Our Schools | Mililani High School
Enrollment feeds well-rounded programs on big campus
| • | Mililani High School at a glance |
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Central OÎahu Bureau
With its 2,160 students and 42-acre campus, Mililani High School is one of the biggest in the state.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
"When you look at the campus, it seems more like a college campus than a high school one, with its size and number of kids," said Principal Robert Ginlack.
Curtis Hiyane conducts his student musicians at Mililani High School. Among the items on the school's wish list is a performing arts center.
The school, with the third-highest enrollment in Hawai'i, is over its recommended capacity of 2,000 students. To deal with the problem, school officials five years ago considered going on a multi-track schedule like Mililani Middle School's, which requires students to attend classes at different times of the year. But community opposition put that idea on the shelf, and the high school turned to portable classrooms and other options.
School enrollment decreased slightly in the intervening years, but it is back on the upswing as the Mililani Mauka subdivision continues to grow.
"We are completely out of room to add more portables," said Vice Principal George Okino. "We took a room used for storage and converted it into more classroom space."
Although state Department of Education officials already are predicting school enrollment to reach more than 2,200 next year, Ginlack said the state of the local economy next year will play a large part in whether that occurs.
"We may have families moving out of district, or out of state," Ginlack said. "Or we may have more parents taking their children out of private school and putting them into public school. I guess we'll have to see which way the numbers go."
Having a large school has its advantages. It usually means that more students try out for a variety of extracurricular activities. Mililani High's athletic program is well-rounded and usually playoff-caliber in all of its sports.
"It's not just 'the big three' of football, basketball and baseball; we have kids doing well in swimming, soccer, tennis and the other sports," Ginlack said.
Because the school serves a full spectrum of military and local students coming from all socio-economic levels, "the school's challenge is to come up with a curriculum and extra-curricular activities to interest all the students," Ginlack said.
• What are you most proud of?: The recent expansion of the school's vocational education program. While the school maintains traditional trade courses such as woodshop and auto mechanics, the program now offers graphic arts, computer repair and robotics.
"Everything is getting so technologically advanced that we had to keep up with the times," said Vice Principal Heather Wilhelm.
• Best-kept secret: Consistently selling out the school cafeteria with its performances, the Tri-School Ensemble Theatre Company, made up of students from Mililani, Leilehua and Waialua, puts on productions twice a year.
"What they do with the limited resources and venue is incredible," Wilhelm said.
Tri-School's next production is "The Crucible," which runs Nov. 30, Dec. 1, 7 and 8.
• Everyone at our school knows: vice principal Okino, otherwise known as the high school's unofficial landscaper.
Okino is responsible for planting much of the greenery on the 42-acre campus, as well as installing many of the concrete sidewalks. Years before he became vice principal at Mililani High, his oldest daughter attended the high school and came home one day with red dirt caked on her feet.
"That's when we began putting in more sidewalks, so the kids didn't have to walk through the dirt," Okino said.
• What we need: Aside from another high school, the school's wish list includes a community Olympic-sized swimming pool and performing arts center.
• Special events: The school is holding its fourth annual "Battle of the Bands" competition on Saturday at the school, inviting bands from around the state.
Mililani High School at a glance
• Where: 95-1200 Meheula Parkway, Mililani
• Phone: 627-7747
• Web address: www.mililani.k12.hi.us
• Principal: Robert Ginlack, in his eighth year.
• School nickname: Trojans
• School colors: Brown and gold
• Enrollment: 2,160 students. (Capacity: 2,000)
• SATs: Here's how Mililani students fared on the most recent Stanford Achievement Test. Listed is the combined percentage of students scoring average and above average, compared with the national average of 77 percent.
• Tenth grade, reading: 87 percent.
• Math: 85 percent.
• History: Founded in 1973.
• Special programs or classes: The school now holds a 20-minute advisory period each Wednesday to talk with students on their career goals and what it takes to achieve them. A reading comprehension program has also been implemented to help students achieve more in non-English subjects such as math and science.
• Computers: The campus is completely wired, with about 300 computers, including one for each of the school's 125 teachers. The school has four computer labs.
To get your school profiled, contact education editor at Elizabeth Kieszkowski at 525-8049; e-mail, ekieszkowski@honoluluadvertiser.com
