99-065 Kauhale St.
Aiea, Hawaii, 96701
December 16, 2013
Kamehameha Schools Kapalama Campus
1887 Makuakane St.
Honolulu, Hawaii 96817
Dear Kamehameha Schools Kapalama,
I am not a student
attending Kamehameha. I am currently a Sophomore at Moanalua High School, but a
few years back, I was fortunate enough to have been able to attend some of the
other summer and spring enrichment programs such as Ho’omaka’ika’i Explorations
and Ipukukui. I had a great experience attending both and I am very grateful
for that opportunity. I am not a student there, but I have an older brother who
was recently a 2013 graduate. For all four years since he was accepted as a
freshman, the school has been very good and very helpful towards my family and
my brother’s success. From financial aiding to all the opportunities and
doors that were opened for my brother, with the help of the programs, clubs,
and extra curricular activities they had to offer, my family and I have been
very thankful, even to this day. That is why my family and I strive to
participate in certain events such as Ho’olaulea as a way to give back to the
school.
However, I am very
concerned about the admissions policy. I find it very difficult to understand
that admissions was offered to a non-Hawaiian to the Maui campus in 2010 when I
believe, support and respect the legacy of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop --
her wish and vision to help Hawaiians become good and industrious men and women
and also nderstanding her wishes left in her will. Her wishes as to making sure
Kamehameha Schools (KS) strives to give preference to applicants of Hawaiian
ancestry to the extent permitted by law first.
If I will never be
admitted to the Kamehameha Schools in my 11th and
12th grade year, I wish the very best and prefer
to know that admissions to those of Hawaiian ancestry to be admitted first to
any of the Kamehameha Schools campuses. I find it very appalling at the
acceptance rate per district for the O’ahu Kapalama campus In Although a
federal appeals court appeared to have derailed a challenge to Kamehameha
Schools’ Hawaiians-only admission policy (Honolulu Star Bulletin, Mar 4, 2010),
it is not a guarantee that there will be no other lawsuits in the
future. I would like the schools to stand firm and every way to
invite a child of Hawaiian ancestry first before a non-Hawaiian. After
the incident of the non-Hawaiian admitee. The only way Kamehameha can avoid the
risk may be to eliminate all tuition, the vehicle of the legal argument that
the schools discriminate against non-Hawaiians.
In the Princess’s will as
stated as the thirteenth, “Wherever situated unto the trustees below named,
their heirs and assigns forever, to hold upon the following trusts,
namely: to erect and maintain in the HawaiianIslands two schools,
each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known
as, and called the Kamehameha School.”
I am very disappointed that Kamehameha Schools has admitted yet
another non-native Hawaiian to the school, when there are, indeed, many
qualified native Hawaiians who have tried to get in without success. (“Third
non-Hawaiian admitted to Kamehameha,” Star-Advertiser, July 10). Most of
these children do well in school, are well-rounded with extracurricular
activities such as band and sports, and yet, for whatever reason, they have
been declined. I have heard so many sad stories of rejection, so when I hear
that non-native Hawaiians have been accepted, I am outraged.
