) Boarder's Clock.jpg Library of Congress. Pioneer Mill, Time Clock, Lahainaluna Road, Lahaina, Maui County, HI. HABS HI-38. Historic American Buildings Survey. Library of Congress, n.d. 1/1 Bibliography Young, Peter. “Student Farmers.” Images of Old Hawaii . 23 September 2015. https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/student-farmers/#:~:text=Between%201941%20and%201976%2C%20Lahainaluna,with%20the%20clock%20passed%20away .) “LHS Weather Vane finds new home.” Lahaina News . 11 March 2022. https://www.lahainanews.com/news/community-news/2022/03/11/lhs-weather-vane-finds-new-home/ Tengan, Kawika et al. “Lahainaluna Native Hawaiian Boarding Students Oral History Project.” ScholarSpace . https://hdl.handle.net/10125/110110 Library of Congress. Pioneer Mill, Time Clock, Lahainaluna Road, Lahaina, Maui County, HI . HABS HI-38. Historic American Buildings Survey . Library of Congress, n.d. Miyahira, Stan. Na Leo (Voices) From The Past: Boarders of Lahainaluna High School . Chihara, Walter. “Many hands fix historic symbol of Luna boarders.” Lahaina News . 10 April 2009. Previous Next

< Back Ka Lama Hawaiʻi Jersea Borneman Trinity Guiza Then and Now Keyla Jimenez In 1834, only three years after the creation of Lahainaluna, its principal, Lorrin Andrews, started a student-run newspaper called Ka Lama Hawaiʻi , or “The Hawaiian Luminary.” The paper’s first issue explained the importance of knowledge. “In enlightened lands,” wrote its editorial staff, “it is believed that the spreading of knowledge is a good thing. When wise people ponder and come upon good new thoughts not known before […] they then desire to disseminate it abroad, and not hide it, so that all men may know” (61). Andrews described Ka Lama ’s purpose in three goals. The first was to “give the scholars of the High School the idea of a newspaper [and] to show them how information of various kinds was circulated through the medium of a periodical.” The second goal was, generally, “to communicate to them [students] ideas on many objects.” Thirdly, it was designed as a “channel through which the scholars might communicate their own opinions freely on any subject they chose" (Qtd in Silva 109). Almost two centuries later, Lahainaluna’s current principal, Richard Carosso, sees Ka Lama as a space where students are “discussing among yourselves,” or where student voice is amplified. “It’s one of our only resources for students to voice their opinions and to get the input from, you know, their classmates about what's going on at school,” said Carosso, adding that the paper also brings student voices to the school’s administration so the school’s leadership “can tell what matters to you guys.” Historians remark that the original Ka Lama was mostly a way to send messages from missionary leaders to students; in 2025, it does the opposite. Both then and now, though, Ka Lama Hawai’i has encouraged discussion and literacy on campus while letting students engage with unfamiliar topics. Our History When the missionaries first arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1820 during King Liholiho’s reign, they intended to use literacy or a knowledge of reading and writing to introduce Christian ideals. When they did that, though, they turned literacy all around the islands into a form of power. Ka Lama Hawaiʻi began under the control of missionaries at Lahainaluna Seminary with questionable intentions. Nevertheless, it created an important tool for promoting literacy: Hawaiʻi’s first newspaper. It was run by students of the seminary out of the campus printing site that would become Hale Pa’i, right next to the admin parking lot right here on our campus. On the 14th of February, 1834 Ka Lama published its first issue. It was only four pages written in Hawaiian, and, like every issue after, it contained an illustration by Alonzo and Mary Anne Chapin. The “Elefani,” or elephant, was the picture featured in issue one. Below it, Andrews and his students provided facts about elephants, their diet, habitat, and lifespan. The descriptions depict the characteristics of an elephant in an interesting matter, but they could only compare it to things people back then were familiar with. The elephant's nose is described as “being as long as a tree branch” (15) and its height is described as “if a man should stand upon the head of another, then their height would be that of the Elephant’s” (13). Presenting this content, historian Helen Geracimos Chapin writes that all the paper’s issues “delivered new and exciting information” to the students of Lahainaluna who had never known animals like that. The pictures, carved by Chapin, a physician at the seminary, brought “an air of immediacy about the world thousands of miles away” (16). As Chapin describes, Ka Lama , and all early Hawaiian papers, helped to colonize Hawaiian people with non-Hawaiian values by presenting such new and attractive information and images. Sometimes the captions and notes to Ka Lama ’s pictures “spoke to the "superiority" of American culture, the Christian religion, and the Protestant work ethic.” “By such ʻtruth in an attractive formʻ,” writes Chapin, “were Hawaiian readers indoctrinated into the new culture” (16). Students printed the original Ka Lama and contributed to it. For instance, among them was the famous Lahainaluna graduate and royal advisor, Davida Malo, who published a song titled “He Kanikau No Kaahumanu,” in Ka Lama ʻs August issue (Silva 110). It was written in honor of the ali‘i wahine