The Kamehameha Schools Kapālama campus and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Social Sciences partnered this summer in a six-week, dual credit, program called the Mānoa Academy for Social Sciences. In the Academy, 12 KS Kapālama students participated in two college courses, English 100 and Political Science 110, earning six college credits.
The program integrated the classes Composition I and Introduction to Political Science to bridge the content and writing skills. The nine KS Kapālama juniors and three graduates from the class of 2016 met four days a week on the KS Kapālama campus and one day at UH Mānoa, with the nine juniors also earning high school credit.
The classes were taught by ʻUmi Perkins, a KS Kapālama teacher and UH lecturer, and UH Mānoa graduate student Norm Thompson, with KS Kapālama English teacher Kaʻimi Kaiwi providing study sessions to assist the high school students to bridge their learning experience to align with college-level expectations.
“The Mānoa Academy has been a pioneering effort to create new and exciting possibilities for our haumāna to be exposed to a college-level experience,” said KS Kapālama Interim Poʻo Kula (Head of School) Debbie Lindsey. “Thanks to the creative planning of Dr. Denise Konan’s team and our Summer School Program Director Kela Park’s promotion and support, we were able to institute the Mānoa Academy, a partnership of learning, to increase our students’ educational, as well as post-secondary, experiences. I must also credit our previous Poʻo Kula, Earl Kim, for his vision and commitment in championing this project to our campus.”
Strong partnerships for future success
The academy is part of the Hui Hoʻomaikaʻi partnership between Kamehameha Schools and UH, aimed at increasing Hawaiian student success at the post-secondary level. All fees and tuition for this initial semester was paid for by Kamehameha Schools. Participating early college students who successfully completed the courses in the academy also had a chance to gain early admittance to the University of Hawaiʻi.
- More about the partnership: Kamehameha Schools and UH partner to increase educational success of Native Hawaiians and Paths to Native Hawaiian success identified in new Kamehameha partnership
“It has been an honor to launch the Mānoa Academy of Social Sciences with Kamehameha Schools Kapālama campus as our lead partner,” said Denise Eby Konan, dean of the College of Social Sciences at UH Mānoa. “The academy provides Kamehameha students with the opportunity to get an early start on their academic journey at the university by taking highly relevant courses for dual credit that satisfy both high school and UH Mānoa graduation requirements. We’re excited to be part of this bold, new effort to engage students and improve college readiness and attendance, and commend the individuals who have stepped up to be part of the Mānoa Academy’s inaugural class. They are outstanding, inspirational and are poised to become the next generation of leaders.”
“Hoʻomaikaʻi to our students who successfully completed this program,” added Lindsey. “And we look forward to a continued partnership for many years to come.”
More about the Kamehameha Schools Kapālama and UH educational partnerships
The Mānoa Academy is one of the many dual credit and enrollment opportunities started at the KS Kapālama campus. In the fall of 2015, KS Kapālama offered the college course Introduction to Pacific Island Studies, in partnership with Kapiʻolani Community College, with students receiving college credit. English 100 was also offered through Kapiʻolani CC as a blended learning course with teachers and online components in the spring of 2016. In spring of 2017, Political Science 110 will be offered through UH Mānoa with ʻUmi Perkins again teaching the course.
—By Lisa Shirota
