Konawaena High School is a public school located in

Kona District Kona is a ''moku'' or district on the Big Island of Hawaii in the State of Hawaii, known for its Kona coffee and the location of the Ironman World Championship Triathlon. In the current system of administration of Hawaii County, the ''moku'' o ...

Hawaii County Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, United States. Konawaena means "the center of the leeward side" in the

Hawaiian Language Hawaiian (', ) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language o ...

. The school has a

Kealakekua Kealakekua is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 2,019 at the 2010 census, up from 1,645 at the 2000 census. It was the subject of the 1933 popular song, "My Little Grass Shack in Keala ...

mailing address, and it, along with Konawaena Middle School, is on a campus partially in the Kealakekua

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) and partially in the

Captain Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

CDP.
2000 Map: - The portion with the campus is o
page 9

2000 Map:

History

In 1921, a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

in Kona established its first 9th grade class. The school continued to establish 10th, 11th, and 12th grade classes as the years went on. The first graduating class was the Class of 1925. It was originally the only high school in the Kona District until

Kealakehe High School Kealakehe High School is a public high school located in Kailua CDP, Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It has the largest geographic school attendance boundary in the state and covers a geographic district wide, encompassing the communities ...

was built in 1997, and serves rural South Kona. The campus originally consisted of the original buildings built in the 1910s and 1920s, many of which were replaced in the 1960s by the newer two-story C, D, E, G, F, R, and S Buildings. In the early 1950s, the administration and library buildings were added. In the mid 1950s, the upper campus was built along with a new cafeteria (A building). The upper campus was used as the elementary school, until the new elementary school opened down the street in 1999. In 1958, the shop buildings were added. In the 1960s, the newer two-story four wing C, D, E, G and F buildings replaced the old three wing building. Around the same time, the school added bleachers to Julian Yates field along with the R and S buildings replacing old ones, and the new state of the art

Ellison Onizuka was an American astronaut, engineer, and USAF test pilot from Kealakekua, Hawaii, who successfully flew into space with the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' on STS-51-C. He died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'', on which he wa ...

Gymnasium opened (N building) in the early 1970s. Not long after, a new locker room and band room were built right above Julian Yates field (Q Building). The only two original buildings remaining on the campus today are the Ag building and one on the upper campus, now Konawaena Middle School. Throughout the first 40 years, Konawaena operated on what is known as the "coffee schedule," where summer vacation was shifted to September through November to allow children to help with harvesting coffee cherries. The coffee schedule made it impossible for Kona to field a football team because potential players were picking coffee. Child labor laws contributed to the demise of the coffee schedule, which was ended in 1966. Today Konawaena has successfully grown to encompass a middle school and an elementary school Kealakekua. , the total school population is around 825 students. In 1995 it held the most students in the whole state, a total of 3,900 in the high school alone. Altogether, that same year there were about 5,000 on the campus grades K-12. The current principal is Shawn S. Suzuki, former band teacher and vice-principal. Suzuki replaced Dr. James Dumaguin who died in 2005.

Notable alumni

* Brian Keith Adams, professional wrestler *

Koji Ariyoshi (1914–1976) was a Nisei labor activist and a Sergeant in the United States Army during the Second World War. Early life Ariyoshi was born in Hawaii in 1914 to Japanese immigrant parents. Ariyoshi grew up helping his family make a living on a ...

, activist, publisher * Patrick Shane Dorian, professional surfer * Ellison Shoji Onizuka NASA astronaut

Solar Challenge

In 1990, a solar car team from Konawaena was the first high school team to complete the

World Solar Challenge The World Solar Challenge (WSC), since 2013 named Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, is an international event for solar powered cars driving 3000 kilometres through the Australian outback. With the exception of a four-year gap between ...

. The 1996 movie '' Race the Sun'', starring

Halle Berry Halle Maria Berry (; born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress. She began her career as a model and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant and coming in sixth in the Mis ...

, Casey Affleck and

James Belushi James Adam Belushi (; born June 15, 1954) is an American actor. He is best known for the role of Jim on the sitcom ''According to Jim'' (2001–2009). His other television roles include ''Saturday Night Live'' (1983–1985), '' Total Security'' ...

was loosely based on this story. Bill Woerner, the real-life teacher who led the team, later founded the charter school West Hawaii Explorations Academy."A Brief History of WHEA"
on West Hawaii Explorations Academy web site

In the media

Konawaena was the setting for the 1998 independent film '' Beyond Paradise''.

References

External links

Konawaena High School
{{authority control Schools in Hawaii County, Hawaii Public high schools in Hawaii Educational institutions established in 1921 1921 establishments in Hawaii