Ka‘ahumanu. While students were allowed to contribute to Ka Lama , missionaries controlled the paper and used it to spread their values. Most of the content discussed religious topics. An article not written by a student in the paper’s first issue was titled “The Reason For Ignorance.” It connected knowledge to religion and argued that “Sin is the reason for ignorance.” The authors of the article were “not identified” but they concluded that “returning to God with a new heart is what is needed” (Antonio 66). Articles like these were written by the missionaries, says Chapin, “to bring enlightenment to those they considered benighted,” or ignorant and unenlightened. Despite this, according to people living at the time, “upon receiving their copies, students would immediately sit down to read them through” (Chapin 16). In a recent documentary on literacy in Hawaiʻi, University of Hawaiʻi Professor, Puakea Nogelmeier describes the coming of the missionaries and their impact on Hawaiian society. He describes how literacy was encouraged because "High-level government positions often went to English-speaking foreigners because this interaction was critical for national continuity.” While English literacy became critical for government positions later on, it was recognized as important not just because of the opportunities that arose from being fluent but because of the opportunities that were being taken away by not being literate. As Nogelmeier describes “When Hawaiians questioned why there were so many foreigners in government, the King wrote back, saying they needed that interface until they could improve the pool of Hawaiians they could draw from” (Lihlihi). This is exactly why Kamehameha III “announced a mobilization of literacy," Nogelmeier adds. "He was already literate, so he wasn't just aspiring; he was sharing. Everyone took pride in learning to read and write, and it became a national project.” Hawaiian literacy was a form of power that Kamehameha wanted everyone in the islands to have (Lihilhi). Ka Lama only lasted one year, but the papers that followed still give historians insight on public perspectives during Hawaiʻi's history. While missionaries did abuse their influence and power, according to Noenoe Silva, the newspapers served a further purpose for Hawaiʻi’s people. “While the common denominator of the early newspapers discussed here is the desire that their editors had to convert Hawaiians to a radically different system of beliefs and practices,” she states, “the opening up of spaces for written expression, coupled with the Hawaiian embrace of reading and writing, made the newspapers a vital arena in which crucial questions about culture, knowledge, and politics could begin to be publicly debated” (3). Ka Lama Hawaiʻi built the foundation for all other newspapers in Hawaiʻi. One of them, Ke Kumu , was published out of mission headquarters in Honolulu right after Ka Lamaʻs first run. It lasted from 1834 until 1839 and was edited by missionary Reuben Tinker. The name of the paper, Ke Kumu , or “The Teacher,” signaled its focus on educating through missionary voices rather than having the focus be on student thoughts. The content of Ke Kumu “was mainly evangelizing by missionaries, with some letters from students and community members” (Silva 18). In this way, Ke Kumu was not so different from its predecessor, Ka Lama . According to Silva, Ke Kumu Hawai’i was used to represent “the broad aim of the Mission to create a nation that was not only Christian in name and spirit but also intelligent and industrious” (112). Most of its articles were written by Tinker’s fellow missionaries, writes Silva, but “it did not take long […] before both ali‘i and maka‘äinana began to use the publication space for their own purposes” (112). During its run, Ke Kumu featured approximately 146 writers, including Davida Malo (112). In his contribution, he wrote about his relationship with religion, combining Christian and Hawaiian terms. “Jesus, have mercy, Or I, your servant, will die. [I am but] the dust on your shoe. The grass upon your path. If you leave us forever, That will be our death forever, Death in the pö, Under continual darkness” (10). Ka Nonanona soon followed in 1841. It was run by missionary Richard Armstrong who had been a part of the printing staff of Ke Kumu . Its first issue declared that it would focus on “news; support for school children, teachers, school directors, and parents; a bit of assistance for the pono of the ali‘i, in publishing new laws and new positions in the government, as well as… point out the things that will be pono and the things that will harm the government.” The paper had a larger audience and covered larger topics than Ke Kumu . As Silva states, “Its primary intent was to be a newspaper that carried news from the capital, Honolulu, to all the other islands.” She adds, however, that it was “still in the hands of missionaries and still evangelical in some ways” even though it had “greatly expanded its scope in content as well as in intended readership.” Ka Nonanona, for Silva, marked the shift of newspapers from tools of missionaries to sites “for public debate and discourse” (118). Ka Elele Hawaiʻi started the same year. It was less focused on religion and more on government. It helped inform the public on Hawaii’s rapidly changing society and “served as a site of public debate over the role of foreigners in the government and the sale of lands to foreigners” (Silva 21). Ka Elele ʻs focus allowed