Pearl City High School (Hawaii)

Pearl City High School is located in the Waimalu CDP in the City and County of Honolulu in the state of Hawaii,^[1] adjacent to the Pearl City CDP.

Established in 1971, Pearl City High School is a public, secondary, co-educational, college preparatory high school that is part of the Hawai'i Department of Education, governed by the Board of Education. During Pearl City High School's first year of operation, only buildings A and B existed.^[2] Since then, the school expanded, constructing the C, D, E, F, K, L, and M buildings. Most buildings have three or four floors, making Building F the only single floor building, with two rooms for its Natural Resources class and weightlifting room.^[3] The sculptures Moon Beyond the Fence by Satoru Abe^[4] and Kua Kua Lua by Donald M. Page are on the campus.^[5]

Pearl City High School earned the maximum accreditation term of six years in 2006 by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.^[6]

Curriculum

As a school under the Hawaii Department of Education, Pearl City High School follows the Hawaii Common Core standards.^[7] The school is ranked 7th in the state of Hawaii, and earned a bronze medal in US News and World Report's annual ranking.^[8]

Pearl City High School also features an AVID program which supports students who intend to go to college. Extracurricular activities include DECA, Mock Trial, the Math Team, the Robotics team, and the Science Olympiad.^[9]

Charger Band

Pearl City High School is most noted for its music program, earning its reputation under the direction of Pearl City High School band directors Michael Nakasone.The Pearl City High School "Charger" Band is currently under the direction of Chadwick Kamei, Christopher Otsuka, and Christopher Lopez.^[10] During the freshmen band class, many directed studies students sharpen their skills by directing incoming freshmen while the director of bands supervises or finishes work. The choir, piano, and Wind II class, or the intermediate class for students who do not make it or want to go into Wind I, is directed by director Chris Otsuka, who was a band student in the early 2000s and later a band director at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Chris Lopez directs guitar, musical studies, and drum line.

The school boasts a Music Performing Arts Learning Center specially created by the Hawaii Department of Education to increase and broaden the abilities of students who are interested in music and performing arts. Students are eligible to transfer from their school to Pearl City High School if they are active in one of the Learning Center programs.^[11]

Previously under Nakasone's direction, the Symphonic Winds (formerly known as the Wind Ensemble I) appeared in the prestigious Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Illinois, the ABA-JBA Convention, and the MENC (Music Educators National Convention) in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Symphonic Winds returned from a performance at the 2009 Hamamatsu Wind Band Conference. Under Chadwick Kamei’s direction, the band has worked with guest conductors and musicians including Jerry Junkin, Barry Kopetz, Thomas Leslie, Tad Suzuki, Wataru Hokoyama, Grant Okamura, Thomas Bingham, Todd Yukumoto, and Michael Zonshine.

The Charger Marching Band participated in the 2011 London New Year's Day Parade, spending a total of ten days in Paris and London.^[12]

In 2013, the Pearl City Wind I Ensemble performed at Troy University

Notable alumni

• David Ige, 8th Governor of Hawaii (2014-)
• Jason Scott Lee, actor
• Mark Takai, former member of the United States House of Representatives for Hawaii's 1st district (2015-2016)
• Jordan Ta'amu, starting quarterback for the Ole Miss Rebels.

References

External links

• Official website

Coordinates: 21°24′53″N 157°57′11″W / 21.414645°N 157.953107°W / 21.414645; -157.953107