citizens to express their opinions on the changing laws surrounding owning land and kept them informed. Ka Elele was a new kind of newspaper. Its format was “opening up of spaces for written expression,” argues Silva. “Coupled with the Hawaiian embrace of reading and writing, [ Ka Elele ] made the newspapers a vital arena in which crucial questions about culture, knowledge, and politics could begin to be publicly debated” (3). This is the purpose Ka Elele Hawaiʻi had up until 1855, when the paper stopped publishing. Hawaiʻi’s first four newspapers all served their individual purposes and proved important to how society interacted with each other. Early newspapers led to a burst in literacy in Hawaiʻi. Katherine H. Au and Julie Kaomea report that “by the late 1800s, the literacy rate in Hawai‘i compared favorably to that of any nation in the world, an accomplishment much to the credit of the Native Hawaiian teachers in the common schools” (6). They Learned by Their Mistakes For over a century since Ka Lama , Lahainaluna seems to have had no school newspaper. Then, in 1926, Ka Nani ‘O Hawaiʻi (“The beauty of Hawaiʻi”) appeared under the guidance of Miss Margaret Chapman. Then following an increase of popularity in 1927, Miss Maurine Watson took over Ka Nani for the school year 1927. In 1928, it was taken over by Mrs. Margaret Tompkins for one year, who also wrote that year about newspapers, and described the passion needed for good journalism. Journalism in the Islands is a bit of a crusade,” she says. “Those who rally to its banners must of necessity have stout hearts, imagination, patience and a goal.” For Tompkins, the school newspaper was mostly useful for the language training it gave students: “Any medium which will help us to use Better English consistently has much in it’s favor.” She complained about the challenges faced by the faculty advisor. At the end of the day, “before an issue comes out, the poor instructor with the large glasses and the red pencil rewrites paragraphs." This was one of the last things Ka Nani would publish. Following her year away, Miss Maurine Watson took over Ka Nani again for the 1929 school year. The advisors for Ka Nani changed again in 1930 to Elmer J. Anderson, who ran Ka Nani, for 1930-1932, until the newspaper’s final appearance in June, 1932. The early issues of Ka Nani are lost. Yet, the issues we have show us small pieces of life on campus in the 20s. An issue published in July of 1928 contains an article where an anonymous alumnus reflects on her days at Lahainaluna. “It was customary to have people carry away bags full of mangoes on every commencement day,” she says, unaware that a century later the only thing people would do with the mangos is step over them. In the June issue of 1929, students of the glee club found it important to talk about the success of their musical performance, Pickles. It was, they claimed, “a great dramatic and financial success.” The paper’s establishment was purposeful and was announced by Principal Alton Rogers who wrote in a December 1928 issue about “School Publications” and their importance above all other school publications. “School publications, and especially the newspaper, are among the most worthwhile school activities,” he wrote. “Because of their function of carrying news, encouraging enterprises, and representing the entire school and its activities, they are of inestimable value in unifying the school.” Rogers was sad to say, however, that problems often blocked the creation of a high school newspaper. Instead of a regular newspaper, “[f]rom lack of skill,” or literacy, students “are prone to make the annual (yearbook) like all others.” By this time, Ka Lama , had become the name of Lahainaluna’s yearbook. The solution, Rogers thought, required students and advisors to be consistent and constant with their work, to “impress all with their uniformity rather than individuality.” Ka Nani was short-lived. It started and ended between 1926-1932. The paper finished a few years later, waiting another 30 years before another school paper was published at Lahainaluna. Yet, in its last year, the paper’s staff coined a motto, “Hitch your wagon to a star.” Miss Watson also ran a journalism club in 1950 that seems to have had no direct connection with Ka Nani. The first issue of Lahainaluna’s third newspaper, Ka Leo Luna (Ka Leo means “The Voice”) is believed to have ran in 1946 under the direction of English I and Journalism teacher, Mr. Robert L. Curran. Like the other papers, Ka Leo announced its simple mission: “To inform the students and teachers of the activities of our school.” Ka Leo Luna ran for two years, school years 1946 and 1947, before taking a short break until 1952 where English and “publications” teacher, Alma Kaiama, brought it back. An issue printed in its first year reported on the activities of the “Future Homemakers, Leaders Today and Tomorrow,” Hawaiʻi chapter. They were set to hold their “annual territorial convention at Camp Erdman, Oahu, from April 5-8.” Staff included a list of delegates who would be representing our school. On the same page “Morikawa, Kozaki To Reign Over Junior Prom” titled a plan for the “Orchids in the Moonlight” prom. “Strands of vanda orchids streaming down on kahilis,” are imagined by the student writer alongside “colored balloons giving the room a gay, festive air; soft lights and a centerpiece of a vanda-filled pond.” All this, the writer said, would “transform the gym into a moonlit paradise.” Two years after starting Ka Leo , Kaiama left the school to educate others on Maui and eventually got hired at Maui’s community college. In 1980, she became the provost there. Ka Leo ran for 64 years, under the direction of fifteen advisors until 2017 (see figure below). Kaiama influenced advisors after her to keep student journalism going. She was born in Hana in 1930 and picked up a wide range of talents during her life. She taught at nearly every grade level, from elementary school to college (Rupenthal). After leaving Lahainaluna, she worked from her position at the college to get the school funding and joined a push for its transition from a technical school to a “community school” in 1967. Probably because of Kaiamaʻs early influence, Ka Leo Luna gradually became associated with a unique motto that appeared regularly in the English Department’s section of Ka Lama , again, the school’s yearbook: “They learned by their mistakes and tried very hard to make the next issue a better one.” The Voices According to the school’s registrar and the paper’s second-to-last advisor, Shanda Sasai, Ka Leo Luna was “all about wanting to know what people thought and then sharing that out and getting that out to people." To accomplish this, Ka Leo Luna covered school news, features, and sports. The feature that stood out to her the most in all her years of being an advisor for Ka Leo was titled “You know you’re from Lahaina if…” that featured student commentary on living here. She recalls how she loved the concept of it as it allowed for positive discussions on student life. This was a reference to Jeff Foxworthy’s famous saying “You might be a redneck if...” Sasai went on to describe the process Ka Leo students went through. “Every student wrote,” said Sasai. “They had to get interviews, they had to get pictures. We ran through drafts like crazy. --the highest drafts was like… twenty-eight.” Sasai was Vice Principal Debralyn Arellano’s advisor when Arellano worked on the paper. Arellano managed the ads that went through Ka Leo in order to pay for printing. In her role, she had to “cold call” businesses downtown in order to sell ads. ”The paper did not have a budget,” she said. Ka Leo was exclusively a paper newspaper and Arellano noted how they had to print out issues on the mainland since it was more cost efficient. “We would stay up till like 10 at night in there. Just we knew it was deadline day, so we'd go run down and get our frappuccinos snacks and head back up and we'd just work on drafts and drafts and drafts,” said Arellano who looked fondly on her late nights in J-201. According to Arellano, Ka Leo journalists “were given that creative freedom to just pursue and talk about the columns that existed. And it was just fun. It was a lot of fun.” She added that, “in terms of creativity, that was nurtured and encouraged, and so it was just a great space.” Ka Leo Luna published its last issue in October of 2016. For 8 years, Lahainaluna students were silent. Then, in August of 2024, Ka Lama Hawaiʻi , now an online publication, published its first issue. Its first story, a feature on the endangered Kāhuli (snails), was written by Trinity Guiza. Ka Lama Hawaiʻi (Again) Ka Lama Hawaiʻi was named in honor of the first newspaper in Hawaiʻi by a small group of students, The News Writing Club, under the direction of its current advisor in Spring of 2023. The News Writing Club did not produce much content, though over the course of several meetings, they determined the paper’s layout, its sections, and that the name should point to the school’s history as the birthplace of the news in Hawaiʻi. They also planned the paper’s purpose, which included the amplification of student voices as well as the voices of people at Lahainaluna that students rarely meet–such as the custodial staff and office workers–a “We <3 LHS Staff” for student-generated profiles. Much more writing for Ka Lama was produced after it became a class. In the Fall of 2024, the school offered Journalistic Writing and enrolled a small team of student reporters who spent their year learning interview techniques and practicing an objective reporting methodologies. They covered school policies, student wellness, sports, and student life. Since its first issue, many have recognized Ka Lama ’s significance to not only our school but to the state. Jean Martin Alternado, currently a junior, thinks that the paper points to the fact that “we are the most historic school in the state.” He thinks that the paper may help to spread awareness about Lahainalunaʻs legacy since “there's only a few students who really care about it.” Alternado published a story about students being held in the cafeteria and the issue of teacher shortages in Ka Lama ’s first year. “[ Ka Lama Hawaiʻi ] is for people to share stories, to keep people updated, to see different perspectives of things that people didn’t really have resources to know,” said Alternado. Freshman Grayson Guzman, also a contributor to the paper, thought that Ka Lama was “important back then and now as we hold this legacy of having the first newspaper in Hawaiʻi published here by students.” Students recognize Ka Lama not just for its historical important on campus but for its impact on students' engagement with difficult topics, which is something that Ka Lama continues to do to this day. As Guzman notes, “today we still have this with students publishing articles giving voice to important topics.” “Our school newspaper is important so students can shed light on topics within our school and enlighten others.” Alternado has seen what the newspaper can accomplish, referring to recent coverage of sensitive student issues. “It spoke a few words that some people were too scared to say,” he said. “If we don’t have a voice, then what are we really going to change?” Student Stephanie Rubio Aguirre agrees: “Student voice is important because we want to hear the opinions on what students think about certain opinions.” She continued, saying “I feel like [ Ka Lama ] is something that students can look forward to whenever someone wants to read something about our school.” Current sophomore class president, Brianne Lagazo, comments on how when articles come out she “usually skim(s)” because as she states, “I enjoy reading what’s being presented and I am impressed by how these students are so good with writing and journalism itself.” Lagazo recently published a story about a controversy at private high school in the Lahaina community. Nicole Heinlein notices the usefulness of Ka Lama as “we don't necessarily have like, a comment box where students can voice their concerns.” The Future of Journalism at Lahainaluna Ka Lama brings attention to the fact that our campus has problems, and that we must acknowledge them to fix them. The newspaper's legacy, and the legacy of literacy in Hawaiʻi that it created, is carried by this new Ka Lama . There’s no way to measure if we’re doing it justice, but we do know that with it, students are being heard. Or, to leave with something that Aguirre said: “I feel represented.” This article was edited extensively by Ka Lama ʻs Managing Editor, Kristina Meguro. He Ilio He Lio Advisors of Ka Leo He Ilio 1/7 Chapin, Helen. Shaping History: The Role of Newspapers in Hawai`i .University of Hawai’i Press, 1996, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Silva, Noenoe. “Early Hawaiian Newspapers and Kanaka Maoli Intellectual History, 1834-1855” Hawaiian Historical Society , 2008, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Rueppenthal, Sarah. ‘“Always there for each other” The Maui News , 2017, Wailuku, Hawaiʻi. Au, Kathryn H., and Julie Kaomea. "Reading comprehension and diversity in historical perspective: Literacy, power, and Native Hawaiians." Handbook of research on reading comprehension. Routledge , 2014, p. 595-610. Language of a Nation. Conrad Lihilihi, Smithsonian , 2020. https://www.conradlihilihi.com/ , https://www.conradlihilihi.com/films . Previous Next

< Back The Stinking Mango Dilemma Mangoes = Campus Mess Lili'a Niles Student Life May 20, 2026 at 10:33:09 PM Imagine walking to your next class. As you pass Hale Manaʻo (AA Building), you notice a nasty smell. It’s the old mangoes that have fallen from the tree above you. Suddenly, you realize that you're going to be late for class, so you start running so you don’t get marked tardy. Out of nowhere, you slip and fall over. A spoiled, pulpy mango is ground up under your shoe. Now, you're late for class, there are old mangoes all over you, and you have a big bruise from falling. Mango trees are located all over the Lahainaluna school campus. By the bus stops, agriculture classrooms, and sidewalks, they attract insects like flies and ants, creating a sticky, slippery environment for students and staff. What is interesting is that everyone agrees there is a problem, and everyone has their own solution. The problem may be new, but the mangoes aren’t. According to Keyla Jimenez and other reporters for Ka Lama , it was once customary on campus “to have people carry away bags full of mangoes on every commencement day” since there were so many. This was all the way back in 1928. Back then, she adds, the Lunas were “unaware that a century later the only thing people would do with the mangoes is step over them.” Nathan Pallet, the agriculture teacher, says that the mangoes used to be cleaned up by the boarding students, but now the custodians are responsible. But this can be a lot, he warned; the custodians have other responsibilities and their best efforts aren’t enough. “The Lahainaluna custodian department was never built to take on this massive campus, especially when it comes to landscaping,” says Head Custodian, BJ Alvarez. “Before, the Boarding department was strictly the caretaker of our land ever since our school was built. Now, the majority of their workload is on us. So right now, we're in a building stage to eventually hire more custodians so we could keep up and stay consistent with our responsibilities.” “Lahainaluna has a very unique landscape and is probably the only school in the state with this many historic trees that are protected and can’t be cut down,” Alvarez added. “The campus you see today is built on years and decades of hard work. We get asked a lot by our community—for example, Lahaina families would ask to come and pick our mangoes or gather and pick foliage for their baby luau parties—and we would never turn anyone away.” The Mess Freshman Francheska Vhiel Misay says, “In my opinion, I think the mangoes around the school campus mess with the students as they walk to their classes during passing times.” She thinks a solution to this problem would be “to have a once a week mango clean up to prevent them from rotting and messing up the walkways.” Freshman Aria Kahula thinks, “The mangoes should be cleaned up more just because it’s a safety hazard to many people.” Kahula also complained about the smell and claimed she has “seen a few injure themselves by falling.” “Personally, I think the mangoes everywhere are gross," said freshman Kaili Silva. “They get stuck on your shoes, slippers, etc., leaving a stinky residue afterward. Sometimes it tends to get on your actual foot, which is nasty and gross! The smell reeks and it's not a delightful scent to smell at 7:00 a.m. in the morning. They do clean them up, but only when it gets really bad. Instead, they should clean them up more often so it doesn’t get to that condition.” Junior Safirah Ladore says, “The campus-wide problem of the sticky mangoes is an extensive and complex problem because of three defining factors. Firstly, they are in the way and often cause students to trip. Secondly, the smell is not pleasant for both students and teachers to traverse the campus. Finally, they make the physical appearance of the campus to be unsightly as the mangoes continue to rot.” Senior Tauvana Nui Niles Cantaro says, “If you ask me, the mangoes are nasty. They would always get on my feet when I would walk past to get to class. One time I was running to class and I slipped and fell on a rotten mango, so I was late to class. Because of this, I changed my route to get to my class now. I hope they start to clean up the mangoes more often than they do to prevent more people from getting injured.” “My experience with the mango trees in my classroom is too much to bear. No matter how much I clean up, it is never enough,” said Bradley Mason, an agriculture teacher. “One day I could spend hours clearing up our agricultural space by throwing out 10 pounds of mangoes. Then the next day, it would be like no progress was done." The inconvenience Mason describes is common all over campus at our bus stops and sidewalks. “The custodians try their best to keep up with the mess,” said Mason. History teacher Sarah Eubank thinks, “It's unfortunate that perfectly good mangoes are left on the school campus to be wasted.” She adds that putting the burden on the custodial staff is unfair since they “have so many different responsibilities to maintain cleanliness on such a big campus.” Math teacher Michelle Brummel doesn't really mind the mango trees. But, in her first year of teaching here, she claims to have been hit in the head by one of the mangoes falling from the tree. The Solutions Mason has a fix for this situation in mind. “We should gather up the people of Lahaina who make pickled mango and other mango treats to come up to the school once a week on Saturday or Sunday and have a harvest day.” Mason would have community members pick all the mangoes they want, free of charge. “By doing this, we would have less waste, more money in our pockets, and enjoy more local scrumptious treats.” Ladore came up with a different possibility to consider. “We can utilize the agriculture class to collect and use the mangoes for their composting needs.” Like others, Eubank also had a solution: “The school should start a program where students would go to all the mango trees and pick them before they have a chance to go bad.” Pallet's solution to this dilemma would be to compost the rotten mangoes into vinegar to turn the mangoes into a herbicide. A herbicide is a substance that is made to control or kill plants and weeds that you don’t want anymore. The downside of this is that the school would have to be really careful making this substance because there is a certain process that has to be done to make it safely. Also, if this gets into the wrong hands, students could get drunk off of the substance. “We could also pick the mangoes early to make snacks like pickled mango,” Pallet added. Kumu Eva, the Hawaiian Studies Kumu, suggests that when the school gets pigs on the farm, the agriculture class should pick up the mangoes that fall on the ground and give them to the pigs as feed. Until then, Kumu Eva shared with the school that as a part of detention, the kids should use their hours to give back to the school and beautify the campus. Unfortunately, the school declined her request. We as a school need to look forward to the future and settle on a fix for this problem. Several people had different opinions and solutions to say about this topic. Also, we need to acknowledge all of the hard work that our custodians and boarding students put into beautifying our school campus. Isabella Canbilla Okano suggested that “we as a school should come together and bring this problem to our principal, Richard Carosso,” because he is the one who can act on the issue. Or, we could come together and maybe have a meeting or answer a Google Form during Poʻokela on what to do next to take the next step on resolving this dilemma. By doing this, we can all find the best way to make our school a better and safer place for all of us in the Lahainaluna High School community. Previous Article Next Article Copy link Lili'a is a freshman, c/o 2029, who contributes to the school's newspaper

The Back Page Filter by Category Select Category Number of recipes found: 6 Painting A Step into the Mind of Peace A painting of a fountain that never existed. Painting How We Believe The World Sees Us In today's society with the growth of social media also comes higher beauty standards. Sculpture Panliligaw "The process where a man tries to woo a woman into dating, eventually leading to marriage." Painting Memory of the Disaster From a collection of pictures about the Lahaina wildfire. Philosophy The Downfall of Human Competence How AI Threatens Our Thinking Comics "A shame I had to deactivate her..." A comic short about love and androids.

We <3 LHS Staff Ariel Pakela Cabrera Custodial Staff “We do it for the kids here.” Read More Mr. Carosso Principal “Be confident, be adventurous, and do not be scared to chase something because you think you are going to fail.” Read More Brandiann Tartios Custodial Staff "Lahainaluna is like a second home." Read More Kawehi Kaina Custodial Staff “be God’s light in the school environment” Read More Monique Blando Custodian “My uncle used to have this job as a custodian,” she said. “I look forward to making him proud.” Read More BJ Alvarez Head Custodian “Be nice to one another.” Read More

< Back Time or Pride Will Overcome The Trouble with School Assemblies Zayne Pillow Education May 20, 2026 at 11:52:15 PM Students are divided on the usefulness of school assemblies. While some hear “assembly today during Poʻokela” and imagine a relieving dose of community engagement, others panic at the mandated socialization and loss of work time. When Poʻokela rolls around, which is more valuable: grades or school unity? At Lahainaluna, assemblies act as an over-century-long staple of school participation that students all across campus find sanctuary in. Some think they add enjoyment to an already stressful school experience. “When I'm stressed,” says freshman Grace Cherry, “assemblies are something to do that’s fun.” When asked about the current Poʻokela system, she pointed to how she thinks the period is just “one long period of nothing,” even going as far as to say it “dulls students' spirits.” Assemblies, on the other hand, “create a sense of community. You feel like you’re a part of something bigger.” Freshman Minori Hironaka agrees. “It brings us together because we get to do activities which involve everybody like musical chairs; you get to interact and compete with everybody.” When asked about whether assemblies impede on work time, Hironaka says, “It's not like they’re missing out on not being able to do homework because they can just do it at home or in other classes. It's all fun activities, so it can't really impact them that negatively.” However, it does impact freshman Keiya Miller. For Miller, Poʻokela is an opportunity to finish assignments, socialize, and receive aid from teachers—an opportunity disrupted by school assemblies. “They are a cool, fun thing to do and take a break from school,” says Keiya Miller about assemblies. However, “sometimes it's not in the right moment. When students have deadlines, it prevents them from doing their work, making school even more stressful.” This happened to Miller recently, who was “relying on the Poʻokela time to get it done, but now I have to worry about when to finish it. Sometimes I just want to skip the whole thing altogether.” Kaizan Munemitsu has a more nuanced view. Though he doesn’t love assemblies, admitting he’d “rather be doing something else,” he also describes the shortcomings of Poʻokela as a work period. “The whole concept is kind of just cooked,” he says, specifying how “it becomes more of a social hour thing for most students rather than a dedicated work period.” He himself admits his guilt in this, saying that he enjoys the opportunity to “be a bum and play video games” during the free period. When asked what he’d do to improve the current system, he emphasized, “If you enforce work too much, people will begin to hate it. But also, they don't enforce it already and it’s become a social hour that people prefer over assemblies, so I guess it's something you can't really fix.” Freshman English teacher John Pope agrees with Munemitsu’s observation, but says he has an idea or two for ways to improve Poʻokela. Pope notes that the majority of his students spend their Poʻokela “scrolling on their phone” while they only “intermittently work on PTP (Personal Transition Plan) assignments and other assignments for class.” He attributes this not to the concept of Poʻokela itself—which he explains serves as a “period to have school-directed educational time which we can spend on personal transitional education”—but rather that “the study hall system structure simply doesn’t work, especially for students of your age.” “It’s not Poʻokela,” says Pope, “but how it functions. I would rather have less study halls and more school-directed education because I do think it’s valuable as long as it is directed.” When asked what this would look like, Pope explains, “We need to direct the students and get them on the same page as their class. This means more direct class time discussing the stuff Personal Transition Plans touch upon, not just a free period where students do whatever they want.” Senior Magdalena Granillo agrees. “I would probably make one to two times a week classes to meet and go over with their teachers what they’ve done on their own. For example, if they didn't stay on task, they have to work with a different group of students during Poʻokela and actually get the work done,” she proposes. Though Pope sees the potential opportunities Poʻokela can open up for students, he's still against people bailing out on assemblies in the name of academics. “Assemblies are a very important aspect of being a high school student and having school pride. If we give them the option to not go, they will disengage. In the end, we will lose the come-togetherness and cohesiveness of a school,” he says. “At that point, you might as well not have them in the first place.” Munemitsu points out that assemblies are “forced cohesion, though. The fact you have to force them to go makes it so it isn't really that cohesive in the first place.” Sophomore class advisor Ms. Emmons helps run the sophomore assemblies. She says, “I'm very social, so I love them because we get to have the community aspect of it, but then we also get to celebrate you guys as students, which I love.” Yet, Emmons is highly skeptical of students who claim they lack work time. “Maybe like a tenth of the periods are for assemblies. So you tell me, out of like nine-tenths of the total, you all can't get your work done? Seems fishy to me, right? At some point, y'all have to take accountability over your own self. Say, 'I have stuff I need to do and let me do it,' instead of like, 'Nah, I'm gonna go hang out with my friends and talk or whatever it is,'” says Emmons. Whether you believe assemblies are a waste of time or a symbol of school pride, our goal for next year is clear: integrating these student voices into our schedule to achieve a more effective student-work balance. That way, the next time a student hears we have an assembly, their focus isn’t on missing assignments, but rather on the exciting opportunity to take a break and engage with their community. Previous Article Next Article Copy link

< Back A Sacred Tradition for Boarders Behind the Liming of the “L” Cheska Misay Traditions May 20, 2026 at 11:13:19 PM Twice a year, a group of boarders can be seen carrying sacks on their backs, heading toward the “L.” Hiking up, they go through a trail that is considered private property. As soon as the boarders reach the top, they scoop lime—a white, powdered substance—out of the sacks they carried on their backs. They scatter this by hand, wearing face masks to avoid breathing in the lime dust. The “L” is a large letter that sits on top of a hill called Puʻu Paʻupaʻu (Hill of Struggle). Since 1929, the Lahainaluna Boarding Department has taken responsibility for the sacred tradition of “liming the L.” To maintain it, the boarders (students who dorm at Lahainaluna High School) climb up the mountain with sacks of limestone on their backs, outlining the white powder around the “L” frame and making it visible to the community below. Holly Chandler, the vice principal of the LHS Boarding Department, notes, “It is a point of history that is deeply rooted in the history of Lahainaluna High School and the community of Lahaina as a whole. It is an iconic piece that is in photos, paintings, and often a mystery for people not associated with our school.” The “liming of the L” tradition is connected to the “lighting of the L,” but they serve different purposes. The tradition of lighting the “L” occurs during graduation and is performed by an LHS alumni class to celebrate the new graduating seniors. Conversely, liming the “L” occurs twice a year—once in September and another time in May—to refresh the white powder, celebrate sports championship wins, and make it look neater for graduation. “...It showcases our school’s athletic success” The “L” isn’t just there to look nice, but also to incorporate LHS’s accomplishments during each school year. “It is proof that BIG things can be accomplished with teamwork, planning, and a sense of community,” says Chandler. “It represents each graduating class year, with the class year on the bottom right corner. Bars or stars for any district or state wins are on the top left for our sports teams at LHS.” The 7 bars show the MIL accomplishments students gained in the year of 2014. May 29, 2014 Lahaina News According to four-year alumni boarder Kevan Dudoit, the tradition “showcases our school’s athletic success as earned leagues and state championships” through the white bars on the “L.” Freshman boarding student Paige Nakihei explains, “The bars represent the MIL (Maui Interscholastic League) titles we bring home, whether it’s five bars or three.” Lahainaluna's renowned school spirit in the past is where these bars stem from. According to PE teacher Cliffane Casco, the marks were inspired by classic “letterman jackets,” where athletes receive a jacket and specific pins depending on what sport they played. When a sports team won something, bars would be incorporated on the “L,” "similar to the letterman jackets student athletes used to wear to show their sports accomplishments." “...It’s paying your respect to those who have passed” Beyond the physical labor and the displayed sports accomplishments, this hike up the hill with heavy lime bags is a way to honor the generations of students who have walked the same path before them. Dudoit recalls, “We wake up early, hike up the 'L' with lime bags on our backs, and pay respect to those that have come before us.” Junior Chaziah Sniffen, a current boarder, shares the same sentiment. She has learned that “the value of liming the ‘L’ is to follow tradition and to accomplish what we started.” This connection to the past gives boarders the chance to give back to the community and understand the legacy they inherit upon coming to LHS. Mary Emmons, an assistant teacher and sophomore council advisor, explains how the tradition brings together history and culture. “Liming the L isn’t just putting the white lime down. It’s paying your respect to those who have passed, celebrating another year at Lahainaluna, and the current graduates. To me, it holds so much value. It’s a privilege to be able to be a part of something so special.” A Priceless Tradition Here are some, now alumni boarders, liming the L in the year of 2016. May 26, 2016 Lahaina News Ultimately, the tradition of liming the “L” represents a strong bond between the school and Lahaina. Freshman Hilinaʻi Sodetani says, “The value of the liming is priceless for all of us who are part of the town of Lahaina. It is a way to show our appreciation for the school and the town community.” Chandler agrees, saying the experience makes an impact on everyone who completes it. “Its value is priceless in my opinion and lives differently in the hearts of everyone who has ever participated and was able to make the trek up. The view from the top is the most breathtaking on the entire island, in my opinion.” There is great dedication to preserving this tradition, which will not break easily in the face of obstacles. Emmons notes, “Historically, it means so much to the community and to the Boarding department. I don’t think there has ever been a year where boarding has not done it. Even with the storms we faced this year, the boarders, their families, and previous boarders still hiked up and made sure that it was lined and looking great.” The “L” is meaningful far beyond being a landmark. Vice Principal Nicole Heinlein holds deep gratitude toward the boarders, saying, "Thanks to their hard work, it shines brightly once again as a symbol of the resiliency of all of West Maui.” Previous Article Next Article Copy link